Process Improvement has never been more important or more needed during tough times. The kicker may be the lack of funds to take up new efforts at this time when budgets are pared to the bone. However, surveys of Fortune 500 CIOs the past few years have shown Business Process Improvement to be the #1 priority for the majority of them! Hope they still mean i, for their own sakes!
Process Improvement that leads to cost cutting has a very attractive value proposition at this time and could be taken up in earnest by many companies. Cutting out waste in effort and time leads to less resources being needed to accomplish the same quantum of tasks, and that’s a very compelling thing to sell during these tough times.
Process Improvement has never been more important to Outsourcing and Offshoring service providers than at this time. Many companies are renegotiating their contracts with their service providers because of the recession. In some cases, they are asking for a Per Transaction pricing rather than a Full Time Equivalent (FTE) kind of contract pricing.
Service providers, especially offshore providers have thrown people at the problem to meet Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in contracts. Now that the topline rates are negotiated down and the margins are shrinking, they may have to pay close attention to every employee’s efficiency and effectiveness and cannot afford to have more people than needed. When contracts are based on per transaction pricing, the pressure to make sure that every efficiency and effectiveness goal of every employee is met is even more pronounced.
Process Improvement has a very compelling need in tough times. Unfortunately, they may not ne taken up because of blanket bans on any new expenditures! Sad, but true in most companies!
The cure for Apple is not cost-cutting. The cure for Apple is to innovate its way out of its current predicament. – Steve Jobs
