The establishment of a new system in any organization is undeniably difficult. This is due to the fact that there exists resistance to change especially amongst the individuals who profit from the old system. Currently, the reengineering of organization processes has managed to improve most businesses and enabled to become more productive than they were initially. The existence of low-cost and readily available forms of technologies have enabled individuals to advance in their work metrics in more ways than they could before (Williams & LaBrie, 2015). Work has turned to become more time dependent and less about the location owing to the robust unified communications (UC) platform. As a result, various studies have been initiated to establish the true essence of workplace redesign or reengineering of organizational processes.
There is a lot of nascence regarding how technology has managed to redesign organizations` work processes. The introduction of UC has for instance, managed to ensure that people in organizations are able to work more effectively by communicating via video, distant messaging and voice platforms (Williams & LaBrie, 2015). This is made possible by the employees` presence and sharing of data in a bid to uplift business processes. For example, an employee may discover a flaw in one of the machines at a particular industry. They may then opt to utilize their tablet to consult the firm`s engineer who may be available at a distant location. Instead of having to come all the way to check the problem, the engineer may offer a solution to the problem via the video. This shows how effective reengineering processes has turned to become for organizations. Moreover, various skilled personnel may be connected together via an interface which they may use to solve a complex problem being experienced by a company.
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Unified communications are part of the reengineering processes adopted by a majority of organizations in the United States of America. Approximately US$ 22.8 billion was spent by organizations on such advancements in 2011, and up to US$ 61.9 billion was channeled towards a similar course in 2018 (Williams & LaBrie, 2015). Moreover, it also emerged that 44 percent of organizations in North America have accommodated UC, which explains how effective such change processes have become for various enterprises (Williams & LaBrie, 2015). The reason why most entities are seeking to adopt UC is due to its ability to reduce costs, especially those related to communication. UC has the ability to enable users communicate via a single interface, and is hence very valuable to the change process in organizations.
Participants in the change process are likely to influence the organization`s efficiency and effectiveness in many ways. For instance, Dr. Hammer the proprietor of Hammer and Company has managed to impact various companies` efficiency through his process mastery courses (Hammer and Company n.d). Through such learning, employees get to acquire knowledge and skills for managing various operations in the firms they work in. Having undergone the entire training process, the personnel is in a position to manage changes occurring within their organization more effectively. Moreover, the stakeholders both internal and external are the ones who establish values of the organization in light of the new advancements, by taking into consideration the strategy used and also the culture of the organization (Nicoletti, 2015). In this case a basis can be made for value-oriented projects to be undertaken in the process of innovation. Moreover, the employees of an organization that is experiencing innovation are able to effectively transition ideas into novel product and also processes used by the Company (Nicoletti, 2015). One cannot, therefore, dispute the fact that they play a critical role within the organization.
SUCCESS MEASURES
There are a number of ways which can be used to measure success and determine the organizational performance metrics used with managers and employees to demonstrate the impact of change initiatives. For example, Microsoft is one of the largest corporations in the world, and it relies heavily on a team approach towards its working processes (Williams & LaBrie, 2015). Its Workplace Advantage (WPA) program was meant to measure success in three different ways. First, it was meant to assess the gain of the employees in terms of their career advancement. Besides, it is also assessed via the health index survey (Williams & LaBrie, 2015). Secondly, the aspect was meant to lead to the realization of cost savings. Moreover, the same measure was put in place in a bid to regulate carbon emissions. Out of the WPA success measures used by Microsoft, it emerged that there was a 10 percent increase in the satisfaction of employees. Moreover, their collaborations with others at work was enhance by 26 percent owing to the innovations put in place, with a 10 percent in individual satisfaction being realized (Williams & LaBrie, 2015). Such results indicate that the WPA is a reliable measure of success within an organization.
Besides, the (WPA), the Office Communication Server (OCS) can also be utilized as a measure of success by organizations. This is part of the unified communications programs devised by Microsoft in 2007 (Williams & LaBrie, 2015). The component proved to be useful for Microsoft`s employees. Those joining the company along with existing workers had the OCS installed into their computers by the IT department. The main aim was to monitor the progress of the worker and also assess their contribution to the organization`s success. Besides being used as a measure of success, the device also manages to connect the employees and hence ease communication among them regarding various work related issues.
