The business world moves fast, and the current climate is an unforgiving one to play catch-up in. In this kind of environment, being forward-thinking is a must if you want to survive.
A recent study examined the most successful organizations managing to maintain success during the pandemic. 56% said they were the first movers in experimenting with digital technologies during the crisis. More than ever before, we’re seeing companies that fail to adapt fall by the wayside. To stay current, businesses need to stay one step ahead.
This calls for a dynamic approach to the way you run your business. Building a culture of continuous improvement can help to develop a number of areas – from employee satisfaction to brand identity.
Here’s what to focus on:
Continuous digital transformation
Perhaps the most important stage of this process is the digitization of your company’s processes. You may already be using automation software or have platforms that increase your employees’ productivity. However, failing to commit to a culture of continuous digital transformation will put you behind before you’ve even started.
It all starts with a goal. Whether that’s to get more demos, sell more subscriptions, or improve the customer experience – a clear goal is paramount. Then your organization must commit time and budget to developing a continuous culture of continuous improvement. This involves three stages:
- Managing processes
- Automating processes
- Optimizing processes
Let’s run through them all now.
1. Managing processes
In order to reach your goals, and to continue reaching them, you’ll need to plan ahead. This involves taking a hard look at the current state of your processes. What works and what doesn’t? Which processes are causing bottlenecks and breakdowns? Where are we still relying on manual, paper-based processes, and what can we do to change that?
Once this is mapped out, you’ll have a much clearer picture of what and where to automate. It’s an invaluable step as it sets the foundations for your culture of continuous improvement.
2. Automating processes
Automation doesn’t just streamline your processes and make your company more efficient. It also boosts productivity and increases employee satisfaction. In fact, 92 percent of organizations see an improvement in employee satisfaction as a result of intelligent automation.
Automating long and repetitive tasks frees up time for them to engage in more meaningful work that might be of higher value to your company. It also reduces the chances of error that inevitably come from a fatigued mind.
Today’s automation software allows users to automatically generate reports, invoices, and other documents, as well as create cloud-based paperless systems and build time-saving workflows. We guarantee that if there’s a process, there’s a way to automate it and make it more efficient.
3. Optimizing processes
Okay, so you’ve got a system in place. You’ve successfully implemented digitization and improvements to your business processes across the board. Now your work is done, right? Not quite. You’re aiming to build a culture of continuous improvement, and that means going back to assess your processes and adapting them accordingly.
Dig into the analytics and see which new processes are working and which need to be optimized further. Find a solution that will offer you clear dashboards with real-time data-driven insights. But don’t just rely on the data. Ask team leaders and team members for feedback on their new way of working. Then go back to the process mapping stage and adjust your processes accordingly.
This takes you back to the managing section. Here, you’ll essentially follow these three processes again, creating a continual loop of managing, automating, and optimizing. Each cycle makes your business more efficient, organized, and engaging to work for.
Maintaining a culture of continuous improvement
This isn’t going to happen overnight. It could take some time to perfect, and often a top-down approach doesn’t click with employees. Automation tools have to work for everyone in your organization, not just team leads. New software should make all employees’ jobs less stressful and take repetitive tasks off their task lists.
Another hurdle you may face is a financial pushback. Some might suggest this level of constant improvement will cost the company a hefty chunk of the budget. In reality, however, automation tools have never been more affordable or offered greater value. These tools also help employees to do more with their time, creating a better ROI for each person you employ.
Once you’ve created the culture of continuous improvement, it will become second nature for everyone at your company. And all this is much easier when you use software that covers these areas for you.
Continue the good work with Nintex
The Nintex Process Platform provides all the tools you need to carry out this three-step approach to continuous digital transformation.
Step one: Nintex Promapp® gives you an eagle-eyed view of your processes – from the planning stage to ironing out issues and assessing what’s working and what isn’t.
Step two: On top of this, the full range of process automation solutions (from workflow automation to robotic process automation and more) allows you to choose the best solution to meet your requirements and objectives.
Step three: Nintex also offers process analytics that can provide real-time insights into your processes’ level of success.
If you’d like to find out more about how Nintex can help your business, get in touch with us today. Or you can also request a demo.
