For most of my professional life, I have been helping companies improve operations in one area or another. When looking to make improvements, leadership often asks three questions:
- Do we have the right (or sufficient) people in place?
- Can we improve our process?
- Do we have the right technology in place?
Often the subjects surrounding these questions are grouped together. For example, people might say, “We need to focus on People, Process, and Technology.” It makes sense that they are lumped together, as they are all interconnected; however, they are not all equal. Their connection is obvious if you have old or outdated technology — it can prevent businesses from streamlining internal processes. Likewise, if the process itself is already bad, then adding technology might not help. Lastly, if employees are not trained on the technology or don’t follow the process, issues are bound to arise.
So, where do should businesses start? I like to think of a saying my old manager said: “People are greater than process and technology.”
If there is quality staff but a lack of the latest technology or best practices, running a successful company or department is still possible. In today’s business landscape with a low unemployment rate, we are seeing that it is not always a matter of not having the right people, but rather having enough people. Sure, adding technology can allow companies to do more with less, but you also need people in place to implement that new technology. Having the right people with a clear vision to review processes also helps to ensure they are still meeting everchanging company needs. This is where many businesses turn to consulting companies that not only help evaluate a specific business process, but also recruit and staff enough people to provide the necessary bandwidth to take on new projects.
It was Steve Jobs that said, “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” If businesses start with the right (and enough) people, they will help improve internal processes and evaluate and implement the best technology. If you would like to learn how one consulting company and Esker’s Technology are helping customers improve their finance department, you can see an upcoming webcast this week titled Optimizing Working Capital: Digital Transformation in Accounts Receivable, Part 1 of a 2-part series.
