Top 10 Benefits of a Business Process Analyst for Your Company

The business process analyst can truly make an impact on your business by optimizing it. The optimization that they bring to your business has tremendous value and I will explain the ten greatest benefits. By assessing your processes, the analyst will identify bottlenecks and may propose work-balancing solutions to address such issues. Processes in most companies evolve over time, addressing concerns along the way and in most cases also increasing complexity.

The process analyst will identify unnecessary steps in a process. Many process steps can be outdated. The process analyst will propose solutions that simplify and have the following ten amazing benefits:

1. Process Optimization

By looking at each step in a process the analyst will identify waste and the speed of the process. This includes looking at all the issues stakeholders have and performing a root-cause analysis.  It will be the foundation of the proposed solutions to address them. Process mapping is where the business process analyst will start. Most processes are not entirely known by everyone involved, especially when the process has many complex steps. When a process has many steps, the process analyst may look at a portion of the process.

Usually, this is the section of the process that has many issues and needs to be looked at first. Mapping the process allows everyone involved in it to understand all the steps in detail and creates a framework for which everyone can review the procedures without assumptions.

2. Cost Reduction

By looking at the process through the lens of the eight wastes the analyst can reduce the cost of the process to produce one unit of output (whatever the process is producing). It is important to understand that the majority of businesses have between 20-40% of waste in their operations across the board. That means if your company has $3 million in operational costs then you can expect that the company will have between $600k – $1.2M in operational waste. This is a large number for any company. Savings in operations can be better allocated to business growth drivers.

They can increase net profits to make the business more resilient and profitable. Most business owners find this to be an unbelievable number until the business analyst reveals the savings through business process optimization efforts.

3. Increased Productivity

Increasing process productivity is part of overhauling a process. The BPA does this through the lens of the Eight Wastes. Below is a brief description of each one:

• Defects – poor quality, specifications, standards, and process design can lead to an unwanted abundance of defects. Defects lead to re-work and therefore decreased productivity.
• Overproducing – This is when a business engages in future production to compensate for bottlenecks to keep people working etc. This type of waste can show itself as labor waste. It can also contribute to materials waste if the materials have a shelf-life, are misplaced, or damaged.
• Waiting – waiting for upstream or downstream availability is a waste. It reduces production capacity and increases unwelcome costs to the business. Waiting for clients, approvals, and availability to perform the required work can cost the company a lot. Employees don’t complain about it because they are usually getting paid while waiting. It is sometimes labeled as the silent production killer.
• Non-utilization of talent – Underutilizing your most precious resources which are company employees is a large waste. Employees may at times be happy to do less than they could whether it is utilizing skills, knowledge, and talents. Under-utilizing employees is on the rise. It’s something that the business process analyst will be aware of and propose solutions for it.
• Transportation – This is an unnecessary movement. One example is double-handling where someone moves something to one place only to move it again to its final destination. Transportation is not a waste that is abundantly seen in most office settings. It is however certainly seen in a production environment.
• Inventory excess – Excess inventory is a poor usage of company capital. It should be avoided as much as possible. Excess inventory is company capital sitting there without benefit. Too much of this type of waste can cripple companies. I have known one company that went bankrupt because of this type of waste.
• Motion waste – Like transportation, this is an unnecessary human movement that is not of value to the process. Unnecessary movement can also lead to other wastes that are costly to the company including over socializing in the workplace.
• Excess processing – This type of waste is seen as excessive reports, unnecessary approvals, duplicating or reentering data, etc. This type of waste reduces production speed and increases costs like any of the eight wastes mentioned.

Why Take My Advice?

My advice with this article comes from developing, creating, and optimizing processes for more than three decades. I have been working as a consultant during this time and using process optimization to catapult companies towards the next level of success. It is hard for most owners to imagine that they have so much waste as mentioned above, but it is true. My guarantee stands out in the consulting industry. It’s a simple no-risk guarantee that states I will be paid a portion of the savings implemented in one year. You not only receive tremendous savings in the first year but every subsequent year afterward.

