As more businesses take on disruptive processes, most cannot deliver at the necessary speed. MARK BEETS says this is largely due to internal business processes that are not aligned with the objectives of disrupting in order to meet consumer needs.
Are companies still using paper based leave and expense claim forms? Yes.
Spreadsheets for sales tracking? Yes.
Lengthy tender processes for research and development (R&D) initiatives? Yes
These are simple examples of operationally draining and costly exercises. These should be completed in a maximum of 3 clicks, in under 2 minutes.
Although every client is different, I have on numerous occasions experienced a complete disconnect between the older, mature business processes, such as traditional procurement which don’t fit the disruptive millennial & on-demand services model. I acknowledge that the red-tape is important, but not always appropriate for modern disruptive services.
The up-and-coming workforce (and by extension younger consumer) is looking for something vastly different to the industrial age operating model. The next generation will help you in reinvigorating your business, and to do this it is vitally important to engage with your employees individually, understanding their goals and how best to utilise their strengths within, so it becomes mutually beneficial. Reward these employees immediately. Use your older knowledge to teach that building things right, the first time, is still relevant – but also use it to rebuild your business from the inside. Rebuild it with this generation’s service-expectation model.
Embracing these new ways of operating a business is not easy. You might ask why fix the toaster that is not broken? The bottom line is that your toaster is grimy and slow and burns your fingers because the eject spring has fallen off! It’s time to embrace the new, but make sure you Dis-Intra-rupt your business first.
* Mark Beets GM: Business Development at Entelect