How Distributors Can Improve Business Processes Leveraging Technology

Author: Craig Pollack Date: Jan 12, 2015 Topics: _Distribution and Manufacturing Blogs

7-Tips-for-Distributors-in-LA-on-Improving-Business-Processes-Leveraging-TechnologyProfitable Los Angeles distributors depend on streamlined operations. They are continually on the lookout for improving business processes. Technology can be critical for gains in efficiency and rapidity, and for cost-reduction.

However, an enterprise still has to be clear on how objectives and technology interact; and the difference between doing the right thing, as well as doing things right. Try these seven tips to get technology to contribute the right way to your business success.

Tip 1: Remember that Business Needs Come First

Business history is littered with the casualties of companies that thought technology was a god to be worshipped, instead of a resource to be leveraged. Be clear, first of all, on the business results you require. Then see which technologies can help with regard to improving business processes designed to provide those results.

Tip 2: Process Obliteration is an Option

There is no point in doing something better if it should not be done in the first place. Processes or parts of them can become obsolete. Sometimes better delegation of operational responsibility is enough to drastically reduce overall process time and effort. Save your smart technology solutions for processes that really need them.

Tip 3: Don’t (Necessarily) Copy Competitors

Competitors may have the same market goals as you. However, they are also unlikely to have the same internal structures, organizations, and requirements. The technology solutions they choose for improving business processes are not automatically the ones you should use. Not to mention that they may also have omitted to take Tip 1 (see above) into account.

Tip 4: Get IT to Offer Good Business Ideas

Notwithstanding the need for technology to follow the business lead, the IT department is the one group that sees business processes at work across the whole the company. While their role includes fitting technology to needs, IT is also ideally positioned to offer insights into how additional business advantages could be gained.

Tip 5: Improve Processes with Collaboration Tools

Streamlining is not just about being faster and cheaper. It’s about being smarter too. It pays to facilitate the communication and the exchange of ideas by the people associated with the processes. Collaboration software applications for instance can help turn creativity and innovation into process improvements and advantage.

Tip 6: Get the Right Resources for Implementation

Some technologies require new or specialized skills. If you don’t have these, you’ll either have to acquire them or find a reliable, competent external provider. Hiring people for specific project requirements may mean an additional challenge in finding roles for them afterwards. Using an external service provider has the advantage of access to expert resources when needed.

Tip 7: Plan and Budget for Process Improvement

Even with in-house resources, an additional project for improving a business process will mean time and effort that will no longer be available for other projects. If you choose an external partner, this will need to be budgeted for. Either way, improving business processes has a cost even if it also enhances productivity and profitability afterwards.

 

How have you improved your business processes as a distributor and which technology helped the most? Tell us about your experience in the Comments box below.

 

And to follow-through on the tips introduced in this short article, be sure to download your free guide, How COOs at Los Angeles Distributors and Manufacturers Get More Done: A Guide to Productivity, Data, Staffing, Delegation, and Making It Home for Dinner Most Nights.

 

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Author

Craig Pollack

Craig Pollack

Craig is the Founder & CEO of FPA Technology Services, Inc. Craig provides the strategy and direction for FPA, ensuring its clients, business owners, and key decision makers leverage technology as efficiently and effectively as possible. With over 30 years of experience building the preeminent IT Service Provider in the Southern California area, Craig is one of the area’s leading authorities on how small to mid-sized businesses can best leverage and secure their technology to achieve their business objectives.

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