Reengineering renaissance

Keeping costs down while topline slows is easier said than done. Such liner has kept not only higher management busy on costing and added considerable amount of pressure on the sales force, but more so on human resource (HR) personnel. Within this arena, “retention of the best of the breed” is becoming more difficult to hold, especially when retrenchment calls set in. The lessons are clear relative to reducing export-driven dependency (especially for markets that are highly affected by the recession), while expanding income sources that are either supported by strong demand or counter-cyclical when economic weakness sets in. For “smarter” decision-makers, however, the other plus stems from adopting technology in administrative-intensive areas that should actually require “less” attention.

For seasoned players in the race, “reengineering” might be the most appropriate term. Growth prospects need not be neglected because as they explore options where to sizably reduce the fat, more have come to realize that losing people need not be the final option. These days, “work load concentration and reallocation” is greatly underscored, and most would agree that corporate survival is tied to expanding businesses where core competencies should be fostered, even when administrative linkages are still necessary to maintain the upkeep of the overall operation. Technology adoption through wise partner selection is actually the key, while allowing key members within the team to do more value-added task that would ride well with the challenges on hand.

Within the e-Marketplace team I work with, personal encounters with various people, corporate culture and diverse situations allowed me to generate deeper insight into how the sturdiest took a more positive approach despite challenging day-to-day circumstances. More than upholding transparency and widening supplier sources for example, e-Marketplaces have moved to other admin-tied segments, with an end-goal of generating higher value-added for the workforce, even when dealing with limited financial resources. 

Within SourcePilipinas, e-Grocers have prodded HR personnel to provide their share in reinforcing employee assistance, paralleled to obtaining savings through aggregation. Since so-called “off-work” tasks (or those that should be accomplished after the end-of-day workload) are minimized, employees are empowered to concentrate on their field, and provide more valuable time resources they could utilize with their families, or even for respite and leisure. This is made possible through catalogues, which HR could access in an exchange, especially when complemented with appropriate electronic payment channels. Since personal groceries can be delivered to their office base, HR personnel are able to harness employees’ abstention from “impulsive spending,” allowing the latter to save more to support future requirements or possible investments.

Another tributary of e-Marketplaces is harnessing an enterprise’s ability to respond to “environment” responsibility. Those that started their participation in an e-Marketplace early on are more apt to participate in “green technology,” with the objective of reducing electricity costs. As a result, their personnel’s efforts can be geared toward research, development and training, to allow them to contribute to higher value-added roles. Instead of concentrating on processing requisitions for simple “trivial-many” or non-essential items, for example, time is best spent training these people in areas that are more critical to an enterprise’s survival, such as alternative raw material sourcing. Existing personnel who have grown organically within an organization can be encouraged to embolden their relational skills, and may be rechanneled to consumer behavior assessment or market-profiling. More than managing inventory more effectively, e-Marketplaces also assist in disposals. Here, “unnecessary” assets can be appropriately sold, helping raise extra cash resources back to the treasury.

While the economic challenge unfolds before the entire globe, especially within the region, it is significant to note that these are all temporary and shall come to pass. The resurgence of reengineering is unfolding, but faster response can be facilitated with the aid of technology.

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The author is the senior business development associate of SourcePilipinas.com. For queries, e-mail [email protected].