Tips to Improving Business Agility by Owner of Lithe IT
Being a successful business today no longer guarantees future success. As well as focusing on products and services, successful businesses need to improve their overall agility. Anthony Murphy, owner of Lithe IT, details three tips to follow.
Glasgow, United Kingdom, November 25, 2011 --(PR.com)-- An agile business is able to recognise opportunities and threats, make informed decisions about how to react, and successfully implement decided actions in a rapid timeframe.
Many people consider agility to be achievable only for small to medium size businesses. They correlate size to agility and believe that as a business gets larger in size, it decreases in agility. The sad truth is that many large organisations are testament to this belief. But it is not true that all small businesses are able to successfully harness their agile advantage. The level of agility any business has is affected by more than just size.
The truth is that any business can become agile. When a large business embraces agility it becomes a powerful force for change. Consider the success Apple has achieved in redefining the mobile market both for consumers and business.
Anthony Murphy, owner of Lithe IT, outlines three tips as a starting point for business executives to follow as they embark on the journey towards the many rewards an agile business can bring.
Tip 1 – Change your structure to focus on process. Almost everyone has heard the negative phrase “silo working” and businesses continue to invest time and effort to reduce the effects of it. The truth is that functional structures are hindering success. Aligning structure to products or services will see these silos disappear overnight, leaving you with an engaged and more productive workforce.
Tip 2 – Get real time performance information and use it to test future performance. You can no longer accept delays waiting for historical performance reports to be produced. These reports are great for accounting purposes, but are of limited benefit to decision makers. Stop wasting energy analysing what happened last week or month and identifying who is to blame or reward. Instead start simulating what will happen next week to test how your processes will cope and rely on real-time indicators to highlight current bottlenecks or problems for immediate attention.
Tip 3 – Make your people innovators who love change. Business leaders frequently state that their people are their greatest asset, however as organisations grow, staff are typically required to adhere to inefficient processes which stifle their ability to innovate. Encouraging innovation is the key to achieving continuous process improvement and will allow your “stars” to flourish. Implement effective control structures to ensure business rules are followed and free your staff to innovate.
Most organisations require technology investment to help them achieve business agility backed up by a strong control framework. Implementing a Business Process Management System (BPMS) is an ideal way to help support the transformation and as Anthony Murphy points out, the market offers a wide variety of high quality and affordable solutions.
The pace of change continues to accelerate bringing new opportunities and threats. Only agile businesses can be confident of continuing to succeed in the future. If you are not agile then now is the time to change.
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Many people consider agility to be achievable only for small to medium size businesses. They correlate size to agility and believe that as a business gets larger in size, it decreases in agility. The sad truth is that many large organisations are testament to this belief. But it is not true that all small businesses are able to successfully harness their agile advantage. The level of agility any business has is affected by more than just size.
The truth is that any business can become agile. When a large business embraces agility it becomes a powerful force for change. Consider the success Apple has achieved in redefining the mobile market both for consumers and business.
Anthony Murphy, owner of Lithe IT, outlines three tips as a starting point for business executives to follow as they embark on the journey towards the many rewards an agile business can bring.
Tip 1 – Change your structure to focus on process. Almost everyone has heard the negative phrase “silo working” and businesses continue to invest time and effort to reduce the effects of it. The truth is that functional structures are hindering success. Aligning structure to products or services will see these silos disappear overnight, leaving you with an engaged and more productive workforce.
Tip 2 – Get real time performance information and use it to test future performance. You can no longer accept delays waiting for historical performance reports to be produced. These reports are great for accounting purposes, but are of limited benefit to decision makers. Stop wasting energy analysing what happened last week or month and identifying who is to blame or reward. Instead start simulating what will happen next week to test how your processes will cope and rely on real-time indicators to highlight current bottlenecks or problems for immediate attention.
Tip 3 – Make your people innovators who love change. Business leaders frequently state that their people are their greatest asset, however as organisations grow, staff are typically required to adhere to inefficient processes which stifle their ability to innovate. Encouraging innovation is the key to achieving continuous process improvement and will allow your “stars” to flourish. Implement effective control structures to ensure business rules are followed and free your staff to innovate.
Most organisations require technology investment to help them achieve business agility backed up by a strong control framework. Implementing a Business Process Management System (BPMS) is an ideal way to help support the transformation and as Anthony Murphy points out, the market offers a wide variety of high quality and affordable solutions.
The pace of change continues to accelerate bringing new opportunities and threats. Only agile businesses can be confident of continuing to succeed in the future. If you are not agile then now is the time to change.
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Contact
Lithe IT Ltd
Anthony Murphy
0141 314 3707
www.litheit.com
Anthony Murphy
0141 314 3707
www.litheit.com
Contact
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