Business processes Archives

6 Ideas to Make Your Processes More Resilient

Pamela Ayuso November 23, 2020

When a company becomes established, processes are a must. They guarantee consistency and quality, and with time, we rely on them, freeing up space, so we do not have to remember every necessary step of a transaction. As a result, we have more room to think strategically.

Processes capture the state of a company at one point in time, but companies and people are constantly evolving, and processes must do so as well. If processes are not designed to be resilient, they will be too rigid and become either a burden or eventually collapse, losing all the hard work of documentation and implementation.

What to Do When You Cannot Find the Information System You Need

Pamela Ayuso July 27, 2020

At my company, Celaque, we have been looking for a Human Resources system to keep a more accurate employee database of our contractors, subcontractors, and other personnel at our construction projects. We can have as many as 300 people working on a building during our peak construction months, and using spreadsheets to track this data is no longer enough.

We have been searching for the ideal tool for over a month and have explored dozens of options. However, we have found our choices to be either too expensive or too limited. Sometimes what you need does not seem to exist. In that case, the solution to the problem is not always straightforward. The following steps may be helpful.

Wrike for Business: How to Manage Your Work and Productivity

Pamela Ayuso October 28, 2019

Migrating to a project management app, Wrike, has been one of the most significant breakthroughs I’ve had in my productivity level. Not only has it been a superb discovery for me, but it has also transformed the way we work at my company, Celaque. Wrike is the backbone and the basis for how we record everything we do at Celaque.

I found and started working with Wrike a few years ago with my previous company, where I managed operations. In that role, I experimented to see how Wrike could work for each team member as well as for the company as a whole. We started to use it for processes and task management, evolving and improving upon how we utilized Wrike. When I co-founded Celaque, I knew that Wrike would be one of our primary tools.

As we continue to grow and as Wrike continues to implement new features, how we use Wrike is enhanced. It is a fundamental block of how we operate and communicate within our firm.

Bring It All Together: How to Implement Processes in a Nutshell – Part 2

Pamela Ayuso August 5, 2019

If you are thinking about implementing processes at your company, the task of doing so can feel daunting. Additionally, getting the infrastructure off the ground is a lot of work, but it’s also a great investment of time and effort.

Processes are a group of tasks that are performed to obtain a desired objective within a company. Outlining the main processes and implementing them for you and your team will result in greater efficiency, adaptability, and peace of mind. In Part 1 of this post (add link), I outlined the initial steps for implementing processes at a firm.

How to Streamline Project Management and Effectiveness

Pamela Ayuso April 29, 2019

One mechanism that we have found works well for following up on and managing complex projects at our company, Celaque, is holding recurring meetings. We meet every week or every two weeks to go over a set agenda. The person who leads the meetings establishes the agenda. We make major decisions as a group and guide the projects forward. Since starting these meetings, we have found we can make better choices and move faster because there is an added accountability to the group.

Meetings have been overscheduled and can even be negative if not appropriately deployed because they can waste a lot of time. On the other hand, they can also be very powerful if used for the right kinds of reasons. In the case of committee-type groups that come together to work on projects, they are very impactful. Multifaceted areas or plans often require input from numerous points of view because there are so many variables to take into consideration. A person may look at the work from one perspective, but another person may view it from a different one. The best product will, therefore, emerge.

The Important Role of Entropy in a Business

Pamela Ayuso January 28, 2019

I’ve been reading Steven Pinker’s book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism and Progress. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in learning more about how our civilization has progressed throughout the ages and how it can relate to your business.

One of the principles Pinker explores is entropy, also known as disorder, a concept that is useful for any business leader. He describes entropy in the statistical sense, whereby it is more probable than not that something will become disorganized and not be in an ordered state.

Business Processes and How to Maintain Them

Pamela Ayuso January 21, 2019

The one downside to working with processes is that they require maintenance. People move on to different roles or companies, the way the work is done changes and regulations are modified: variation is a constant in business. For processes to remain relevant, a business must plan and prepare for change.

I am reminded of this fact more than ever. We are currently doing an overhaul of all our processes to reorganize them by department and function. As we reclassify the processes, we are also questioning the overall design by department and improving each task. Because we are reprogramming everything for the entire company, it has transitioned into a major project.

This Is How Review Processes Can Streamline Success

Pamela Ayuso November 5, 2018

As the CEO of the company Celaque, I need to know and analyze the main events and metrics in each of the departments. The best way I have found to stay up-to-date is through a recurrent review of key indicators and documents within the company. In an established company, this is usually all set up, but in a startup, that is not always the case.

I learned this the hard way as a manager a few years ago. I would sometimes get a question about something that was going on, and I felt embarrassed because I didn’t immediately know the answer. I was in the dark because I didn’t have the numbers at my fingertips or I hadn’t checked in a couple of weeks. I realized then that I needed to find a way to stay on top of the information I needed.

What Happens When You Automate Your Business Processes

Pamela Ayuso August 13, 2018

Creating and organizing a firm’s processes is not easy; it requires a lot of work and persistence, but it’s worth it. Once all business processes within an organization have been mapped out and designed to work together, everybody on the team will interact like a beautiful symphony. Less time will be spent wondering about possible missing pieces, and more time will be spent foreseeing future problems and thinking about strategy and innovating.

Streamlined business processes are highly beneficial to any firm. It makes all the difference in the world when everybody is working together.

5 Tips on How to Improve Your Business Review Processes

Pamela Ayuso May 28, 2018

To minimize error, a review process is necessary for any firm or business. Weare all humans, after all, and it is easy to make mistakes, especially if we are handling different responsibilities and tasks on a daily basis. The difficulty is that no matter how much work there is, the pressure to deliver perfection every time never disappears.

One way to fulfill the firm’s obligations is to implement a review process in which main processes and deliverables such as sales documents, bill payments, and financial reports are revised by more than one team member. Separate sets of eyes will catch overlooked mistakes and improve quality.

Category: Business processes