Today, a focal theme in one of Slovenia’s main daily newspapers Večer is related to business processes. The article entitled “Working processes are the most neglected part of public sector” (slo. “Delovni procesi so najbolj zanemarjen del javnega sektorja”) the interviewed public employee and expert mag. Mario Plešej states the following (translated from Slovenian language) [source]:
“The public sector needs to be modernized. Work processes must be redesigned first, because they are the most neglected part of the public sector. It is neglected on how the work is organized and how those who have the authority to lead, carry out their tasks.”
I can only agree with this statement. Commonly, it is misunderstood that IT has a direct influence on business value or success. This would practically mean that with (new) IT work will be (automatically) done better and faster (i.e. more effective and efficient). Well let’s see what even Bill Gates stated:
“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”
While IT has definitively an immense impact on business success (just imagine companies like Google) it is more common, that business processes are those that have the main impact on how business value is created (see figure below), where IT just supports or automates those business processes (as in the case of public services – G2B, G2C, …).
So, dear (public) services sector, let’s improve business processes prior to any new investments in IT. And if you have any questions or concerns, contact me!
Gregor Polančič 