Where Are True Business Values?

It is said that something only has value if someone is willing to pay for it. It is also said that some things on this earth have immeasurable value. So, which is it? How can we establish the true value of something, especially in the world of equipment maintenance?

People

The experience a person has gained is often considered to be of high value. That experience sadly might not translate into large sums of cash being thrown in their direction. Yet we tout their value in the hopes that the jelly of the month club subscription will suffice in keeping them in our employ. Experience only becomes of tangible value when it is pressed upon the current trouble of the day. Otherwise, it is just a number buried in the pages of a resume.

Yes, our people add value to the organization. Maybe their value is their billable rate. Maybe it is their drive for efficiency in getting the job done. Maybe it is their willingness to go here and there to do things that others simply refuse to do. Maybe it is difficult to pin down their value right now. Hmmm, that is going to require some thought.

People cost money to keep around. The key is understanding what they produce in the context of the organization. Being able to quantify what it is they produce, and the value it adds to the organization is a key metric. Maybe it is sales numbers, or satisfied client tickets closed. Maybe it is equipment uptime hours maintained… whatever metric you use, it is important that you have one. Are you reducing a person down to the numbers they achieve? No. Rather you are quantifiably proving their value to the organization with indisputable facts… something that has great value during annual budget negotiations.

If you are unwilling to put a metric on an individual, then develop one for the team. “During the last year, this team reduced the number of preventive maintenance hours by X, enabling those hours to be spent supporting Production with their 10% increase goals.” Given there are 8 hours in a shift if you “save” 2 hours by not doing something, how are those 2 hours now being spent? Aka, what is the new value for this time? The cost to the business for those 2 hours is the same, so the value of how that time is spent needs to be greater than it was previously.

Processes

Processes can have value you ask? Yes, in fact they might have more value to the organization that the people do. Your processes can make or break the productivity of the entire team. People will make use of their vast experience to use the Programs (which we are about to talk about) to work around the inefficient and outdated Processes… destroying any efficiency that they brought even a few years ago.

The “way” you do business can be considered intellectual property owned by the company. That unique twist or differentiator you have at implementing a project for a client is your secret sauce. It certainly has value whether it is known outside your walls or not.

Given that processes have value, are they well documented or just in a few people’s minds? Those things that make your organization unique need to be recorded so they can be recognized. Also, if the business changes, maybe the process also needs to change. The uniqueness of 5 years ago might now have no value.

Well-formed and documented Processes can have huge value while implementing Programs (Yes, we are getting there!) Many hours of consulting and developer time can be saved if you come to the table with a clear picture as to how you do business. This picture is then impressed into the Programs in an efficient manner. There is nothing worse than days in a conference room arguing about what field to add to a screen in the application only to find out the actual Process does not need it.

Programs (software tools)

Programs only have value if they are in full support of both your People and Processes. If a Program is a point of inefficiency or even a blocker, it needs to go. Well, that might be a little harsh. The point is something needs to change. Programs are tools in the hands of your People to execute your Processes. Nothing more needs to be made of them. Programs are not going to solve your People or Process problems. Implement Programs that reflect how you do business now and have the flexibility to grow/change with you over time.

Yes, your People may groan when they must learn a new Program. You (and they) might need to adjust your Processes to take advantage of the built-in best practices of the new Programs. Learning and adopting best-practices have value in the end mainly due to the efficiency they bring to your organization. Don’t make a single change to your Programs unless you can tangibly see value. Adding a field to track a status? Why? What is the value proposition for the change? “By knowing the status of the record in this manner, we can tell if the client has been waiting too long and we can take action.” Cool… make it so.

One aspect that trips up organizations is when they have a comprehensive suite of Programs but forget what it can do over time. Perhaps the initial implementation only focused on a subset of features/functions. This is typical and not a problem. But, as the years go by, the business needs more/different tools, and they look out into the market for solutions. It is best to have a regular Process by which the different business units review the existing Program set to see if what you have already can meet the needs. Perhaps not always, but it is worth a look to see if you may already have the features/functions in place. And, most likely you have been paying for these unused elements for many years.

Wrap up

Value is everywhere in an organization; you just need to be able to tangibly see it. Can you prove with numbers the value of your People? Are your Processes as efficient as possible, and the tracking results indicate so? Are those costly enterprise applications visibly (and numerically) in support of both your People and Processes? Value is in the eye of the beholder… and numbers to prove so certainly help.

TRM and IDCON have been helping clients with their People, Processes, and Programs for many years across industries. Contact us to see how we might be able to help you determine the areas of your business that could use a bit more focus on their value.