A Focus on Business Continuity Can Help You Weather the Storm

Many businesses that do a good job of advance planning have thoroughly thought through supply chain and business continuity plans. However, many of these plans only consider isolated events, such as weather or terrorism, and never consider a disruption on the scale of a global pandemic.

As a result, employees from the front office to the back office, from the plant floor to the C-suite, have been forced to think and react quickly by changing processes “on-the-fly” to meet new health mandated working conditions.

Now that states are reopening for business, have you assessed the impacts of these quick changes on your employees, processes, and technology? Follow these steps to begin developing a business continuity plan that will help you weather any kind of storm, including a global pandemic.

Conduct interviews and workshops to actively identify key processes and gaps, to move toward an ideal state. Many Lean Six Sigma tools such as Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customers (SIPOC) and Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed (RACI) are useful in facilitating workshops, gathering ideas, and developing implementation strategies.

To begin, start by asking these questions to various leaders, managers, and front-line employees:

• What key processes are not well documented as standard operating procedures (SOPs) with process and data flows?
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This is the Gemba Walk: the place where value is created. It’s an opportunity to observe the real work that is being executed, ask “what” questions to understand the benefits of a process and show respect to your employees by involving them in the improvement process.

Put together a project plan including timelines and resource needs. Prioritize ideas and implementation strategies into the highest impact activities with the least amount of effort first. This ensures you are capturing quick, low-hanging opportunities in a timely manner.

Empower a project manager to ensure the timely execution of the implementation strategies. Capture opportunities as quickly as possible to realize efficiencies and reduce costs.

Read this ebook to learn five ways technology can equip your F&A teams to move to modern accounting and thrive in this virtual world.