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ESSA: Start Simple, Automate Smart, and Avoid Complexity in Digitalisation
Simplicity is your best friend in the world of digital transformations. But how do you ensure that automation, robotisation, digitalisation, etc. don't create unnecessary complexity?
Processes grow, systems become fragmented, and inefficiency creeps in. If you want to evolve from the AS IS situation to the TO BE in a structured and efficient way, ESSA provides a handy framework to examine and improve current processes. This way, you strip digital initiatives of excess weight and focus on what truly works.
ELIMINATE - What can be removed from your business processes?
Many organisations hold on to redundant processes, reports, and approval steps. At one point, these were undoubtedly useful, but the question is whether they now burden rather than benefit.
In a first step, identify which activities, systems, and data no longer add value. Questions that help include:
- Are you still using the task for decision-making?
- Does the step provide value for customers or internal processes?
- Can you fulfill the need in a different, more efficient way?
SIMPLIFY - How do we make processes simpler?
Complexity costs time, money, and energy. Often, processes have grown organically and contain unnecessary exceptions and variations.
By simplifying processes, you create more clarity. Consider:
- Reducing redundant forms and input fields.
- Limiting exception rules that are rarely used.
- Decreasing the number of approval layers in a workflow.
STANDARDIZE - Can we make processes, data, and systems uniform?
By defining standards, your organisation can scale faster, integrate more easily, and save costs.
This includes:
- Establishing company-wide process standards.
- Implementing standardized data definitions.
- Introducing best practices from other sectors or organisations.
AUTOMATE - What can be made smarter with automation?
Have you completed the above steps and is your foundation solid? Then you can start thinking about automation:
- RPA (Robotic Process Automation) for repetitive tasks.
- AI and machine learning for advanced analysis and decision-making.
- APIs and integrations for faster data exchange.
- Workflow automation for more efficient processes.
ESSA Method Applied with BPMN
Because a picture is worth a thousand words, we make the ESSA framework visually tangible using BPMN diagrams. This method works very clearly: you immediately see which steps in the process add value and which don't.
Do you have an automation project, digitalization initiative, or AI project in the pipeline and want to examine your processes beforehand? We'd be happy to take a critical look with you.