Improving business management

All companies have business processes that can be improved. Most companies can benefit from automation or further automation of solutions. Improving business processes is all about a work flow plan, often graphic, and implementation of automating and organising work processes. It is also a way of defining software architectures and applications. Business process solutions help an enterprise monitor human and automated processes. It can also serve as an enterprise application integration (EAI) tool. Business process management solutions help you identify areas of your business that can be automated and used to apply business rules and guidelines. In practical terms, it acts like a virtual machine that executes process models rather than software code.

Introducing process solutions

Business process solutions take business data and determine how the information is used to perform a task. By creating an overview, a business manager can plan and improve an existing business process. Some solutions also send data through a test set of tasks to ensure that a business process is being followed. These solutions permit a business manager to visually describe, control and trail the flow of a work process. Process solutions generally involve computer systems and software to automate a process.

Technologies used to implement process management solutions include work flow charts, BP-XML languages, ERP (Enterprise Resource Management), software development and EAI (Enterprise Application Integration). ERP is a set of applications that can cover financials, manufacturing, human resources and back-office business administration utilities of an enterprise. It is a business management system that integrates all components of the business as well as planning. On the other hand, EAI software operates as a center that interprets data and messages between different applications.

Improving and automating business processes is the path to gaining huge productivity. These management solutions monitor business presentation by defining a series of tasks that must be performed to attain a defined strategic goal. There are three obligatory requirements – flexibility, reliability and security.
A good solution must help in continuous process enhancement, but managing the huge amount of these processes becomes more and more difficult as organisations become highly complex. Process management solutions give you the capability to satisfy and retain your customers and also maximise your joint venture returns with other businesses.

Remember that business processes define your business, and they can also present your organisation with a competitive benefit. If you can make your processes efficient, you will reap better customer relations and profits.

Creating an effective management team

A team culture is necessary for success. Working together effectively is not automatic. It takes a specific effort and the development of a culture that is supported by executive management. Shared experiences create unity and value. Knowledge transfer is essential for an organisation to grow. Without knowledge transfer and the sharing of success it is difficult for the group to share any vision and work toward common goals.

1. Create an intentional communication strategy. Your management team must understand and support a common vision. This requires clarity. Clarity begins with effective communication. Make sure communication from your management team reaches all employees.
2. Do not set up intentional competition in the workplace. Try to insure that individual skill sets compliment one another rather than compete with one another. Spread the responsibility and authority around by alternating leaders for various tasks. Look for star potential and introduce coaching and mentoring as a skill set.
3. Create team ownership in the decision making process but it’s not management by committee. Avoid group think by making sure that individuals express opinions openly without intimidation. Responsibility must be accompanied by authority and accountability.
4. Build trust and respect by giving trust and respect. Act as a coach or mentor and not a boss.
5. Create off site team building activities quarterly. Social gatherings, athletic activities, laser tag or other activities that build unification and trust in each other.
6. Don’t just talk about empowerment and delegation, believe in it and demonstrate that belief by allowing the team members to make decisions and take independent action.
7. Take complex plans and strategies and assign accountability and ownership. This creates more efficiency and leverages creativity. Assign responsibility according to individual passions.
8. Brainstorming must be encouraged to release team innovation. Bouncing ideas off one another stimulates creative thinking which leads to creative solutions. This in itself bonds individuals into a common purpose.
9. Ask for solutions assigning both responsibility and empowerment. Ownership of ideas and initiatives builds commitment. Involving the team in creating direction and solutions through empowerment generates commitment to the tasks necessary to meet objectives.
10. Challenge your management team. Reliance on team effectiveness minimises risk by being more flexible and adaptive than relying on a single individual. No one individual alone can jeopardise success. The loss of one team member can be overcome without losing sight of the objectives.