From Justin Kern, senior editor at Information Management:
October 30, 2012 – Less than half of business processes are automated and manual tasks for BI and reporting are especially burdensome as IT leaders can’t carry through on their interests with a lack of enterprise capabilities, according to new survey findings.
Conducted in August and released last week, the survey consisted of 300 IT decision-makers from the U.S. and U.K. with more than 1,000 employees across a range of industries. It was handled by independent research and marketing firm Vanson Bourne and commissioned by process automation software provider Redwood Software.
The survey revealed that 99 percent of respondents spend a “considerable” amount of time on manual business processes. From that amount, 63 percent of those surveyed stated they spend more than one-quarter of their work time on repetitive manual processes, and another 17 percent stated manual work takes up half of their time.
My Thoughts…
I am still amazed when I see numbers like this. Business Process Management software has been around for years and with each revision they get easier to implement. 6-Sigma efforts have been around for years, it is not like you can’t find a resource. Still, look at the number of respondents spending time on manual business processes.
I have said this before – a slow economy is the right time to look to become more efficient. I am not saying that it makes sense to automate all of your processes, but there have to be some key processes that could be addressed. And, automating a key process could pay for the entire solution.
Some number of years ago, Boeing’s 737 line would produce one off’s – each plane was a different configuration. They determined that it would be more efficient to mass produce a single airplane configuration while on the assembly line and then ‘retrofit’ the plane to meet the needs of the purchasing airline. I haven’t seen any numbers to show the savings, but from what I have read they are still manufacturing them and then retrofitting. I have to conclude that it is working or they would change back.
If you need help with your business processes, there are many resources out there. Start conversations with them to see how you can become more efficient. Reach out to me if you like.
Your Thoughts…
What’s holding you back?
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