The Attivo Blog

Stop with the buzzwords and jargon already! We've done enough Business Process Assessments and Value Stream Mapping using Lean techniques with Kaizen Events and Kanban methods to optimize and re-engineer business processes and Throughput Time Efficiency (TTE) to know that NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THE HECK I'M TALKING ABOUT!  I get a better response to all of that when I sing to my dog...at least he tilts his head and looks at me. Think about the things that people do in your company day in and day out.  Those are called business processes.  Some people make a product, or perhaps provide a service to customers.  Other support the main activity of the business with necessary back room things like sending out invoices, receiving cash, paying bills, etc.  All of these activities incur costs for the business, which in turn is passed on to the customer in the price that they pay for the goods or services that you sell. Let's pretend that you invite your biggest customer to spend two weeks at your company to really get to know how you do things.  At the end of the two weeks, you give him the opportunity to assess your operation, and tell you what he thinks of the value that you really deliver.  He might say "Your engineers are outstanding, and your quality people really have it dialed in.  But your customer service department...they're doing everything manually, can't find anything, redo things multiple times...take them off my bill, please!" Think your operation could stand that kind of scrutiny?  No?  Then why are YOU putting up with it?  After all, your customer writes small checks compared to the big ones that you stroke every day to fund all that waste. Like a leaky faucet, there are inefficiencies throughout your operation that are being ignored, and are costing you thousands of dollars that you could otherwise keep.  Some leaks are bigger than others, but together, it adds up in a hurry.  That's what a Business Process Assessment uncovers - where the waste is, and where the opportunity for gains in efficiency exist.  It's about doing more with less.  Like getting the job done with one person instead of two.  Welcome to the new economy.  You don't need to use all of the big words that I was throwing around at the beginning to get this right.  It's a lot more common sense than you think, and a lot less painful than an annual physical exam.  Contact us to find out how we lead you through a process assessment...there's a huge benefit waiting for you.  It takes outside leadership to pull this off...or you would have already done it.