As an entrepreneur, one of my greatest fears is losing a good idea – mine or someone else’s. Be it a business idea, or an idea for a story, or an idea for a painting.
Innovation in SME businesses is vital to growth in flat times as innovation is simply the enactment of ideas and creativity. Ideas themselves don’t have to be new and they don’t have to be carried out in a way that is different to drive results.
There is a common belief that process-driven organisations are unable to be creative, as they are bound by their procedures. I would like to argue that it is quite the opposite. Once we have the process to deal with a recurring task, it frees up our minds, and our time, to allow us to get creative about solving another problem.
Processes are about controlling the quality of delivery of existing concepts, be they products or services. If we have no processes to structure our business, we must solve every problem as if it is a new problem – which is far from efficient.
So when we have an idea and can capture it in a process, policy, or design, we are then free to have ideas on improvement in new areas of the business.
It is of course important that our processes are live, and this is where an intranet such as SharePoint has huge advantages over paper-based solutions. We’re able to capture a process in an instruction set, and then iteratively update the process each time it is run to ensure that it is constantly improving. Encouraging your staff to get involved in the level of creativity is bound to drive ongoing success.
When running a helpdesk, the objectives are pretty simple, yet so often poorly implemented and managed. Simply put, a helpdesk should quickly capture a client’s problem accurately and then move the problem off to the department or individual that is most capable of solving that issue the fastest. Targets for helpdesks should revolve around minimum resolve times.
However, if there is no process for solving a particular problem when it arrives at the helpdesk, then someone needs to use their creativity to solve the problem from scratch. On the other hand, if the work done to create the solution is captured in the knowledge base, then next time the issue can be resolved by the person who answers the call quickly and efficiently.
The concept of capturing ideas in processes so that more calls can be resolved by the person who answers the phone is an empowering one.
Having clients appreciate that it is not always possible for the best person to answer the phone before the nature of the problem has been defined can be tricky. It is, however, up to thought leaders in the IT community to educate the customer base on call logging as detailed information of the problem really is the best way to solve issues.
So in your business where are you failing to capture your creativity and harness it for future efficient use? Are you constantly making up new solutions to solve old problems?
Who could help you to better capture your creativity and so become an innovative process driven growth company?
David Markus is the founder of Combo – the IT service company that ensures IT is never an impediment to growth. We win awards for the service we offer, so If your IT environment is slowing you down, contact Combo on 1300 726 626 to organise a complimentary consultation with David.
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