CRE8 Center For Realizing Excellence

Why is Continuous Process Improvement Important? Many process improvement initiatives lack long term results. Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) focuses an ongoing “never-ending” effort to improve people, processes, and systems. Unlike methods like Re-engineering, CPI focuses on incremental improvements over time, where processes are constantly evaluated and improved versus a single large improvement event. CPI teaches organizations how to work  together from senior management to workers to identify how to improve the process instead of placing blame.  W. Edwards Deming , a pioneer of the field, saw CPI as part of the 'system' whereby feedback from the process and customer are constantly evaluated against organizational goal, and improvement is ongoing. Some CPI projects use a Kaizen event (improvement), which is a method made famous by the book of Masaaki Imai “Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success.” Kaizen teaches people how to perform expe...

Since 1995, CRE8 ®  Incorporated Independent Consultants have helped organizations plan for Process Improvement, Workflow / ECM Paperless Technologies, Information Governance, and Complex Computer System Replacement. Our services include consulting, workshops, and conferences; provided on-site or through the internet.  As independent consultants, we work directly for end users and do not sell or represent any technology solution. This allows us to provide an independent voice to help organizations plan for and evaluate process improvement, advanced technology (workflow/ECM), information governance IG plans, and complex computer system replacement options. To learn more about our services: Process and Organizational Improvement ECM, Workflow, ERM And Information Governance Planning Complex Computer System Replacement Planning On-Line Education and Certification (Agile, BPM, Project Management PMP, Lean, Six Sigma) Conferences CRE8 serves national and international o...

What is Organizational Friction?  Organizational friction disrupts interactions with customers, operations, and vendors; which can negatively impact revenue, expenses, goodwill, compliance, and risk.   Signs of friction include lost sales, complaints on social media, wasted customer and organization time, lack of coordination between departments, problems created that shouldn’t have happened in the first place, lower profitability, and regulatory/legal penalties. Examples of Organizational Friction include complex on-line order web pages, transferring a customer by phone to numerous areas, lack of after-sale customer service, chargebacks, and refunds, rework, frustration between and within departments, and seeing the customer as a problem.  Root causes and fixes of friction can be found in an organization’s beliefs, processes, automation, and measurement. How to Reduce Friction Find where friction exists, beginning with an inventory of processes and cu...

What is a Chief Process Officer?  According to Wikipedia, “A CPO is an executive responsible for business process management at the highest level of an organization.” CPOs usually report directly to the chief executive officer (CEO) or board of directors. The CPO oversees business process activities and is responsible for defining process rules, policies, framework, procedures, and guidelines to ensure that the main objectives follow the company strategy as well as establishing control, governance, and measurement mechanisms.  As there is a need for   CTO/CIO to provide technology support/direction, a CHRO to provide human resource support, and a CFO to provide finance and accounting support and operations, a CPO will work with Chiefs to help ensure organizational improvement goals are set, achieved, measured, and sustained. A CPO will also help ensure that technology ROI, governance, and compliance goals are supported by organizational processes.   ...