Question: Does your company have an opportunity to streamline business processes and staffing?
Answer: Every company has the opportunity to streamline business processes and staffing, regardless of what the economy is doing.
In every business we have worked with over the last 20 years, (more…)
There is a significant difference between Cost Reduction and Cost Takeout. All companies should have cost reduction as part of their business strategies. It only makes good sense. At one time or another, just about every C-suite and boardroom has had the discussion regarding Cost Takeout as a Strategy. Continuous Improvement and Lean Business concepts tell us that there are always ways to take out cost and those tools do a good job of reducing cost gradually. Cost takeout as a strategy is a completely different approach. The first thing is to make sure that everyone is clear on what a cost takeout strategy really is. Let’s start with what it isn’t.
It is not: (more…)
At Group50®, we have brought back to life an old form of Value Stream Mapping called the Brown Paper Exercise. Long before computers were invented, the only way to do Value Stream Mapping was on paper. Utilizing paper allows you to be produce maps that are not limited to the size of a computer monitor or projection screen. It is interactive, fun and can be done via a hybrid model of in-person and virtual.
Group50’s Brown Paper Exercise is an important tool that we use every day in process reengineering. It is part of our Value Stream Mapping process. It provides an engaging, non-threatening way for (more…)
Every business owner is challenged with Re-Opening their business as the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions are slowly lifted. There are myriad things to consider and inputs on how to do it from the federal government, states and localities. Each have a different approach and set of recommendations. Trying to find relevant guidance can be a daunting (more…)
In the next few weeks, companies with under 500 employees will start receiving payments from the Paycheck Protection Act and all companies will continue to make important decisions on how to structure themselves to deal with the current downturn and prepare themselves for the future (Here is one view of the future (more…)
We are in a global recession according to global experts in a recent Forbes article. Don’t let this be your Kobayashi Maru – No Win Scenario. Every dollar not spent by consumers reduces downstream spending by 43% according to the current velocity of money statistics. No matter what business you are in, you are being impacted by this atypical recession, one that will likely rival the tech bubble of 2001 and the financial collapse of 2008. If you don’t agree, no need to read further, but can you really take that risk? (more…)
We are in a recession as declared by multiple well known business and financial leaders in a recent Forbes article. I completely agree and believe that this will parallel the financial crisis of 2009. Given that this atypical recession is here with unprecedented speed, Group50 has put together a Recession Planning Workshop that is designed to provide senior leaders and stakeholders with a full view of the inherent recession risk in a company. The workshop has an elapsed time of 1-2 (more…)
In an earlier blog we saw that a well-crafted IT transformation strategy (a.k.a. cost takeout strategy) is so much more than a once and done cost reduction exercise. A cost takeout strategy orchestrates (more…)
Everyone has been through “Cost Savings Programs” and “Cost Reduction Programs”, but what is the organizational impact of a true Cost Takeout process and what does change management have to do with it?
Key objectives for cost takeout programs are dependent on their time frame and may include: (more…)
