“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” – Benjamin Franklin
The calibrated – and intelligent – application of awareness, energy, and effort, when mated with discipline and unity of purpose, results in efficient work processes. In the modern world, such combinations create the cornerstone of concepts known under the umbrella term of business process efficiency. These are prized concepts, because they assist the modern enterprise to rise above the competition, develop and sustain a competitive edge, establish landmarks in terms of resource utilization, ideate on new production systems, develop new products, and generate additional levels of profitability. Business process efficiency must undergo extensive design on drawing boards before emerging as a full-fledged mode of intervention that can elevate outcomes in commercial systems and processes. The flowchart remains a unique platform that helps develop the project of designing stages that can cumulatively elevate efficiency inside business processes.
Speed of execution represents a core idea that can accelerate development inside the concept of business process efficiency. Enterprises must consider this idea at multiple levels and explore the various locations of its implementation inside process schematics designed into flowcharts. For instance, operators of traditional manufacturing processes could consider inserting large doses of appropriate automation technology as part of efforts to drive business process efficiency. This technique allows faster speeds of execution across different aspects of modern manufacturing processes, resulting in tangible gains in terms of production numbers and utilization of a range of business resources. Similarly, operators of commercial airline services could drive process efficiency by automating aspects of passenger check-ins, flight information processing, baggage handling, and more. When designed inside flowcharts, these innovations and interventions help promote the key objective of driving higher levels of efficiency inside business processes.
A constant monitoring of the metrics generated by work processes can be instrumental in boosting business process efficiency. The operating idea in this construct resides in the fact smoother, effectively (designed and implemented) processes can result in sharp gains in sheer efficiency. For instance, the analysts working for a global consulting firm can attain higher efficiency in output when they invest in expert work practices, develop new benchmarks in performance assessment, cater to client requirements through a systematic matrix of actions, and more. Their work supervisors and managers, on their part, could invest in systems that ceaselessly monitor analysts’ work, flag locations for interventions, and generate inputs that improve outcomes. Such a set of ideas – when enunciated, sketched, and developed inside flowcharts – could help propel concerted bids to boost business process efficiency. The learnings emanating from the diagram could also help refine work processes with an emphasis on constantly upgrading work efficiency levels.
The troika of policy makers, commercial strategists, and market participants could re-think existing business models (and operating procedures) in pursuit of the objective of extending business process efficiency. Such a stance must take into account the known limitations of various business processes, and brainstorm multiple means and methods that bear potential to boost efficiency. When undertaken inside flowchart diagrams, this initiative could describe a range of prevailing business models, constructs, assumptions, systems, and procedures; subsequently, the troika could participate in actions that dis-assemble and deconstruct each model, construct, and more. Elements of new thinking, enlightened actions, and experimental procedures could find expression inside the flowchart as part of the voyage to boost process efficiency. However, each element must remain subject to investigative procedures that assess its quality of fitment into existing business models and operating procedures. Further, policy makers and strategists must seek to quantify the gains in efficiency resulting from operating limited sections of new systems, sub-systems, processes, and more.
Process re-engineering, when undertaken at a fundamental level, could aid progress toward the objective of gaining traction in terms of business process efficiency. This statement, when actioned upon inside flowcharts, implies a re-imagining of the workings of processes at multiple levels. The application of quality benchmark systems (such as Six Sigma) represents a key input into re-engineering efforts. Pursuant to this, flowcharts can visually describe a variety of re-engineering activities, each designed with the intent to spark gains in efficiency at multiple points inside processes. Additionally, such attempts must hinge on working collaborations between designers of flowcharts, process experts, and domain owners. Separate documentation can help project various gains that accrue from re-engineering activity, thereby validating the business case for such an approach. Intelligent stewards of such activity could devise separate illustrations in a bid to highlight the differences between original processes and their re-engineered versions.
We could view the term ‘efficiency‘ as an abstraction, an idea that typically lacks physical form or material manifestation. In this avatar, efficiency becomes a philosophy or an ideology that can impinge at various levels of modern business processes. Such statements can be further illustrated by considering the instance of an outsourced manufacturing services provider that seeks to embrace ‘efficiency’ as part of its stated corporate ethos. In this context, business process efficiency becomes a mantra that can apply at various levels of intensity. This manifests in outcomes that could include a higher number of produced goods generated during each calendar quarter, incrementally higher levels of quality at each step of the manufacturing process, higher levels of integration between the manufacturing concern and the requirements of clients and customers, high-quality training modules for each associate employed by said services provider, and more. A flowchart can help bring together and illustrate these ideas on the visual plane, thereby validating the idea of applying efficiency in each aspect of modern business processes.
Expert opinion and external consultants could help organizations drive business process efficiency in the context of contemporary industrial systems. This stance hinges on the idea of elevating the levels of sophistication and functionality in the light of advice received from said agencies. In line with this, process flowcharts could be re-designed to include spaces for advice, inputs, recommendations, and more. Such a diagram can take shape as a text-heavy illustration that directs streams of input into the moving parts of processes, sub-processes, and more. Qualified review personnel and veteran process operators could add perspective to such illustrations, thereby accelerating the idea of driving business process efficiency. Additionally, ancillary/separate illustrations could test the validity of expert inputs and recommendations with a view to devise faster implementations of the proverbial best ideas. Such flowcharts can serve as prototypes that encase (and demonstrate) the efficacy of new thoughts in re-fashioning business processes.
These instances of analysis and ideation can assist modern organizations develop (various versions of) and apply the concept of efficiency in a variety of industrial, technological, and commercial scenarios. The use of flowcharts holds special attraction because the spaces enclosed therein promote the use of modern, differentiated techniques and help assess outcomes prior to implementation. These illustrations also enable reviewers to refine and re-tune inputs in line with the specifications of the system under consideration. Creators and designers of flowcharts must review the moving parts and working components of processes before they proceed further. This stance allows them to assess the scope of change that can find realistic implementation within the constraints of the systems under consideration. Further, they could elect to review outcomes of similar initiatives from different geographies in order to gain a flavor of such undertakings. These safeguards enable a multi-dimensional approach to the core idea of promoting efficiency in modern times.
