Power Shift: How the Internet has Spawned a New Class of Powerbrokers in All Fields
How the Internet has Shifted the Balance of Power in All Fields of Our Lives It would be an understatement to say that the Internet has revolutionized and transformed all aspects of our lives. From the way we shop, work, and live, there is no part of our lives that has been fundamentally reshaped by […]
Information Technology and Business Alignment: Why it is Important
Introduction: What is IT Business Alignment and Why it is Important The saying about the Blind Men and the Elephant in which three blind men touch the Elephant and state different things without knowing that it is an Elephant, firms and organizations must ensure that their IT and business strategies are complementary and supplementary to […]
Government Spending vs. Government Taxation
The state of the American economy is deteriorating at a rapid pace. This is large because of the indiscriminate spending being undertaken by the American government. In order to understand the true scale of this spending, let’s have a look at some numbers. In 1987, the entire budget controlled by the United States government amounted […]
The Necessity of Backup Sites for BPO Companies
In previous modules on continuity of business, we had discussed how companies need to be prepared for any eventuality – natural or manmade. The discussion was on how fast alternative sites for backup and recovery are made functional in the aftermath of disasters. This article looks at the BPO sector in specific and the necessity […]
Imports and Customs Clearance – Overview
When any Organization Imports any item into the country, the cargo would need to be Custom Cleared. The consignment transported by Air, Ship or by Trailer on the Road, would have to be deposited at the Customs Notified and Bonded Area. Customs Clearance or brokering is done by third party service providers who are licensed […]
Organizations depend upon Business Process Improvement to make changes to the internal operations in order to drive efficiency in the process as well as to impact the business. As the business needs keep changing, the Organizations too need to keep changing at the same speed and frequency to be able to meet up with the new business environment. Apart from the factors that necessitate the process change, new technologies, improved business models and other Organizational situations too can warrant Business Process improvements.
BPI success depends upon several factors. First and foremost, the program initiative and ownership has got to be from the top management and those business unit heads who manage and drive the business operations. When the BPI exercise is sponsored, owned and facilitated by the Business Owners and Senior Management, the program can be implemented effectively. BPI exercise calls for investments as well as resources and time in the designated area of implementation. These Business Unit leaders are best equipped to choose the objectives and the priority areas for implementing BPI program aimed at maximizing the business impact gained.
Most Organizations form the EIT or Executive Implementation Team under or including the Business Unit head as the sponsor. This team owns the responsibility for the implementation of the BPI program.
The next critical element or the factor that figures in the BPI program is that of selection of Business Process Leader or Owner. The effectiveness and the efficiency of the process ultimately depend upon its Process Owner. The Organizations of modern times are not hierarchical and functionally organized like the traditional Organizations.
In an increasingly complex business environment, amidst globalization, the Organizations operate with increasingly complex network of business units with matrix management as well as Functional line management that manage businesses across multiple locations situated in different continents, multiple markets and cultures. Such business operations involve extensive use of technology and software tools that aid and drive the business processes, using thousands of people engaged in business operations. In such situation, any critical process would have linking with several other processes and functions across many departments.
Therefore if a process has got to be improved, implemented and stabilized, it is essential that the process is owned by one single process owner who is able to make that impact across all the intermediaries and mesh all sub processes to ensure the new improved process compliance is maintained one hundred percent.
Choosing the right process owner is very critical and important for the BPI program. The EIT team owns this responsibility of choosing the Process Leader for each of the critical processes that it selects for the project. Selecting the suitable candidate would need examination and ascertaining several key factors with regard to the right candidate.
First and foremost, it is always better to choose the candidate who naturally happens to be the beneficiary of the process. If the sales manager of a business unit stands to gain from the improvement in process of Warranty Management system improvement or Customer Relationship Management process, then the said Sales Manager should own the said process.
The functional leaders of the Warranty Management group or the Customer relationship group can assist the Sales Manager in the implementation as they too are responsible for the process but the overall ownership should lie with the sales manager of the unit.
Secondly, the Process Owner should be able to understand the business trends and initiate the changes to the business process. He would need to initiate discussion with the management for changing the operating policies or the process in order to meet the necessary business requirements.
Needless to mention that the Process Owner would need to be a good leader, a very good motivator, negotiator and be able communicate effective through the teams and lead from the front.
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