The Overlooked Ingredient of Business Success: Process Management.

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The essential components of a successful business have been the subject of much writing. Recent scholarly research has a tendency to concentrate on small- to medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs. Here, relative success and failure may be distinguished solely by how long the company has been in operation. The owner, their motivation, past experience, risk-taking mindset, and the characteristics of the actual good or service being provided are the main components of a new business's early success. It also depends on the owner's capacity to fully capitalize on the market they have selected, including the owner's capacity to secure investment capital for growth and the success of early brand-building marketing. All of these are undoubtedly significant variables.

However, what are the key components of success for more established businesses that are in established markets? An extensive array of components goes into creating a successful business. Asking 20 accomplished CEOs or seasoned business executives would rapidly result in a lengthy list with many overlaps and a few oddball additions for good measure. It would be similar to having twenty skilled bakers, chefs, or cooks on MasterChef or Bake Off, each adding a special ingredient that they feel gives them a distinct advantage but that most of us have never heard of, much less tried. But how many of them would neglect to include a popular, basic root vegetable in their list?

Process management deserves special attention, which is why I'm highlighting it here today while discussing the components of a successful firm. All organizations have business processes, but in more established companies, executives rarely give them the attention they need in order to boost their organizations' growth or strengthen their capacity to adapt to external change.

Keeping with the culinary theme, the foundation of each successful company is its business operations. They make it possible for individuals and systems to collaborate over distances and time. They make it possible for data to move across your company, giving you insight into how it is running and the chance to make course correction decisions for the management team. Business procedures link your clients to the goods and services you offer, from the initial point of contact to meeting their needs and providing aftercare.

From hiring people to accepting orders from customers, paying suppliers, and collecting money, they serve as a link between the various departments and tasks inside the company. There are very few "hooks" to which you may affix suitable operational controls to manage the daily hazards affecting your firm if you don't have sufficient, well-considered, and standardized business processes.

Perhaps investing several million pounds on your next ERP upgrade is a more audacious and daring move than concentrating on process excellence. To engage with your customers, it might not be as exciting as creating a new smartphone app. Compared to rebranding your business with this year's most captivating font and a slightly different pantone tint, it might not be as instantly apparent to the outside world. But, as competition heats up and the need to adapt to changing market conditions grows—as recent events have demonstrated—it is imperative for any company hoping to grow and endure.

Many people could consider process administration and process excellence to be the main ingredients in the complex stew that is modern business. However, just like with any good stew, the underlining flavor will remain unchanged no matter how carefully you choose your ingredients and combine them. So, what level of control does your company have over its business processes? Is your company considering process excellence and management of business processes to be essential competencies? Are you making enough investments to develop and use this skill in order to positively influence how your firm operates both now and in the future? Are you concentrating on this essential component for company growth.