Business process mapping helps you visualize your processes to understand, analyze, and improve them. In this article, we look at five reasons why you should map your business processes.
Business process mapping is defined as the activity of creating a process workflow that helps understand the structure and elements of a process right from its start to the end.
Process mapping is used as a simplification technique by businesses that are looking to improve their processes. It chalks out the entire process to demystify its components and workflows.
The mapped outline of a process helps businesses point out the gaps in existing workflows, and opportunities to optimize them. With the basic use of symbols and flowcharts, a process map helps you understand, interpret, and analyze a process.
With process maps, you find answers to simple questions about your processes such as:
- What are the tasks involved in the process?
- Who is responsible for each task?
- What is the timeframe for every task?
- What are the bottlenecks for a task?
- What systems are used in a process?
- Where does my process break in the absence of an employee?
- and so on...
Albeit these are simple questions, they are important at times when you plan on improving your process efficiency and effectiveness.
5 Reasons You Should Map Your Business Processes
Process mapping is a liberating tool that helps you improve your process efficiency and effectiveness. But it does need an investment of time, effort, and budget. From corporate approvals and employee insights to budgets for process mapping tools, it takes a lot more than just planning.
You need solid reasons to take up such an initiative that requires huge investments. To help you out, we have listed down the top five reasons why you should consider mapping your business processes.
You cannot visualize your process
When your process workflows and tasks are in your employees' heads, there is no visual representation or documentation of the process. This means that there is no standardized or templatized version of the process that can be followed, shared, or used to train anyone.
In such cases, each employee has the freedom to create their version of the process task or workflow with guesswork and experimentation. This leads to chaos and confusion, causing a lack of accountability, productivity, and blame games. It also affects other business functions such as handovers, employee training, and overall business operations.
With process mapping, you discover your processes and map them using symbols and flowcharts. This way, your team can visualize your process and follow the established version of it instead of guessing and experimenting with tasks.
There are revenue leaks and operational gaps in your processes
Hidden process gaps are often the reason why there are revenue leaks in your processes. These gaps can turn out to be expensive if neglected for too long.
Revenue leaks caused by process gaps are only fixable when they can be identified. Once you know where the gaps and leaks are, you can take measures to fix them.
Process maps give you a visual summary of your business processes, allowing you to point out the revenue leaks and operational gaps so that you can act on them immediately. Process maps are preventive measures that help you save costs and efforts to increase process efficiency and effectiveness.
Process mapping helps you uncover hidden problems that have long been hindering the growth of your business.
Your processes are inefficient and ineffective
Lack of process documents and visualization causes problems at the root level of your processes. It affects tasks, systems, employees, and overall productivity.
Process gaps and revenue leaks cause inefficiencies and ineffectiveness in your operations. Operational breakdowns are common symptoms of inefficient processes. Oftentimes there is over-utilization of resources, causing employee dissatisfaction.
Naturally, the next step you need to take is to map your processes to identify gaps and start improvements. Filling these gaps will increase the efficiency of your processes and business operations.
You cannot identify problem areas in your processes
Business processes, like any other business function, are prone to problems and breakdowns. When your processes are not documented or visually represented in any form, it is difficult to get to the root cause of a problem.
For example, your marketing process involves the task of sending out monthly newsletters to your subscribers. One particular month, the email is not sent out on time, and you are trying to identify the cause of the delay.
Because your process is neither mapped nor documented, you cannot clearly understand whether the problem is with your email tool, the CRM tool, or with your marketing team.
When you map your processes, you know exactly who is responsible for each task, and what system is used for every process. This way, it is easier to figure out the problem area so that you can take steps to fix the issues. Hence, process mapping is important to identify problem areas in your processes.
Your employees are burnt-out and frustrated
Employee burnouts and frustrations are clear indications of inefficient and ineffective processes. It is a vicious cycle of breakdowns - inefficient process - operational gaps - impact on customer satisfaction - burnouts - more inefficient processes...
The first and foremost action in this situation one must take is to start mapping existing business processes. It is the preliminary step in business process improvement that not only contributes to the bigger picture but also helps relieve immediate distress.
Conclusion
When you start mapping your business processes, you take the first step in improving and optimizing the performance of your business operations. So wait no longer and start your process mapping with the expert help of our process team now!