This means that we take on the risk of doing our work. If we don’t implement measurable savings, you don’t pay us. Waste reduction in any company can produce better profit margins. These savings can also be reallocated to marketing and sales to grow the company. Continue reading the benefits of process optimization and contact us to see if my company is the right fit for you.

4. Risk Reduction

Business process analysts (BPAs) can also identify existing process risks. These include compliance gaps, standard gaps, data inconsistencies, and other types of vulnerabilities that can negatively impact your business. Most companies do not have solutions to such scenarios and end up reacting to situations that could have been avoided. These scenarios often add unnecessary stress to the organization. Added stress will have people employ damage control solutions and usually blame others in the organization for the circumstances. This will cause degradation in relationships and in most cases could have been avoided.

When a negative unexpected output happens the first thing you should do is damage control measures and then immediately look at the process. In general, managers are not trained to assess procedures like a BPA. Therefore they don’t look at their processes with the same rigor.

5. Enhanced Customer Experience

BPAs can increase customer satisfaction and in most cases without costing the company anything. When professional process analyst looks at a process, they also look through the lens of the customer. A thorough review of what the customer experiences is done. Delighting the customer is not as hard as many business owners think. By implementing the customer requirements in the process the business gains a greater more positive market image, and great customer reviews. This leads to more client referrals and increased business growth.

Business owners and managers expect that something as simple as communication is being done seamlessly. The reality is that humans sometimes have issues between them. These issues interject themselves in the process which can negatively impact the outcomes of a process. These assumptions can cause customer dissatisfaction, reduced business, and more. The process analyst has the responsibility to ensure that the process isn’t vulnerable to such behaviors. Poor communication between employees or forgetfulness is not a future problem after the BPA has looked at the process.

6. Data-Driven Decision Making

Business process analysts use data to propose improvements to the process. Besides mapping out the process in detail, they will look for metrics and KPIs to review the process. The following are five KPIs that BPAs use to assess processes:

I. Throughput (process output)

Throughput important metric to assess and have. It measures the completed tasks or products within a specified period applicable to the process.  It allows us to understand the process capacity and the efficiency of the process.

II. Process Compliance Rate

This metric measures the percentage of the process outputs (products/completed tasks) that follow the standard guidelines and policies/procedures. This allows us to measure the process risks, the requirements, and maintain or enhance quality.

III. Cost per Transaction/output

This metric is very important so that you can ascertain the cost per unit of output (product or transaction). This is used as a metric for improvement. The goal of the BPA is to decrease the cost per completed unit as much as possible. They will do this without sacrificing quality by keeping it the same or increasing it.

IV. First Pass Yield (FPY)

The FPY is the percentage of products or transactions that are completed correctly the first time without the need for rework or corrections. When the FPY is high it means that you have an efficient process with high quality which leads to less rework. It is a tremendous benefit when you decrease the time to complete a transaction or product. It reduces the cost to complete each unit (product/transaction) and strengthens the company.

V. Cycle Time (Transaction/output duration)

The metric is defined as the total time it takes to complete a specific business process from start point to finish. By reducing the cycle time the company benefits from faster customer service, increased efficiency, decreased costs, and higher capacity to produce more. Once again by reducing the cycle time you are increasing savings and increasing customer satisfaction.

There are many more metrics that the business process analyst will use. However, you can quickly understand that these five metrics will improve the process of BPA reviews and optimizes.

The Biggest Myth Regarding Business Process Analysts

One of the biggest misconceptions and myths in the business world is that the BPA is a cost to the company. They are instead of an investment. Imagine that you reduce the waste in your business by 20%. It means that 20% of your operational costs are given back to you and your business. What can you do with that? You can increase and improve your marketing thereby generating more leads. This in turn increases your sales and the growth of the company.

You can also go in a different direction and update your equipment, machinery, and software. Both scenarios will grow the business and increase your profitability. Therefore, hiring a business process analyst is one of the greatest decisions you can make to improve your business.

