Key Points

• Over-engineered service operations can result in inefficient, complex systems that frustrate customers.
• BPR enables organizations to design processes that eliminate bottlenecks and align workflows with strategic vision.
• Successful BPR hinges on communication, stakeholder engagement, and disciplined testing.

For many organizations, service operations are growing steadily out of control. Increasingly complex and verging on inefficiency, these processes often start with the best of intentions behind them. However, over time, process improvement measures, compliance mandates, and hacky ad-hoc solutions can turn fairly straightforward workflows into a convoluted nightmare. When service operations reach this point, there isn’t much you can do, is there?

With business process reengineering, or BPR, you get the chance to start from scratch when looking at any process. You don’t have to contend with overly complex processes that are loaded down with bottlenecks and pain points. Instead, you can design them with a fresh set of eyes and align them with customer expectations and strategic goals. If you’re struggling to get your service operations processes back under control, you’re in the right place.

The Over-Engineering Problem

Over-engineering is rarely an intentional process. Like continuous improvement, it’s a cumulative effect, often driven by increasing demands, risk aversion, and newly introduced regulations. As an organization matures, checks, controls, and other systems are added to prevent errors and meet requirements. Every addition to a process might have a valid reasoning behind it. However, that doesn’t stop processes from growing bloated over time. This also leads to slower response times, frustrated customers, and an increase in operational costs.

Think about it, if you have a process that requires five different sign-offs to get something basic done, it isn’t really working, is it? At some point, the need for those different approval steps might have been added to prevent errors. Over time, the process itself has grown out of control, but it remains a central function in the daily operations of any business. Over-engineering is made from good intentions, but you need to change your method of thinking if you’re looking to get back on track.

BPR vs. Continuous Improvement

Methodologies like Lean and Six Sigma focus on incremental improvements. Over time, a greater cumulative effect will take place, as inefficiencies are dialed back and defects are curtailed. This is great, but there are natural limits to just how far a process can go. While you might be striving toward excellence through continuous improvement, eventually a process might move out of spec, and you have no recourse when engaging in a DMAIC cycle.

Conversely, BPR is an incredibly radical take on process design. As I mentioned before, you need to adjust your mindset when approaching any BPR initiatives. BPR is focused on a clean slate approach, meaning you’re starting from the very first step rather than focusing on the likes of where you can make smaller improvements. The core question you might come away asking is: “How would I design this process to be its possible self?”

BPR and continuous improvement aren’t opposed by any means. They can be complementary disciplines. However, BPR takes a closer look at what works and what doesn’t with a given process, and starts the design work from the top. It can be met with resistance and requires careful change management to navigate. It isn’t without risk either, but it is certainly worth the leap if you’re spinning your wheels when it comes to improving processes.

How Can You Tell if Something is Over-Engineered?

So, how do you know if something is over-engineered? There are thankfully a few tell-tale signs of where things are spiraling out of control. If you’ve got an over-engineered process, it might fit some of the following criteria:

• Excessive Approvals: You’ve got multiple checkpoints to get a single approval, causing delays with seemingly no gain.
• Data Redundancies: Employees are entering the same information across multiple systems, resulting in poor integration if you’re having to communicate between systems.
• Manual Workarounds: Any ad-hoc solutions are a signal that something has gone very wrong with the process.
• Customer Complaints: Long lead times, inconsistent service, and swift customer feedback are usually a sign that something is off in how your processes are functioning.
• Declining Morale: When staff are bogged down by red tape, bureaucratic checks, and poorly designed processes, they likely aren’t giving it their all.

If you’ve got any of these issues, it might be a sign that a BPR project is in your organization’s best interest.

Key Steps for Implementing BPR for Your Service Operations

There are a few things you need to keep in mind when implementing BPR for your service operations. This isn’t something you just launch yourself at with zero consideration, but it takes careful planning to create a process that meets all requirements while being far less complex.

Define Objectives

Before you start anything, you want a clearly defined scope for your redesign efforts. Core objectives should include faster turnaround times, cost reduction, improved accuracy, and enhanced customer experiences. These items will guide the rest of the reengineering process.

Map and Assess Current Processes

Tools like SIPOC diagrams, Value Stream Mapping, or Process Flowcharts should be used to document your current workflow in detail. The purpose of this mapping process is to highlight areas like bottlenecks, paint points, and other non-value-added steps. Having quantitative data on hand, like your cycle times or error rate, will provide a factual basis for the rest of the project.

Engage Stakeholders

BPR can be highly disruptive, essentially shaking up entire workflows. Before the work is done to redesign your process, take the time to engage your employees and stakeholders. Communication is key at all stages of a BPR initiative, and understanding frontline insights can help to guide the reengineering process.

Clean Slate

This is the beating heart of any BPR effort. Every assumption about how the process should work should be challenged. Don’t work with complacent lines of thinking, either, but rather go for something innovative. You can hammer out the particulars after the fact, at least when thinking about things like feasibility. Blue sky ideas should be a priority, and then you can make use of technology to bridge the gaps.

Leverage Technologies

The use of technology is one of the cornerstones of business process reengineering, and something you’ll likely want to make use of with your new process. Automation, AI-driven analytics, and workflow management systems are just a handful of examples of the sort of power modern technology brings to the fore.

Pilot and Iterate

Before your project is fully off the ground, you want to do some testing. Controlled environments are better suited for any prototyping and testing than the production workflow. Be diligent, be merciless, and keep refining things until they suit your organization’s needs.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Without the right sort of precautions in place, any BPR project can fail. There are a few things you want to keep in mind as you navigate the project itself. Every decision made with the design should align with your organization’s strategic goals, for starters. All change should be deliberate and managed with proven change management frameworks.

Innovation is well and good, along with simplification, but you also want to make sure you’re meeting whatever regulatory guidelines your organization has to meet. Finally, communication is going to be key, as I’ve said before. Every change needs to be clearly explained, along with how it benefits your employees and customers.

Other Useful Tools and Concepts

Ready to keep going? You might want to take a look at how Lean thinking can transform any industry. Lean thinking is something championed in the methodology, and can transform your organization’s handling of waste overnight.

You might also want to take a look at how Lean Six Sigma can be applied to the automotive industry. Lean Six Sigma has been a driving force in the automotive industry for years at this point, and learning how the methodology increases precision and minimizes waste is only going to benefit your organization.

Conclusion

In service operations, it can be easy to mistake complexity as refinement. True operational excellence isn’t a matter of the moving parts behind things, but rather in taking bold steps toward increasing responsiveness, clarity, and speed. With BPR, you can cut through the chaff and deliver processes that align with your customers’ expectations, along with your strategic goals.