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What is (business) process optimization?

Process optimization

Or perhaps we should start with another question: Just what is a business process? In simplified terms, a business process represents a sequence of business functions that serve to create added value for an organization and its customers (see Scheer 2018). In the context of business process management, process optimization represents the improvement, and possibly the reorganization, of existing processes. The focus here lies above all on the efficiency and effectiveness of existing business, production, and development processes under consideration of the resources they use.

Process optimization: an overview

What are the effects of process organization?

“The processes run fine the way they are – well, sometimes anyway!” These days, no business that wants to remain competitive can afford to have inefficient processes. Cost pressure and the shortage of skilled personnel are forcing enterprises to make the best of their available resources. Using the right IT tools can help you capture optimization potential, which makes it a decisive factor in your sustained business success. Ultimately, process optimization can help you achieve goals like cutting costs, accelerating processes, achieving automation and transparency, and increasing customer satisfaction.

What are the phases of process optimization?

Process optimization projects are divided into a series of consecutive phases: project preparation, strategic planning, analysis of the current situation, target concept, IT concept, implementation, and regular checks. Optimizing business processes means aligning all your workflows, and thus the phases listed above, with the strategic aims of your enterprise and the requirements of your customers in order to ensure your competitiveness. The described topics are part of business process management. Specifically, methods and tools such as process mining, process modeling, and configurable software systems are used. Scheer’s experts will support you with professional consulting through all the phases of process optimization.

How are processes optimized?

Process optimization involves the intelligent utilization of different techniques, such as industry-specific best practices. IT is important, but is only the means to an end. It supports the previously designed and optimized business processes as well as it can – and not the other way around. To optimize business processes, we use techniques for process modeling, analysis, and simulation. Enterprises often strive to optimize both their logistics processes and those in sales and production to lower costs and reduce lead times. Individual characteristics, such as those involved in complex value creation processes, often cause problems during optimization because they are difficult to capture with static models in the analysis phase.

Process optimization through our consulting services

We can continuously analyze and optimize your processes. As a result, you'll be able to get your products and services to your customers faster and more efficiently than the competition and react flexibly to changing market requirements. This in turn will ensure your competitiveness for the long term.

How about making the workflows at your company as efficient as possible and cutting costs – and at the same time increasing your customer and employee satisfaction?

Process optimization with Scheer

Scheer’s process experts have provided extensive business and IT consulting in the areas of business process management and process optimization for more than 35 years. Their experience covers everything from the identification of improvement potential, process cost analyses, and resource bottleneck analyses to the implementation of lean enterprise workflows and the provision of process support by means of suitable IT systems.

The consulting we provide on process optimization always depends on the case at hand. We'll work with you to develop and implement industry-specific solution scenarios that are tailored to your specific requirements. Contact us to find out more!

Optimizing processes together

Every enterprise has a variety of processes. They have often more or less proven themselves over many years and thus become routine. Examining them critically requires resources, time, and corresponding knowledge. However, many enterprises have neither the available resources nor the necessary expertise. As a result, inefficient processes are often simply continued and opportunities to save time and money are lost.

Theoretically, optimizing the processes at an enterprise isn’t that complicated. The use of simple design measures – such as automation, acceleration, or the elimination of redundant process steps – can already save you time and resources, and thus real money. What might look simple in a corresponding model, however, will require specific expertise to implement quickly and easily in reality.

Scheer’s process experts have been helping enterprises optimize and implement efficient business processes for more than 35 years. Benefit from our outstanding industry expertise, strategic and management consulting, and professional technology expertise. We’ll take care of optimizing your processes to ensure your long-term business success!

Procedure model for process optimization

The procedure model for enterprise process optimization

The consulting we provide in process optimization projects is based on the following procedure model. The initial phase, strategy definition, is followed by preparation. In this phase, we coordinate things like qualitative and quantitative targets with you, along with the critical success factors and information base (documents, workflow descriptions, data sources for automated process recording, interview partners). After taking stock of your current situation, we analyze it to identify all the potential weak points, which we then address in the subsequent process optimization phase. Once optimization is complete, the target processes are rolled out and implemented in the corresponding software systems. You can benefit from our combined experience in process analysis and IT, which we've standardized in our specialized approach (SPR). After implementation, the processes can be continuously monitored using dedicated procedures and then optimized further as necessary.

Your expert

A portrait of Scheer employee Hans-Peter Baumann

Hans-Peter Baumann

Expert Process & Management Consulting

Reference projects

We have supported many customers with process optimization.

Scheer Blog » Process management

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