The well oiled machine........

Now anyone who is in business has heard from someone or read something about how great having systems and process are. Most people have experienced the well oiled machine systems (take the fact McDonalds can have your burger delivered in under 3 minutes) and most of us would have experienced the non-oiled machine systems (think Call Centre Customer Service). Both have systems and processes. What's the difference?

I like to think of systems and processes in business similar to a car (Ok now I know what you are all thinking - you are an accountant what can you possibly know about cars!). Cars have an inbuilt system - the engine, it's what allows the car to get us from point a to point b. The engine however needs constant maintenance......there are the oil changes, filter changes, fuel that we put in the engine and occasionally a little bit more maintenance is needed. Chances are if you don't put oil in your engine your engine (the system) will blow up.

So let's take your business as an example. Think of your business as the engine. You have done the hard yards to build the engine and get things started. Each day you make the trip from point a to point b. But how often do you stop and "oil" your engine?

Do you stop to look at your systems and processes? Do you review what's working and what's not? Do you review when it's time for an oil change?

We live in an ever changing world. We have this wonderful thing called technology that seems to be changing just about everyday. Systems that worked well 5 years ago no longer work. To be competitive in this environment you need to ensure your processes and systems have the required oil change.

The well oiled machine...........does yours need an update?