Process digitization involves converting paper-based processes into digital ones to make them cheaper, quicker, and more effective. Key benefits include faster processes without re-keying data, automatic auditing and quality control, standardization, and integration. Costs include initial setup expenses and ongoing maintenance. Risks involve selecting the wrong records, underestimating costs, and increased cyber risks. Wastes in digitized processes can include defective processes, overproduction, damage during production, unnecessary transportation, resource use, time, quality, and unused staff skills. Identifying and reducing bottlenecks and waste can help ensure digitization increases efficiency.

1. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Reducing waste in business processes

2. INTRODUCING PROCESS DIGITISATION

3. Process digitisation
What is it?
› Changing paper-based and other analogue process into digital processes
o Generally these are online processes
› The aim is to make the process cheaper, quicker, more effective, higher
quality, or more flexible

4. Process digitisation
Business benefits
› Fast, cheap processes & accurate data as re-keying is avoided
› Automatic auditing & quality control of tamperproof records
› Standardisation of processes
› Potential to make changes to a process without problems occurring
elsewhere in the process
› Automated progress checking
› Integration with other systems
› Savings in physical space for storage

5. Process digitisation
User benefits
› Data can be accessed from anywhere
› Opportunities for knowledge management
› Customers can have instant access to data (EU data directive)
› Flexibility: documents can be “collated” in different ways

6. Process digitisation
Costs
› Set up costs
o Acquisition of digitisation software
o Training and support in the new digital system
o Delays in access to records caused by set-up problems
o Inefficient access to records as a result of inefficient set up
› Running costs
o Creation of adequate metadata to allow document search
o Maintenance and updating of systems
o Additional security systems
o Data back up and storage

7. Process digitisation
Risks
› The wrong records selected for digitisation
› The costs are under estimated
› Cyber risks increase
› Expected savings may not arise
o Digital system proves less efficient than existing system e.g. for diaries
o Physical copies are still be needed for legal reasons
› Records that are nor fit for purpose are created e.g. insufficient detail in
images
› Physical copies required for legal reasons are destroyed
› Digital storage problems: third party storage contractors fail or enter into
dispute with data owner

8. THE EIGHT WASTES

9. Digitisation and waste
The origin of Muda
› Digitisation is often done to increase speed and reduce costs. Where this
happens, identifying waste is important
› Waste is “anything other than the minimum amount of equipment,
materials, parts, space, and workers’ time which are absolutely essential to
add value to the product”.
› Shoichiro Toyoda (President of Toyota until 1999)

10. Digitisation and waste
The eight wastes
› Toyota identified eight “wastes” (Muda) in their production process
o Defective processes
o Over-production
o Damage during production
o Transportation costs
o Unnecessary resource use
o Unnecessary time
o Unnecessary quality
o Underused people
› These can be matched with potential wastes in service processes

11. The eight wastes
Waste 1: Defective processes
› Errors in data entry
› A lack of the data necessary for a complete record
› The wrong data used to service an individual
o A call centre employee might pull up records for the wrong person
› Badly integrated processes
o Records available might not match promises being delivered elsewhere e.g. an advert
promises something but retailers can’t offer this to shoppers

12. The eight wastes
Waste 2: Over production
› Failure to retain existing customers results in an expensive search for new
customers because of:
o Failure to service customers properly
o Failure to generate loyalty through communications (e.g. when offers are targeted
only at new customers)
o Failure to recognise a customer’s status as an existing customer
› Creation of records that are not required e.g. keeping records of people who are
not customers
› Requiring unnecessary data fields to be completed e.g. asking for a telephone
number in addition to an email address
Note: If unnecessary data is collected and stored then there is a data compliance
issue in Europe as data rules state that data should only be held when necessary

13. The eight wastes
Waste 3: Damage in production
› When files are accessed, changes, additions and deletions may be made by
the person accessing the file
› If this is done without appropriate record being taken, the file could be
damaged as it would no longer be complete

14. The eight wastes
Waste 4: Transportation costs
› Unnecessary transport of people who deliver services
› Inability for people to access records remotely, requiring them to visit a
separate location to access data
o Or the reverse: local offices that reduce transport costs but increase overall costs

15. The eight wastes
Waste 5: Unnecessary use of resources
› Collecting or keying the same data in twice
› Unnecessary equipment such as tablet computers or software upgrades
› These can also increase cyber risk
› Unnecessarily hard-to-find information
› When files are accessed, changes, additions and deletions may be made by the person
accessing the file
› Unnecessary work
› Emails where people are “copied in” for no reason
› Unnecessary or badly run meetings
› Compulsory training – where it is provided to people who don’t need it simply “just in case”
› Office costs – heating and lighting left on in empty rooms, unnecessary use of printer ink and
paper etc

16. The eight wastes
Waste 6: Unnecessary time
› Wasted time means increased costs and potentially decreased customer
loyalty
› Badly constructed “critical paths” where actions that are dependent on
other actions are not ordered well
› Unnecessary processes such as the duplication of data entry
› Unnecessary document handling: large numbers of versions of a “version
controlled” document can indicate inefficiency

17. The eight wastes
Waste 7: Unnecessarily high quality
› Elements of a service that are not valued by customers, or by most of them
› Unnecessary interactions with call centres by customers e.g. this may be
wasteful compared with creating a good FAQ online
› Timing of the interaction may dictate whether it is wasteful or not

18. The eight wastes
Waste 8: Unused staff skills
› People doing the wrong jobs, e.g. professionals doing admin jobs
o Tasks not allocated properly
o Weak management allows people who should be undertaking routine tasks to
“delegate upwards”
› Professional people employed at a cheap rate, because they have been
employed to perform a routine task, are likely to be bored and less efficient

19. DEALING WITH WASTE

20. Dealing with waste
Bottlenecks
› Processes are as strong as the weakest link
› Focus on “bottlenecks” that stop efficiency or extend delivery time and
identify and reduce waste there

21. Dealing with waste
Waste and digitising processes
› Digitisation does not in itself guarantee efficiency
› Identify waste in the process and then consider ways that digitising the
process could reduce that waste
› Avoid digitisation that merely makes processes more complex
› Consider whether any risks associated with digitisation outweigh the
benefits

22. THANK YOU
Jeremy Swinfen-Green, Charlotte Childs
hello@mosoco.co.uk
07855 341 589