Business Processes are the Foundation of your Business

What business processes do you follow when you start your day?  How do you deal with enquiries, payments, sales, follow-up and more?  All these form part of your business processes and they make a huge difference to how efficiently you run your business.

You know those times when you get a bit frazzled with your business tasks. 100 things on your to-do-list and customers’ orders are yet to be delivered. That was my story until I got fed-up of chasing my tail and was forced to improve my business processes.

Good business processes can save you time and effort if you follow them religiously. So what exactly are they?

Davenport, 1993 defined processes as “the structure by which an organization does what is necessary to produce value for its customers.”   

Business Processes Categories

Business processes can also be broken down into three categories:Management, Operational and Supporting.  

These can include:

• Monthly networking for business growth
• Including all your enquiries in a spreadsheet on a weekly basis
• Social media updates
• Advertising and marketing schedule
• Strategic meetings with business partners, employees and stakeholders

• Enquiries follow-up and customer service.

All these are equally important to help your business run effectively.  Now the question is, do you have them in place or are you the ‘as and when’ type of business owner?  Are you always playing catch up in your processes?

For Start-ups 

Processes are equally important when you want to start a business. Develop a flow chart of how you want your business start-up to progress. What should come first and what should come next?  Prioritise your processes and add deadlines to your tasks so you can get things done when you are meant to do so.   The Navigator program which is a process developed for start-ups will put you on a clear path too.

For example: It is important to write a business plan for your business idea but it is more important that you carry out adequate market research to ensure your idea is viable and can fill a gap in the market.  Before you test your products or services, you might need to protect your idea, so meeting with an intellectual property adviser might supersede your surveys.  All these tasks might need to come after you have spoken to a business consultant about what you want to accomplish.

Today might be a good day to take a closer look at your business or start-up process and find out where you can do better to increase efficiency.  Maybe you just need to systemise your processes, develop a flow chart and a business checklist for your daily/weekly tasks.  You will be amazed at the difference it will make to your work pattern and the results you get.

I wish you business blessings