It is also important to note that various tools can be used as performance metrics with the managers and employees. For example, the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is one of the most effective metrics that an organization can utilize. It is also referred to as the house of quality and is capable of recognizing the value that a prospective customer is likely to gain from a certain innovation adopted by the Company based on their needs (Nicoletti, 2015). Also, another useful metric utilized is TRIZ. This has been translated from the Russian meaning of problem solving (Nicoletti, 2015). Besides measuring the success of a particular process of invention, it can be utilized in the development of the product. Moreover, the innovative product development process is very effective in integrating the concepts of QFD AND TRIZ (Nicoletti, 2015). This involves the analysis of clients` needs through the establishment of weight mechanism. TRIZ, therefore, manages to measure the success of the innovative product development process. Prototyping is also another metric which can be utilized in measuring success as well as determine the change effected by innovative practices. This is a concept that has been used by some of the reputable organizations such as Veolia Water a French business which utilizes this as a measure of competitive intelligence (Nicoletti, 2015).
MOST SIGNIFICANT OBSERVATIONS
There are a number of things that I learnt by serving as a consultant to the organization in regard to reengineering. One of the most fundamental aspects learnt is that innovation can occur not only on the product but also in the process utilized to run operations within a Company. I would, suggest that the organization focuses on both aspects since they work in tandem. As a process, innovation could occur where new processes are introduced regarding to the work procedures of the entity. The practice or process becomes adopted when it is realized that the business is capable of deriving personal and economic benefits from the new activity. Some of the process changes that a business can engage are technological changes. For instance, lean manufacturing. These are processes which most manufacturing entities are utilizing in the contemporary world. If the organization, for instance, seeks to implement lean systems into its operations, the lean innovation roadmap is likely to offer valuable guidance ( Nicoletti, 2015 ). It is also apparent that lean implementation is likely to result in positive and desirable effects in the Company especially those pertaining to the advancement of technological systems. It would also be beneficial for the business to undertake a market study especially that involving product innovation, before the initiation of new products in order to determine the desirability of the commodity to the consumer.
Secondly, I have also come to the realization that unified communications are very effective in enabling a company to advance and become successful. This involves the incorporation of various media of communication into a single interface which can be utilized within the business. There are a number of reasons why I would encourage the organization to adopt this incentive. One of the greatest benefits is the cost-effectiveness of this mechanism. Normally, most organizations spend a lot of money on communication whereby employees are seeking to communicate with other workers regarding some work-related issue. In order to cut down on such costs the UC appears to be the best means of communication. Here, employees are connected to one another via a virtual interface where they can not only communicate amongst one another, but also manage to exchange ideas. Also, in case there is a defect with some system and the technician is away or off-duty, the person available can easily resolve the malfunction by following instructions offered by the absent employee, and hence the organization does not have to spend extra costs hiring another consult to resolve the problem. It is also apparent that this kind of working mechanism foster cohesiveness, and also helps to strengthen work relations amongst employees leading to better performance. Other benefits include, reduced travelling costs, reduced PBX Lines and reduced conferencing costs ( Williams & LaBrie, 2015 ). The organization should, therefore, adopt UC into its daily operations.
Finally, being a consultant further enabled me to gain insight on the critical essence of workplace re-design. Very often, most institutions end up having a lot of unnecessary space which they are forced to pay an extra cost for. It is apparent that a majority of firms tend to focus on the retrenching workers or downscaling in order to reduce costs but they forget to minimize all the unnecessary room. Cisco, a private firm dealing with telecommunication, for instance, at one point came to the realization that up to 40 percent of office space was underutilized ( Williams & LaBrie, 2015 ). The space was available and yet no use had been put to it and yet the Company was still paying a lot of money for it. This is one important thing that I would request the management to lookout for. The contemporary world has advanced to an extent that a company can have some of their workers working from any location. This is indeed one of the things that would greatly reduce the expenses of the business. All that is required is that the employee is monitored closely in order to ensure that they work for the required duration of time. Moreover, it offers flexibility and satisfaction to employees thus ensuring that they offer better performance.
References
Hammer and Company. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.hammerandco.com/
Nicoletti, B. (2015). Optimizing innovation with the lean and digitize innovation process. Technology Innovation Management Review , 5 (3).
Williams, J., & LaBrie, R. C. (2015). Unified communications as an enabler of workplace redesign. Measuring Business Excellence , 19 (1), 81-91.
