SwiftCase

Identify and eliminate bottlenecks in your workflow

Often in your business workflow, you’ll notice that one stage or process
causes holdups that slow down the entire chain. This phenomenon is known
as a “bottleneck”. Long queues form, staff are missing task deadlines,
and customers are unhappy.

Bottlenecks vary in severity, from temporary holdups caused by employee
absence to more serious structural issues that need in-depth analysis to
correct. Some bottlenecks may not even seem to be a “problem” as such,
but removing them could help you to realise your full productive
potential.

Common business process bottlenecks

  • Managers are taking too long to approve or sign off work, with staff
    waiting for the go-ahead to start a project, or release a product to the
    public.
  • Staff are lacking the necessary training to complete tasks on-time and
    efficiently.
  • Customer service department is unable to deal with a high number of
    orders or enquiries.
  • Dated or unsuitable software or technology that is not fit for purpose
  • Lack of communication between departments or individual employees.
  • Payments from clients or to suppliers not sent or received on time.

Problems arising from bottlenecks

  • Low employee morale, some staff are overwhelmed by unmanageable
    workloads, while others have little to do because they are waiting
    around for work.
  • Poor business reputation, from unsatisfied customers complaining about
    falling standards of service.
  • Lower productivity caused by delays and missed deadlines.
  • Inability to grow as a business, due to having to deal with constant
    day-to-day issues, rather than plan and adapt for expansion.

Identifying the causes

Having a clear, structured overview of your entire workflow, with every
business process clearly defined is the first step in identifying
bottlenecks. You should know what your processes are, who carries them
out, how long they should take and how they all relate to each other.
Make a flowchart to visualise what you need to evaluate.

Talk to staff to see who is affected the most by process delays, and
what they think would help. Concentrate on employees with too much or
too little work. Think about customer service enquiries and complaints.
What are customers consistently mentioning in their communication?

Look at productivity statistics. How long is it taking to provide a
particular service? Which departments are meeting deadlines and targets,
and which are falling behind?

Take action

There are a wide range of possible solutions to a bottleneck, depending
on the issue. Hiring more employees, retraining staff, finding new
suppliers and taking on new technology are a few of the actions you may
need to take to fix one particular workflow stage.

But if there is a fundamental problem with your workflow overall, and
the way processes relate to each other, then you will need to adopt new
organisational methods.

How SwiftCase helps

SwiftCase is a cloud-based, business process management platform that
lets you configure specific workflows to increase productivity and keep
your organisation running smoothly.

By breaking down your processes into distinct stages, and automating
time-consuming tasks, you can clear bottlenecks and prevent them
occurring in the future.

If you’re interested in a free, no-obligation demonstration, get in touch today.

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