We hope it's no secret that one of the fundamental components of any company is its business processes. These are the internal mechanisms of the company's activities that standardize how the company works internally (for example, the business process of approving marketing requests for expenses), how you produce goods, provide services, and communicate with customers and partners.
In this article, we will look at what business processes are, what are examples of their application, and understand the importance of forming your own business processes. We will also introduce you to a tool that will help optimize these processes and make your business more productive.
What are business processes?
A business process (BP) is a defined and approved sequence of actions and operations that are performed in an organization to achieve a specific goal. Imagine it as a checklist of best practices and methods for doing business. Each step is responsible for a specific person, and the ultimate goal is to provide a service or product to a customer.
To achieve maximum efficiency, a task should be assigned to the person who has the greatest abilities in a particular field. So we asked our experts: ToDo Director and Founder – Alexey Bardakov, Odoo Implementation Manager – Timur Nizhnikovskyi, and Sales Director – Konstantin Semyants, what they consider a business process? We received the following answers:
“A business process is a list of resources, responsible persons and operations that lead to a desired result. And the steps can be repeated over and over again, performed by multiple people in an optimized and standardized way. By removing the human factor from a business process, we optimize it" – Director and founder of ToDo, Alexei Bardakov.
“In essence, this concept has a clear definition, but if we consider the concept of implementing ERP systems, then the business process is a very important part, necessary for understanding how the system should work in the enterprise.
The better the business process, the more efficiently the business will operate, the more efficiently the production of finished products will be carried out (if we talk about BP within the framework of production).
We need this awareness in order to study the customer's business process, optimize it and automate the processes that require it,” - Head of the Odoo Implementation Department, Nizhnikovsky Timur.
“For me, a business process is a set of clearly defined steps that an employee must take to achieve the goal of creating a product that has value for the customer, both external and internal,” said Sales Director, Kostyantyn Semenets.
Examples of business processes
For example, imagine the manufacturing process: from the initial order of raw materials to the shipment of finished products - it is all a business process. Or imagine the customer service process: from accepting a request for a consultation to providing the necessary services or manufacturing a product - it is all a business process too.
The importance of creating your own business processes
Why is it so important to shape your own business processes? The answer is simple – they make your company more productive and competitive. They help save time, money and other resources, and also reduce the risks of errors and misunderstandings. Business processes are the key to ensuring the stable functioning of your company and the growth of your business.
The well-known American marketing company TechTarget, with a market capitalization of $735.02 million, also speaks about the importance of business processes – here link to their articleWe also want to note that it is very convenient to use the Deming cycle (PDCA cycle) when building your own business process, you can read about it from this article of ours.
Basic elements of a business process
The main elements of any business process are input, operations, output, and control. Input is the initial information that starts the process. Operations are the sequence of actions that are performed to transform input into a useful result. Output is the results of the process that are used for further actions. Control involves the control and coordination of the entire process.
Odoo as a tool for optimizing business processes
What is business process optimization for us? We see it as follows: “Removing the human factor from the business process. If people are involved in the process, they can forget something, do something wrong, make a mistake.
When you build your process around an automated system, this factor ceases to bother you. The second is removing unnecessary steps from the business process in order to shorten the path to achieving the set goal” – Oleksiy Bardakov.
You can achieve optimization of your business processes with the help of automation in Odoo. This is a system that is designed to increase the efficiency of your company. You can read more about Odoo in our articles.
With Odoo, you can control and optimize most aspects of your business, from finances to customer relationship management. You can track the current status of your processes, receive reports and analyses that will help you make informed decisions and ensure the development of your business. And most importantly, it's all in one interface.
More about the functionality on the page system modules.
Result
Business processes are an important part of any company, regardless of its size or industry. They help ensure the efficiency and success of your business. Using an automation tool like Odoo will allow you to optimize these processes and make your business even more efficient.
Do you have questions about automation? Want to know where to start with optimization? Then contact us for a free consultation. We have 20 years of experience in business process automation. Our team of professionals will be happy to help, because our goal is to make complex things simple. Our motto: “Too easy – do simple!”
