Boosting Workflow Efficiency

Be honest! When was the last time that you reviewed your workflows? Was it last year when you received notice from one of your companies that they were going to eliminate paper? Was it when you upgraded your software? Was it when you first purchased your broker management system (BMS)?

Businesses continually need to change and adapt to combat the intensive competitive pressures brought on by the ever-accelerating rate of technological changes and constant changes in customer requirements and regulations. The new year presents an opportunity to start fresh, to make resolutions that you will be able to follow through on. Here is some food for thought.

CONTINUOUS FLOW

The first step is realizing that workflows are processes that never end. Review your current workflows. Start with one particular workflow. Follow each process from start to finish beginning with the initial phone call, piece of mail or email and ending with final communication and documentation. Automation affects everyone – the producer, the account executive, the customer service representative (CSR), the accounting department, the mailroom to the receptionist. It also affects each department whether it is personal lines, commercial lines, small business, life, financial, etc. Are there any handwritten notes? What happens to them when the process is completed? Who handles the request? Is it passed off to anyone? What role does the BMS play in the process? What role does the paper file play in the process? Are transactions duplicated in both the electronic file and the paper file? If the answer is “yes”, then ask yourself “why?” These are just a few of the questions that you will have to answer in regard to your current workflow.

Sometimes, finding answers to questions that seem simple leads to more questions but it will also allow you to identify areas where the processes are inefficient or where they are lacking detail. The workflows should be detailed enough so that anyone can follow them. Ongoing review is important to evaluate resource allocation, to look at changes in strategic assumptions and to assist in the ongoing process of setting critical goals.

COLLECTIVE FLOWS

Once problems are identified, put your collective minds together to refine your workflow processes. Every member of your organization that touches a workflow has a vested interest in it. Get comments and involvement from everyone so that you can refine workflows that touch them. Some of the ideas that you come up with may not work or may have to be “tweaked” in order to work properly. Encourage your staff to participate in the process at all stages. Involvement can mean all the difference to commitment to the changes. Everyone has a stake in it.

Where are your workflows stored? Are they in a binder in an office where only the manager has access to it or are they stored online where everyone can review them and make necessary changes? It is important that you empower everyone to monitor and adjust workflows as needed.

NEW FLOWS

Take a new look at how you do things. If you can answer why you are doing a process in a particular way, there should be a corresponding measurable goal or objective created for the work flow. Plus, ask your peers how they do things, ask your companies, ask and look to see if you can be doing something more efficiently and economically. Get involved in your local user group and start attending meetings and conferences.

GOAL-DRIVEN

Now that you have created a goal for your workflow, how are you going to measure your incremental improvements? Goals need to be measured so that you can ascertain the productivity gain or customer service gain that you started this process for in the first place. Make sure that these goals are realistic. One of the biggest problems in keeping a resolution is that we simply aim too high.

If your goals are realistic, and if there is no improvement, then you need to go back to the first step – why are you doing this? The “yoyo dieting” has to stop sometime. Accept that one of the biggest obstacles that you will face is the resistance to change. “We are used to doing the work the way we’ve always done it.” “We are set in our ways.” It will be there in all shapes and sizes. Help your staff overcome their resistance, make them part of the change and show them the incremental improvements or failures. If workflows are properly implemented uncertainty and conflicts are minimized and information is likely to be more complete. When staff sees that the change made in a workflow ultimately impacts the goal you have set with them…

Also think about your companies and how they are making changes, how will this affect your office, as each company gets more automated, improves their web access, improves their programs, how do you make these new changes a part of your day to day workflow. Following these steps will allow you to keep your “New Year’s resolution”. Next year you can work on that new diet and big screen television.