So many organisations are affected by process traps

Organisations large and small fall victim to cumbersome IT process traps. These are caused by many things, but usually start as a result of some ad-hoc solution created by a (often inexperienced) member of staff who has an immediate problem to solve. Little thought is given to the long term (or wider) impact of these solutions, and as more are created, the problem is compounded. What starts out as a good idea can end up costing a fortune to maintain in the long term.

Two organisations we saw first hand, had almost identical problems (one was a government department, the other a financial institution). Both made extensive use of Microsoft Excel to manage and analyse their data, and both had a staggering number of hard copy step-by-step instructions that had to be followed (to the letter) for each process they carried out.

Two questions spring to mind: firstly, why are they using Excel? And secondly, if processes are repeated, why are they not automated? If they insist on using Excel for example, then almost all the processes we saw could be automated – so much so they would require very little (if any) human interaction, which (for the two organisations mentioned above) would reduce the workload by at least 80%) and free up time to move the processes to more suitable applications and streamline operations.

Both employers recruited highly skilled staff (programmers, analysts etc.) to work in these ‘process traps’. Most became de-motivated quite quickly because all their time was spent manually processing mundane repetitive tasks. There was very little job satisfaction and a concern amongst these professionals, that existing skills would be lost through lack of use. Staff retention was an issue for both employers – who were basically paying well over the odds for what were in fact, data processing roles.

Many organisations are aware of their own IT process traps, but because they have grown up with them, and they are managed, they are reluctant to make changes. The existing processes, albeit cumbersome, are well understood, established and comfortable, and most employees don’t have the incentive to want to improve things. Try suggesting alternative approaches or solutions to ‘the way things are done around here’ and be prepared for the backlash – people quite simply don’t like change.

It’s a false economy to work in this way: its drain on resources, hinders productivity, increases overheads, eats in to profits and can even retard growth.

If your organisation is caught in these IT process traps, then your competitors (who are not) have a distinct advantage: they are doing more, better with less and so retaining more of their profits, and possibly able to offer the same product or service cheaper as a result.

Are you just starting out? Start as you mean to go on

Process traps should be nipped in the bud as early as possible, so if you are a new start-up then take heed. Invest in the right systems from day one to capture and manage your business data. Don't fall into the Excel trap: so many small business owners waste valuable time fiddling with multiple, unlinked, erronous spreadsheets and files, trying to perform tasks that should take minutes - not hours (or days in some cases).   

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