Standardization of Process: First Step towards Growing Your Business

For a layman, a ‘Process’ can be defined as a compilation of organized work tasks initiated in response to an event or occasion that achieves an explicit result. Standardization of process usually refers to the collection or recording the reliable data related to process in order to bring innovation. Business Process Standardization is the act of establishing a routine of how to complete a process & ensuring that the entire organization follows it. The first ever known business process can be dated back to 1776, when Scottish economist Adam Smith described that, business process can be divided into simpler tasks and assigned to different individuals can bring a tremendous increase in productivity. Similarly, American engineer, Frederick Winslow Taylor, also believed in standardization of process and based on it greatly influenced and improved quality of industrial process in the early 20^th century.

Keeping aside all these historic references the question still rises, ‘Why standardization of business process is necessary?’ According to Productivity Press Development Team (2002), Business Process Standardization can be defined as a process which involves setting a standard and with a commitment work for the continuous improvement of the standard. Standardization can be found in business processes when companies require a steady level of quality.

Today, employees have an established, time tested process to use the benefits of standardization of business process, which includes:

1. Loss and Variability Reduction- following a firm schedule will certainly check the losses
2. Improvement of Quality- as work is done in a pre-defined and optimized way eliminating the need for guesswork or extra searching
3. Effective Company Training Culture- employees will be well trained to master the process and refine their skills
4. Increased Transparency- tasks divided into smaller steps will provide a better observation
5. Production Boost- with minimum loss and well-managed business strategies, it will certainly give the desired boost in production as well as morale of the employees
6. Better Customer Service- if the organization is more productive and efficient then result will be better outcomes for the customers.

Having figured out why we should go for standardization of process it’s time to throw some light on how to achieve it which is as follows:

1. By setting some commonly accepted strategies relating to how a product or service is created or supported, as well as to how a business is operated or how certain required processes are governed.
2. Enforcing a level of consistency or uniformity to certain practices within the selected environment such as meeting the deadline of a project within the instructed time or following a proper schedule to fulfil the standard working hour quota in the organization.
3. Finding the best way to carry out the process as in the cheapest and fastest way which creates the most value.
4. Ensuring that the entire organization actually follows the process in order to achieve the maximum efficient result.
5. Going for the structured documents or templates for creating company procedure documents like operations manual, reference guide or any kind of paperwork.
6. Automating the workflow which occurs at more-or-less random times such as new client intake, employee on boarding, and new content promotion.

Having a standardized process for business doesn’t mean coaxing each and every one of the workforce to work as per their peak capability but by simply optimizing the process and having a complete focus on business growth by making sure your business is doing as well as it possibly could, might lead you the highest summit of success.