Making processes more efficient isn’t always the best plan

By Ed Sweeney, Information Technology Manager

In the technology world, we are always looking to improve the way we do things, make things more efficient, you know the saying, “bigger, better, faster”. Analyzing processes, tasks, whatever it might be, and refining them to improve efficiency is a great way to increase profit margins and improve turn time. This is something that the IT department at FCi takes very seriously. Anything that can increase turn time and reduce touches is going to benefit the bottom line, but is refining processes the right solution?

During the analysis phase, when you are looking for ways to refine and improve a task or process, you must take a step back and ask yourself if every step in the process is necessary. Improving a process or making a task or set of tasks more efficient adds zero value if the task is unnecessary to begin with. It is not difficult to fall into the rut of “this is how it has always been done”, so it is likely that there are actions being performed that are not needed; making an unnecessary action more efficient offers little to no value to your business. So when working to improve and streamline, take the extra time to analyze each step in the process to make sure that it is required to realize the same outcome. Strive to eliminate, as well as improve, that is what will make a different to your bottom line.