The optimisation of business processes

Optimisation simply means making something (like a design, system, or decision) as fully perfect, functional, or effective as possible. Throughout history, optimising business processes has been paramount for companies striving to maintain a competitive edge. This involves identifying inefficiencies, streamlining workflows and enhancing productivity across various departments and functions. In the modern business world, it is more important than ever.

‘The finance function plays a crucial role in business process optimisation due to its oversight of financial resources and its ability to analyse data effectively,’ says John Lynes, managing director of Ashdown Group.

‘Finance professionals are skilled at analysing financial data and identifying trends, patterns and areas of inefficiency within business processes. By leveraging financial analysis tools and techniques, they can provide insights into where processes can be streamlined and improved.’

By optimising business processes, companies can eliminate redundant tasks, reduce manual errors and automate routine procedures. This leads to increased efficiency, allowing employees to focus on value-added activities and innovation rather than repetitive tasks. Through careful analysis of financial data, accountants can identify areas of overspending, inefficiencies in resource allocation and opportunities for cost reduction.

Streamlining processes provides management with timely and accurate information, enabling informed decision making. Accountants play a key role in providing financial insights and analysis, helping management prioritise investments, allocate resources effectively and mitigate risks.

Humans and machines in harmony

Of course, technology plays a role in optimisation as well – but in conjunction with human endeavour.

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‘Business leaders can’t avoid the hype around the use of artificial intelligence and the promise of greater productivity and efficiency gains,’ says Lynes. ‘Pressure is growing to adopt these technologies and identify cost savings. To this end, finance professionals can play a key role in mapping out existing business processes and documenting them in detail. This allows them to identify bottlenecks, redundancies and areas for improvement, paving the way for streamlined workflows. They can identify areas of unnecessary spending, costly processes or resource allocation issues and propose cost-effective alternatives to streamline processes.

‘By producing and reporting on relevant KPIs to measure the performance and effectiveness of a business process, accountants can identify areas that require optimisation and monitor the impact of process improvements over time.’

Finance professionals need skills in change management and digital transformation to effectively implement process improvements within an organisation. This involves communication, stakeholder engagement and overcoming resistance to change to ensure successful adoption of streamlined processes. By harnessing the expertise of accountants and the finance function, companies can achieve significant improvements in operational efficiency, cost savings and overall performance through the optimisation of business processes.

Key skills

To be efficient at helping make business processes as efficient as possible, you need a diverse set of skills, including:

• Analytical skills: You must possess strong analytical skills to assess complex data sets, identify patterns and pinpoint areas for improvement within business processes.
• Financial acumen: A deep understanding of financial principles and accounting standards is essential for you to analyse financial data, assess performance metrics and make informed recommendations for process optimisation.
• Technology proficiency: In today’s digital age, proficiency with accounting software, data analytics tools and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems is crucial.
• Communication skills: You need to effectively communicate your findings and recommendations to stakeholders across the organisation, including management, department heads and frontline staff, to drive consensus and facilitate implementation.
• Change management expertise: Implementing process optimisation initiatives often requires navigating organisational change. You must possess change management skills to overcome resistance, foster collaboration and ensure successful adoption of new processes.

Author: Beth Holmes, writer

More information

This article was first published in Student Accountant in May 2024 | Get the SA app now