The Power of Business-Process Improvement: 10 Simple Steps to Increase Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Adaptability - Hardcover

Page, Susan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0814414788 ISBN 13: 9780814414781

Publisher: AMACOM, 2010

Synopsis

Every business process in every organization can be made better, more efficient, more flexible and more adaptable to changing needs. Business process improvement (BPI) can drive substantial bottom-line increases, ultimately accelerating the revenue cycle. The Power of Business-Process Improvement proves that even sweeping BPI initiatives don’t have to be complex, time-consuming projects. This incredibly practical book cuts through lengthy, technical explanations with a 10-step method designed for busy professionals with real-world problems. Starting with simple tools to help the reader develop a process inventory, the book shows how to prioritize and map processes, apply improvement techniques, test new processes and rework them as necessary and implement the changes.

About this title

About the Author

Susan Page is a manager of HRIS for The Walt Disney Company. She is a sought-after consultant on business-process improvement and technology initiatives.

From the Back Cover

Every business depends on processes to deliver on its promises to customers, keep its employees working productively, and stay competitive. Yet, to most business managers, the task of systematically examining and improving administrative processes seems overwhelming, complicated, and mind-numbing.

The good news is you don’t need to be a Six Sigma master or a reengineering whiz to apply BPI to solving your department’s problems and achieving successful results for your company. Written by an experienced process analyst, The Power of Business Process Improvement will teach you how to tackle process improvement work in a bottom-line, straightforward approach. This how-to guide provides a comprehensive roadmap to help you accomplish BPI in ten simple steps, while engaging your colleagues.

Throughout, you’ll find proven techniques, practical tools, handy time estimates, and enlightening scenarios to help you achieve the three major objectives of BPI:

Effectiveness: Does the process produce the desired results? Does it deliver what the customer wants?

Efficiency: Does the process minimize the use of in-house resources and eliminate bureaucracy? Is it easy for employees to follow?

Adaptability: Is the process flexible to changing needs?

With The Power of Business Process Improvement, you’ll be able to identify and prioritize the processes that need fixing, eliminate redundancy and bureaucracy, control costs, reduce errors, delight customers, and give your organization an edge on continuous improvement.

From the Inside Flap

Are you baffled by why your department makes the same errors repeatedly? Would you like to focus your employees limited time on more valuable work? Are you struggling to resolve an issue you know little about or make sense of overwhelming new responsibilities? The answer to all of these com­mon challenges, and many more, is business process improvement (BPI).

If you think BPI sounds complex, like a job for a quality management or reengineering guru, think again. A process is simply following a series of actions to bring about a result something you do every time you make yourself breakfast. In The Power of Business Process Improvement, you ll learn how to put this navigation skill to work to solve real problems in real time. A seasoned business process analyst, Susan Page goes straight to the core of what every business professional needs to know about BPI. What s more, she demonstrates how to apply BPI to any department or dilemma with the ultimate goal of making the whole business more effective, efficient, and flexible.

Along with a pragmatic and engaging approach to BPI, The Power of Business Process Improvement presents a proven 10-step formula. You ll find a roadmap to guide you from the first crucial step of prioritizing the processes that need fixing to the final step of ensuring that a business process continually delivers value to the business. At every step, you ll also find specific techniques, tools, case studies, and a helpful estimate of how long the step will take to complete. Arranged in a results-oriented progression, the steps to BPI will help you:

Eliminate duplication and bureaucracy.

Explain what a process costs.

Clearly define process boundaries.

Establish internal controls to reduce human errors.

Test and rework the process before introducing it to your superiors or customers.

Implement the change.

With The Power of Business Process Improvement to lead the way, you ll reap the rewards of increasing your responsiveness to customers, increasing the productivity of your employees, and enabling your company to adapt to changing needs and stay competitive. When you have the expertise to examine and understand how business processes work, it sets you apart from the rest, Susan Page assures, because you have the power to demonstrate the value that the process delivers, its importance to your company, and the effect that a single change can produce.

Susan Page is an experienced business process improvement consultant who has worked with the computer, banking, and entertainment industries. She has worked for a major entertainment company in Orlando, Florida, for the past 12 years, and is currently a manager of Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS).

Edition details

• Publisher: AMACOM
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0814414788
• ISBN 13: 9780814414781
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288