IT is ‘Annual Strategy Season’ again for most organisations, with most reviewing their past performance and developing new strategies and initiatives to propel them towards their goals in the new year.
However, the hidden enemy or propeller of organisational goals achievement – business processes – still remains unattended to in most organisational strategy sessions.
As we step into 2025, one of the most effective ways to ensure success in strategy implementation and organisational goals achievement, is by paying closer attention to business processes and reviewing workflows to align with the annual organisational strategy.
Business processes are the backbone of any organisation and are the key tools for successfully implementing organisational strategies and initiatives. They provide the framework within which resources are utilised and work is executed to achieve strategic objectives.
However, outdated or inefficient processes can become obstacles to achieving desired outcomes. By refining and aligning these processes with the organisational strategy, companies can:
- improve operational efficiency, enhance resource allocation, and
- streamline decision-making increase agility and responsiveness to market changes Too often, when we talk about business process improvements, the immediate assumption in most cases is processes should be improved across the board and every single business process should be reviewed.
- Hence, it is seen as a tedious task which requires an external consultant and high costs. Consequently, it gets swept under the carpet in many organisations.
- Doing this across the board may be great, but isn’t always necessary.
- However, it is critical to make sure the specific processes related to your strategic goals are reviewed every year to ensure alignment to the strategy and annual goals. This should be a critical activity in every annual strategic planning session.
For instance:
- An organisational goal to increase sales should trigger a review of the key business processes which influence sales such as customer query/inquiry management process, or order placement process (quotation request and sales order processing).
- An organisational goal to increase client satisfaction should trigger a review of business processes which have an impact on client satisfaction, such as customer complaints management process and after sales support processes.
- An organisational goal to increase internal efficiency and effectiveness should trigger a review of customer servicing processes and other internal execution processes related to the specific area of interest.
- These business process reviews can reveal areas of high bureaucracy, effort duplication, a lack of accountability, delays and bottlenecks, non-value adding activities, ineffective resource allocation and other serious inhibitors to organisational goals and strategy.
- Instead of falling into the trap of needing to develop new initiatives every year, organisations need to analyse their critical business processes to ensure their growth and implementation of initiatives isn’t being hindered by the business’ processes and workflows.
- When business processes are effectively aligned with strategy, organisations can expect tangible benefits, including:
- higher success rates for strategic initiatives, enhanced collaboration across departments, improved customer satisfaction, and better financial performance and cost management As organisations navigate the challenges of 2025, enhancing strategy implementation through effective process review and alignment is no longer optional – it is essential.
- By taking a proactive approach to refining business workflows, companies can significantly improve their chances of achieving their annual targets and positioning themselves for sustainable growth.
- If your organisation is looking to achieve more in 2025, now is the time to assess and optimise your business processes to ensure they are driving strategic success.
- Vera Njong is an industrial engineer and business operations and strategy consultant with Akah Consultancy.
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