Remove The Process To Remove The Work

27th October 22

When reviewing their productivity, most businesses often find slack in the system which can be removed to drive efficiency.

The mismatch between resource and demand can leave colleagues with little work to do, often leading to time being filled unproductively. By carrying out an efficiency review, these findings can highlight a way of saving money, becoming a quick win for the brand. By understanding when customer demand drives work and planning more effectively, businesses can create large savings without having to change their core process or customer experience.

The downside to these quick wins? They are one-off gains that can’t be repeated every year.

Most businesses face fresh challenges each year. Once all the easy stuff is complete, the only way to reduce spend is by reducing your team’s workload.

Pinpointing the right processes

In-house productivity teams review processes to streamline and speed up, as well as to eliminate or automate.

Finding the right processes that will give the best return once tackled requires:

• A good understanding of how long current processes take – together with all the steps involved
• An awareness of the art of the possible. For example, is there reliable technology that can reduce time, or is it still too new and expensive to become a viable money saver? How have competitors in the same sector driven their productivity and can you adopt their ideas? Finally, are there other sectors that have devised ideas for improving efficiency that you can apply to your operation?

A few places to begin your search include:

1. Paperwork – There are often time-saving benefits in eliminating paper from your operation. Whether it be printed off and quickly thrown away, or something that must be signed and filed for 12 months – there is a always better solution
2. Compliance checking – There are lots of automatic ways to collect compliance data. A smart system simply lets you know if there is an issue that requires your input. Making the move to only act on the exceptions naturally increases efficiency as it saves spending time checking the normal things
3. Managers’ admin tasks – Take cash management and rota planning, for example. What could your brand achieve if you freed up local leaders to coach their teams and build their business? It’s certainly a better way to spend time than being locked in an office!

How ReThink can help

Our process improvement consultants offer a range of services that are specifically designed to help improve your business’ productivity. With over 50 years of cumulative experience working with large brands across many sectors, we truly understand how businesses can boost their productivity. Backed up by evidence discovered from our studies, we provide solutions that lead to significant improvements.

Want to discover which of your processes could be streamlined? Contact our team to find out more.