Unhappy with your IT systems and the time it takes to perform your business processes ?

IT is only a piece of the business process improvement puzzle !!!!

Over the past 3 years, Pembroke’s interactions with many companies and operating models have provided some deep insights into the challenges faced when looking to launch either a digital transformation programme or improvements/modernisation of their systems and business processes.

Pembroke often gets asked “The business is not happy with IT and the systems/service provided – Can you perform an IT Review ?

With any IT review, our scope normally includes:

  • Current Business Process mapping
  • Organisational Structure understanding
  •  Management Structure and Culture
  • How the current IT systems are set-up to support the current business processes for current and future years

What becomes apparent in the majority of cases is that while the IT systems normally do require a move to a modern digital platform to remain competitive over the next 5-10 years, there are other major contributing business factors to the overall pain in the business including:

  • Limited standardisation of business processes across divisions or regions
  • Out of date chart of accounts and organisational structures
  • No data capture discipline (users not capturing all required data at the time of the transaction)
  • Limited accountability/responsibility placed on the business division leads to drive standard process (with flex for exceptions) by executive management or the board
  • Overall reluctance to improve the process and organisational structure vs downloading data to Excel (Excel city) and fix the data issue each month or transaction cycle

The solution

To effectively transform your business into the new digital age, companies need to tackle all the three aspects of their business (People, Process, Technology). Management need to be aware or sometimes reminded that any IT system cannot perform optimally without aligned chart of accounts and organisational structure, conformance to standard business processes and either sufficient data capture discipline or the introduction of modern capture at source tools and principles.

Pembroke’s normal approach includes:

  • Mapping current business processes
  • Review of the current processes against best practice business models
  • Gap analysis against both modern business practices and modern IT systems and platforms
  • Education/re-enforcement to executive and management of the importance to align their IT systems to standard practices and solid accounting/organisational structures
  • Road map to improve business processes/structures and alignment to the latest systems and digital platforms, that will move the business into the digital age via the smoothest/most logical/most cost-effective path possible

Conclusion

If you want to improve your overall business transaction performance and employee satisfaction, always review all three aspects of your business (People, Process, Technology). What Pembroke has learnt over the past 25 years is that while IT systems are vastly superior in this modern age, there is no magic bullet to aligning people and process to your technology. While it may take a greater effort, the rewards will outweigh any short term pain.