Whether your processes are formal or informal they all have one thing in common: they’re all designed to provide better customer experiences. Whether they are delivered in person, online or over the phone they don’t just magically happen, they are designed.
When designing for an optimal customer experience, it’s essential to look at what your customers want or what they find frustrating so you can build workflows that leverage strengths and eliminate weakness, while also working to solve problems and improve services.
When everyone follows a well-tested set of steps, there are fewer errors and delays, there is less duplicated effort, and staff and customers feel more satisfied.
You probably use dozens of business processes every day. For example, you may go through the same steps each time you generate a report, resolve a customer complaint, contact a new client, or manufacture a new product.
You’ve likely come across the results of inefficient processes, too. Unhappy customers, stressed colleagues, missed deadlines, and increased costs – these are just some of the problems that dysfunctional processes can create.
That’s why it’s so important to regularly review and assess how effective and useful your business processes are and they actually work with your team. Business Processes almost always need to be seen as an interaction, not in isolation.
Implement and Communicate Change
It’s likely that improving your business process will involve change either to systems, teams, or procedures, so these changes need to be planned and managed carefully. Change is not always easy and people are often resistant to it, so your plan needs to address this.
There are many organisations that have designed an experience that sets them apart from others within their industry. These companies have been able to achieve their status not only by streamlining workflows but also by investing in employee training and development.
If you’re willing to invest the time and energy into revamping business processes to improve the customer experience, but can’t be bothered to train employees effectively so they can do their jobs better — your path to success won’t be easy.
