Process improvement initiatives can be troublesome at times. We may find ourselves dealing with complicated processes that involve multiple stakeholder groups. It is often difficult to know where to start – which can lead to the trap of starting by examining areas where people are shouting the loudest. Yet this may mean that certain other, more effective, opportunities are not considered at all and are left untapped.

As practitioners of process change, we are able to help avoid these situations. We can work with our stakeholders to analyze the situation holistically and in doing so we can help ensure that any change that is progressed leads to a process that is both efficient and effective. A very useful place to start is by understanding demand – after all this should be one of the core reasons why the process exists in the first place.

There are many ways of defining and measuring demand, and it is important to note that in this e-book I am referring to demand as a general term. In this context, ‘demand’ is typically something that causes a customer to interact with an organization somehow. It will usually lead to a customer triggering a process – and it is often these triggering events that are well understood. Perhaps a process is triggered by a customer phone-call, an e-mail or a click on a website. Yet, in many cases, what is less well understood is the reason that the customer interacted with the organization in the first place – perhaps they rang because they didn’t understand a letter, or they e-mailed because they couldn’t figure out where to find a specific piece of information – and as we start to understand this, we start to get closer to understanding the nature of that demand.

However, before considering these ideas further, it is useful to consider the concept of value. Download the white paper to read more.