How business optimization efforts stack up
As we emerge from the pandemic, organizations worldwide are focused on optimization efforts desgned to reap the rewards of:
- Decreased costs
- Greater revenue
- Reduced risk
- Faster issue resolution
- Better employee engagement
New research by ServiceNow and ThoughtLab found 35% of organizations have made significant or very significant progress toward optimizing risk management and cybersecurity. Similarly, 35% of organizations have made headway in optimizing strategy and planning, according to the global survey of 900 senior business leaders. Close behind, 33% have invested in optimizing IT services and support, followed by 30% in customer experience and service.
What is optimization?
We define optimization as “the simplification, integration, and redesign of processes to improve speed and agility,” according to Dave Wright, chief innovation officer at ServiceNow, writing in the Workflow Quarterly Winter 2022 issue.
Toward that end, more than half (58%) of organizations have modernized their IT platforms and systems. Just under half (46%) have improved coordination across departments and functions. And 43% have integrated digitized workflows into the enterprise platform.
Nearly the same percentages of organizations plan to follow suit in these areas in the next year or two (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Top 10 steps to optimize processes
What’s driving optimization?
The cloud is the top driver of optimization, used by 76% of survey respondents (see Figure 2). By offering safe, anywhere access to data and files, it helps business move with speed and agility, increasing efficiency.
More than two-thirds (68%) of organizations use the Internet of Things (IoT), wearables, and sensors to inform decision-making with data and streamline operations. Mobile technology, robotic process automation (RPA), machine learning, and AI account for 40% of optimization efforts today.
Interestingly, optimization leaders have made the biggest investments (49%) in data management solutions and workflow automation, compared to 27% and 31% of non-leaders, respectively.
Figure 2: Top 10 technologies to drive optimization
Areas for improvement
In the next one to two years, 54% of organizations plan to optimize the areas of risk management, cybersecurity, employee experience, and workflows. On their heels, 53% intend to take steps to improve IT services and support. And 50% aim to optimize strategy, planning, and customer experience and service.
One of the biggest areas for improvement to help ensure optimization success is a commitment to training and upskilling. Simply providing modern technology isn’t enough, the survey found. Investing a little to empower employees to make the most of the tools can go a long way toward building an optimization culture.
Find out more about optimization, including process mining and AI, in the Workflow Quarterly Optimization issue. To stay abreast of emerging tech and business trends, subscribe to the Workflow newsletter.