System Design is Business Design
Think of this business you are designing and building as one big system, comprised of many smaller systems – similar to the human body being comprised of the nervous system, respiratory system, circulatory system, etc.
Just like how each one of your body’s systems is working determines your overall health, how each of your business systems is working determines your overall business health. If your business is not performing as you want, it is likely you have one or all of these issues:
- Missing systems; poorly designed systems; or people are not following the systems.
Organizations must learn how to identify key systems, and then document well designed and measurable processes. Having well designed systems is the foundation of a solid business, resulting in sustainable performance or what we call in my own company, lasting excellence.
What is a System?
A system is the way you and your people do what they do in your business. It is the steps or tasks required to getting something done.
Systems exist all over every business and most if not all are not designed. They just happen. A great way to get your business to work even better, faster, and cheaper than it is currently working is to do a better job designing, documenting, and managing one of your greatest assets, your business systems.
Business Systems Management
As you begin to move in this direction of designing and documenting your systems you will begin to realize that—in order to manage all of your systems more effectively— you will need a more systematic way of capturing your knowledge, getting it documented, training your team, tracking and monitoring the use of systems, and improving your systems. We call this type of work business systems management.
In the same way that information technology has already helped most firms manage their data more effectively, we believe every company also requires a technology solution to manage their business systems more effectively. We now offer a web-based software program called TouchStone to enable our clients to manage all of their business systems.
The very process of implementing business systems management requires you to think more explicitly and intentionally about your business and the key processes required to make your business run. Designing and building your business and its systems is your pathway to substantially higher business performance. Firms that put systems and processes front and center consistently outperform those that don't. They're quicker to adapt to changing business conditions. They're more responsive to their clients. And they're seizing opportunities that are lifting revenue and profitability to a whole new place.
