Why a process improvement strategy is a valuable investment for your business

What are the benefits of business process improvement?

A BPI strategy can help your business grow in several ways, including:

Increased efficiency

Investing in a BPI strategy can help streamline operations, reduce waste, improve productivity, and increase the overall efficiency of your business — leading to cost savings and increased profitability.

Improved quality

Evaluating your current processes can help reveal areas where quality issues may be present and implement solutions to eliminate bottlenecks and improve the quality of your products and services — increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Better decision-making

Analyzing existing business processes can help you gain a better understanding of how your business operates and make informed decisions about how to distribute resources, reduce human error, improve performance, and invest in new initiatives.

Competitive advantage

Introducing effective processes can help differentiate your business from its competitors to gain an advantage in the marketplace.

How does business process improvement work?

While a BPI strategy may appear complex, process improvement techniques most of the methodologies employ a variation on the following five steps. You can get started improving the processes within your business by:

Different approaches to business process improvement

There are many different business process improvement methodologies, including Six Sigma, Total Quality Management, and Agile. We have summarized several of these approaches below to help you choose the best fit for your organization’s unique needs.

Again, no matter which approach you choose, leaders must adopt a permanent BPI mindset to achieve future process performance and long-term success.

We have summarized a few of the most popular process improvement methodologies below to help you choose the approach that works best for your business goals:

Six Sigma

The Six Sigma methodology aims to remove defects and minimize variability in processes to improve quality and reduce costs. This approach to increasing productivity, quality control, and reducing errors can be especially advantageous to companies in the financial services, manufacturing, and supply chain and logistics sectors.

Lean

Lean is a systematic approach that focuses on identifying and eliminating waste in processes to reduce costs and increase the efficiency of your organization. The Lean methodology was initially developed for businesses in the manufacturing industry to maximize efficiency. However, its approach to waste reduction and continuous improvement can also support the success of businesses in the healthcare, logistics and supply chain, or services sector.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

This management philosophy emphasizes customer focus, continuous improvement, and employee involvement to achieve superior quality and customer satisfaction. TQM was originated in the manufacturing sector with an emphasis on reducing defects. However, this approach to achieving quality excellence can also benefit companies in the service, educational, or IT sectors.

Business Process Re-engineering (BPR)

This process improvement methodology aims to restructure and redesign business processes to improve efficiency, customer experience, and the quality of your products and services. BPR provides a host of benefits to large enterprises, organizations in the public sector, and the services sector through its emphasis on efficiency, performance, and effectiveness.

Kaizen

The Kaizen methodology focuses on making small, incremental changes to improve business processes over time. This approach to business process improvement provides benefits to small businesses and start-ups through its focus on incremental improvements, employee engagement, and workflow optimization.

Agile

The Agile method was originally created for software development, and focuses on iterative, collaborative, and adaptive approaches to process improvement, with an emphasis on delivering value to customers quickly and effectively. The Agile method also delivers benefits to companies in product development and marketing and advertising with its focus on customer experience, collaboration and flexibility.

Take the next steps toward success

No matter how you choose to approach process improvement, a BPI strategy is a worthwhile investment that can expose inefficiencies in your operations and opportunities to optimize existing processes. Adopting a continuous process improvement mindset can help you grow your business by overcoming obstacles, achieving successful outcomes, and increase profitability.

Contact us

To learn more, contact Yohaan Thommy, PMP, LSSBB, CMC, Partner.