Gaining competitive edge with operational supremacy

In cut-throat markets small improvements in your business processes can put you ahead of the competition. But it’s important to decide which process are the ones that matter. Once identified you’ll have to develop the disciplines to manage and also sustain these processes.

For organisations to stay competitive in good times and in bad it becomes important to combine the right operational model with truly superior execution. Companies that employ this tactic tend to weather a recession more successfully. Once the hard times have passed they can resume the quest for sustained and profitable growth much more effectively. Therefore businesses can no longer ignore the role of effective processes when adding sustained value to clients.

Superior execution of effective operational processes can significantly reduce cost and increase efficiency. Unfortunately very often smaller organisations tend to overlook the use of technology to streamline and automate processes this, in my opinion, is a detrimental mistake. Businesses are very often repelled by the cost of good, intelligent IT systems which means they either opt for the cheap option – which can be detrimental on its own – or no system at all. There is a reason why successful large businesses embrace technology, it makes them more competitive, it helps them decrease waste and cost and it helps them serve their customers better.

When looking at the cost-benefit trade-off for business systems, it is very important to take a long term view, because the long-term benefits of a good system will almost always outweigh the cost. For businesses who have high growth aspirations it will make the growth process much easier, especially if you can automate your business processes effectively.

Very often, when looking at business processes and combining it with the use of technology, simpler is better. Over complicating things will add time to the execution and it will frustrate the team who is responsible for execution. Red tape and jumping through hoops has very rarely made employees overly enthusiastic. Ineffective operational processes very often go hand-in-hand with low job satisfaction levels, which will have a detrimental effect on productivity, causing costs to spiral out of control.

A golden rule when implementing new systems or changing operational processes, is to involve your team from the start. In general people are scared of change, but if they are involved in the design of the change, the transition will be smoother. If for whatever reason you can’t involve your team in the design phase of operational change, at the very least communicate your intention from the start and continuously update them on progress and possible changes. If you don’t, chances are that you will either fail or implementation and adoption will take much longer.

Turning your processes into the drivers of your long-term competitive advantage will ensure that you stay on top of their efficiency. It will also, for most, involve a radical culture shift. The rewards of such a shift will be worth the pain and effort though.