7. Sustainability and Scalability

The benefits of sustainability and scalability to your business are the foundation for continued growth and scaling the business.  Doing so while maintaining high quality and efficiency is a competitive advantage in your marketplace. These are the three benefits that the BPA will provide by optimizing your processes.

I. Long-Term Growth

A robust and efficient process can handle increased demand without overhauling the operations or increasing resources. The BPA will develop the process so that as the business grows the processes adapt smoothly while keeping its efficiency. You can avoid the so-called ‘growing pains’ that can hurt the company when a BPA optimizes your company processes. This has a long-term impact on the business and its sustainability.

II. Consistency and Quality Maintenance

Scalable processes mean that your company can grow without a negative impact on the quality of your products or services. The business process analyst will design your processes with scalability in mind so that it can handle increased demand without compromising customer quality. This not only builds your brand but positively increases your brand reputation in your marketplace.

III. Adaptability to Market Changes

Designing flexible processes is good for your business. It enables you to adapt to market changes and customer demands quickly. This adaptability will allow you to pivot when necessary, without costly delays, overhauls, or unnecessary stress. This is an advantage and should not be minimized. New technology is constantly being launched in every industry. Those that have not made their processes adaptable to change will not be able to take advantage of the new changes, and at worst will close down.

8. Time Savings

People are willing to pay for speed. They will pay for something valuable to them even if the service or product is free if it can be delivered faster than the free version. There are many industries built on speed. A company that delivers faster services or products will have an advantage in the marketplace. Speed is related to time. The business process analyst will identify and eliminate unnecessary process steps, complexity, and bottlenecks to enable the process to be produced much faster than before. This benefit will not only create savings but give you a marketplace advantage that can make you a market leader.

9. Standardization

Customization is time-consuming and therefore expensive. Standardization reduces costs and decreases the time to produce a product or service. Standardizing procedures and workflows enables processes to be efficient with all the benefits already detailed above. It also increases quality, which is important to the customer and your business image and reputation in the marketplace. That is not to say that everything has to be standardized. Only if the customer is willing to pay for it will the customization provide a market advantage for your business. Your business will thrive due to your processes being standardized as much as possible.

10. Return on Investment (ROI)

It’s always about the ROI. Every effort a company engages in must have a greater value than the cost of engaging in that effort. The objective is to realize a return on investment in the shortest period. The ROI is realized (in about 90% of the time) in 6 months or less. It means that whatever the investment in process optimization, is paid back to the company within 6 months. These savings will be ongoing. In such a case it means that your company will save the same amount invested in one year.

You must also remember that these savings continue every year going forward. That is a powerful method of gaining an advantage over your competition. If you engage a company like mine where you don’t have to put any money upfront but pay a small portion of the received savings then you have a powerful tool at your disposal.

Summary

The business process analyst is one of the best-kept secrets for a company to have on their side. There are simply too many benefits to disregard. Many business owners and managers sometimes feel overwhelmed by the competition. They think that they are being competition is beating them, and think that the competition must be cutting corners on their work or products. This may be true in some cases, but there are other answers to turn the situation around. Having a BPA on your side is a powerful one that you must have.

FAQ’s

What does a business process analyst do?

Answer: A business process analyst is a professional with expertise in optimizing a business process by ensuring that the output of the process has the most quality possible, and the least cost to produce while increasing the capacity of the process. They accomplish this by standardizing processes, reducing process risk, and solving bottleneck issues that lead to waste and therefore needless costs in a process.

What is a business process analyst?

Answer: A business process analyst is a trained professional who looks at the efficiency of processes in a business. The objective is to create or design processes that cost the least amount to the company while delivering the highest quality to customers. This is done while keeping in mind what customers are willing to pay for.

What is the role of a business process analyst?

Answer: The role of a business process analyst (BPA) is to identify waste in a process. Wastes can contribute to unnecessary costs to the business when producing the product or completing a transaction. The BPA will also increase the quality of the product. They do this by reducing or eliminating re-work, quality risks,  and speed to produce a product or transaction. This gives the company an advantage over their competition.