Business Process Optimization
Fix how the work moves before you automate it
When a simple request takes two weeks and five signatures, it's rarely because anyone is lazy. It's how the work was set up, one workaround at a time. We map how it really moves, cut what isn't needed and redesign the rest with the people who do it.
At a glance
- First step
- A review of one process you name
- How long
- Usually one to two weeks
- Your team's time
- Walkthroughs with the people at each stage of the process
- You receive
- A process map and written findings
- After that
- Redesign and roll-out usually take four to ten weeks, in stages
Every stage is a fixed fee agreed in writing before it starts, and you can stop after any stage.
Signs this is the problem
When to call us about this
- Simple requests need several signatures, and nobody remembers why.
- Work always gets stuck at the same desk or department.
- Different people enter the same details more than once.
- When something goes wrong, nobody's quite sure whose job it was.
- Work keeps getting sent back to be corrected.
- Customers or colleagues complain about how long everything takes.
- The procedures are written down and nobody follows them, or they were never written down.
What we do
Work that moves through the organisation without waiting or being redone.
- Mapping a process as it really runs, from request to completion.
- Measuring where the time goes, and where work waits or comes back.
- Cutting approvals, handoffs and steps that aren't needed.
- Making clear who is responsible for each step and each decision.
- Redesigning the workflow and writing procedures people will actually follow.
- Pointing out which steps of the improved process are worth automating.
Often today
- Request raised
- Sales sign-off
- Finance sign-off
- Director sign-off
- Details re-entered
- Dispatch
After the work
- Request raised
- One sign-off within agreed limits
- Dispatch
How an engagement runs
From first call to handover
- 01Understand
The process review. We map one process with the people who do it and gather whatever data exists on volumes and timings.
- 02Diagnose
We find the bottlenecks, the duplication and the gaps in responsibility, and what each one costs in time.
- 03Implement
We redesign the process with your staff, write the procedures and help the change bed in.
- 04Hand over
We agree a few simple measures so you can see whether the improvement holds.
What you receive
What you’ll have at the end
- A map of the process as it runs today, and a written summary of what the review found.
- A redesigned process, with who's responsible for each step.
- Procedures your staff can follow.
- A short list of measures for keeping an eye on turnaround and rework.
- Our recommendations on which steps, if any, to automate next.
Illustrative scenario: Distribution company
Routine credit orders that need one signature.
At a distribution company every credit order needs sign-off from sales, finance and a director, whatever its size. Orders wait for signatures, customers call to ask where their goods are, and sales staff re-enter order details that finance has already captured.
A process review would map the order-to-dispatch process and measure where orders wait. We would expect to propose approval limits so that routine orders within a customer's credit terms need one sign-off, a single point of data entry and a named owner for each stage, written up as a procedure staff can follow.
Connected services
What often comes next
Questions
Worth asking before a first call
Why not automate the process straight away?
Because automating a bad process just locks it in and runs it faster. It's cheaper to take out the unnecessary steps first.
Will this disrupt day-to-day operations?
The review is mostly short conversations and watching the work. Changes come in stages, agreed with the managers responsible.
Do you only produce a report?
No. We help put the new process into practice, including the written procedures and the handover to your staff.
Which process should we start with?
Usually the one with the most complaints or the longest delays. The first conversation helps you decide.
Request a process review
Start with one problem
Tell us which process is slow, keeps going wrong or nobody quite understands. We’ll reply to explain what a process review involves.
- Within two working daysAn email back from someone who’s read your message properly.
- A 30-minute callTo understand the problem and whether we’re the right people for it.
- Within a week of the callA written scope and a fixed fee. You’re under no obligation to go ahead.
By email
Write to info@asledatalabs.com with your name, organisation and role, and tell us: which process should we look at, and what goes wrong with it?
Request a process reviewWe use your details only to reply to you. See the privacy notice.