I came across an example of a process in need of improvement recently. Like you, I come across these pretty regularly in everyday life. But this one has an interesting twist…
I was applying for a service via a broker. The broker recommended a company and he was excited because this company had a new process using electronic signatures. They had ‘automated the process’ rather than needing paper forms, snail mail etc. etc. I was intrigued too and so was pleased to give it a go. The email arrived and it was a little disconcerting because warned that if I made any error in the electronic signature process that it was my fault and it might invalidate it. They would not check for accuracy. When I clicked on the link there was a problem because the broker had entered my landline number into the system and not my mobile number. The phone number was needed to send an authentication text. So he attempted to correct that and a new email arrived. When I clicked the link this time it told me that “the envelope is being updated”. I have no idea what envelope it was talking about – a pretty useless error message. I wasn’t feeling great about this process improvement now.
The broker said “Let’s go back to the paper way then.” He emailed me a 16-page form that I had to complete. I had to get it signed by 4 different people in a particular order. It was a pretty challenging form that needed to be completed, scanned and emailed back. I did wonder as I completed it just how many times there must be errors in completion (including, possibly my own). There seemed to be hundreds of opportunities for error. Makes sense, I thought, to implement a process improvement and use a process with electronic signatures – to ‘automate the process’. Where they had failed was clearly in the implementation – they had not trained the broker or given adequate instructions to the end user (me). Error messages using IT jargon were of no help to the end user. It reminded me of an electronic filing system I saw implemented some years ago, where a company decided to ‘automate the process’ of filing. The IT Department was over the moon because they had implemented the system one week ahead of schedule. But no-one was actually using it because they hadn’t been trained, the roll-out had not been properly considered, there was no thought about reinforcing behaviours or monitoring actual use. No change management considerations. A success for IT but a failure for the company!
Anyway, back to the story. After completing the good old paper-based process, I was talking some more with the broker and he said “their quote for you was good but their application process is lousy. Other companies have a much easier way of doing it – for most of them the broker completes the information on-line and then sends a two-page form via email to print, review, sign (once), scan and return. After that a confirmation pack comes through and the consumer has the chance to correct errors at that stage. But it’s all assumed to be right at the start.” These companies had a simple and efficient process and no need to ‘automate the process’ with electronic signatures.
Hang on. Why does the company I used need a 16-page form and 4 signatures I hear you ask? Who knows! They had clearly recognised that their process needed improving but had headed down the route of ‘let’s automate it’. They could have saved themselves an awful lot of cost of implementing their new improved process if they had talked with the broker about his experience first.
The lesson here is – don’t just take a bad process and try to ‘automate’ it with IT. Start by challenging the process. Why is it there? Does it have to be done that way? There might even be other companies out there who have a slick process already – do you know how your competition solves the problem? Even more intriguingly, perhaps another industry has solved a similar problem in a clever way that you could copy. If you discover that a process is actually unnecessary and you can dramatically simplify it then you’re ‘mistake-proofing’ the process. Taking out unnecessary steps means they can’t go wrong.
In my next post I will explore the confusion surrounding the term CAPA.
Breaking News – the broker just got back to me to tell me I had got one of the pages wrong on the 16-page form. This is definitely a process in need of improvement!
Text: © 2017 Dorricott MPI Ltd. All rights reserved.
This was something talked about at the conference I attended this week…recreating what you have with new technologies can often create issues rather than solving them. Defining the problem first is essential to success
Completely agree! You should really start from first principles – what is the purpose of the process. Then work through the best way of delivering the purpose of the process. Start by thinking of IT as a ‘constraint’ – what can you do without changing it. Otherwise everyone jumps to IT as the solution…when maybe a simpler solution is available.
I agree- Usually the end point and the impact of process improvement initiative is not brain stormed before the changes are initiated- every process improvement initiative should be complemented by well thought change management strategy… in this case change management strategy should have considered the ease to use the system ….