“Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid of standing still.” – Chinese Proverb

Welcome to part two of this three-part series on Business Process Improvement (or BPI). In part one I referenced Seth Godin’s quote, “We’re so busy doing our jobs, we can’t get any work done,” and it’s true. The combination of workload compression and dysfunctional processes is creating an environment where we know that there is a better way but continue to SALY (Same as Last Year) the process.

Note from the editor: This post is directed at those who coach or mentor their colleagues.

What can a coach do during a global pandemic? Plenty! Now is the time for coaches to step up their efforts and keep coaching relationships strong during this crisis.

In reaction to the rapid spread of COVID-19, on March 24^th, the Indian government passed mandated stay-at-home legislation for private businesses. For many tax outsourcing organizations, this meant temporarily pausing operations. A few outsourcing partners, like Xpitax, were able to implement business continuity plans and maintain security while operating in a reduced, work-from-home capacity.

Let’s be honest; no-one (well, almost no-one) likes the budgeting and planning process. The median organization takes 32 days to go from establishing budgeting objectives to delivering a ready-to-use budget.

We are living in interesting times right now. With shelter-in-place and other responses to COVID-19, businesses are finding themselves in untested waters. We are (possibly unexpectedly) managing distributed or remote workforces, running businesses during mandated social and physical distancing, and trying to understand what constitutes an “essential service”  today.

What if there was a way to take the clients that cause the most substantial amount of tax season workload compression, and turn that into streamlined, recurring revenue for the firm?

The best part about that strategy is that every firm already has an existing client pool to capitalize on. These are not clients with pristine books. No, these clients send over files at the end of the year with missing data, or drop off boxes of receipts, invoices, and who knows what else, and it becomes the firm's responsibility to sort through the irrelevant, analyze the data, and prepare the return. Then, after receiving their return (and paying the bill), the client disappears – only to repeat the cycle next year.

Time and time again I’ve observed organizations struggle to connect the daily value of an essential productivity or efficiency tool with quantifiable values and statistics. While this should not happen – organizations should always be able to tie tools back to benefits – being unable to quantify the benefits in a manner that resonates with senior managers is especially concerning during the first 1-3 years after implementation, when the tool’s cost-benefit ratio is being questioned, and there is a need to justify continued spend.

How much does it cost you to ask, “What’s up” with the status on your engagements? Have you ever considered what happens when you ask the question; the effects on your bottom line, on client satisfaction, on employee engagement and job satisfaction? Can you really afford to ask it?