Customers despise them, but most businesses are unaware that they exist. They drain goodwill from your clients and money from your company’s coffers. These are called process black holes.
A process black hole is a process black spot that exists when one of two factors occurs:
The mechanism resembles that of a never-ending game of pass the parcel. It goes round and round, moving the piece of work between several teams and wasting company time and resources, until the customer either gives up (and moves on) or it becomes like an act of magician i.e., it is gone.
Process black holes occur because businesses don’t recognise their systems, don’t have insight into them, and don’t handle them. They are more common in organisations with processes that span several functions (hence more breakpoints) and hence more chances for the process to fail.
Some suggestions to get rid of process black holes are:
- Recognize the presence of breakpoints (visibility of process)
- Remove or upgrade them (redesign functional teams, automate where possible)
- Processes should be aligned with the needs of the consumer (eliminate unnecessary activities).
- Where are the pain points in the measurement of process failure?
- Continually change – keep track of successes, cost savings, and customer satisfaction.
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