Analyzing Accounts Payable Workflows in the Telecommunications Industry
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 9:03 am
Peter shares a case from when he was working in telecommunications at Virgin Media in the 2000s, where he was tasked with reviewing financial operations shared services with the aim of identifying operational efficiencies.
“We heard that the accounts payable process was very cumbersome and very manual at the time. The cycles were very long and we didn’t have a good reputation for our ability to pay on time.
When we went to visit the premises, we were very frustrated by what we saw. We looked at a number of things. Firstly, the way in which invoices were received and what we were doing about it. At the time, we were still sorting through the items manually and doing a terrible job. It was taking hours when it should have taken minutes.
We then had a sorting process, which was not very efficient and was not really traceable. We then put the invoices in folders and drawers and hoped that people would deal with them in the right order. All of this adds no value in terms of our ability to pay our supplier on time."
Once the key workflow challenges were identified, it was time to make process improvements.
“From there, we took a couple of approaches. We came up with one or two quick fixes to sort the mail daily. We worked with the AP team, slowly but surely, to improve phone number in the philippines every aspect of the process. It wasn’t easy to change workflows. We had to challenge some of the biggest holdouts to what we were trying to do. We ran very clear sessions for them to understand their processes and get them to realize that maybe their baby wasn’t as pretty as they wanted it to be.
Peter's advice : "Workflow analysis is about eliminating inefficiencies to truly understand how processes work and improve them. It's not about analysis. Real improvement comes from upskilling the people doing the work so they can identify sources of waste and systematically eliminate them.
4. The Gemba Walk inspired by lean production
Let's listen to another real-life case example in which Peter tells how he was able to visit a production facility of the famous toy company, the LEGO Group. This case is an example of the "Gemba Walk" method, which consists of going to observe the actual place where the work takes place.
A memorable conversation in a factory workshop
While working for the LEGO Group, Peter Evans led continuous improvement initiatives that took him to different parts of the world to see how different business units operated. One of the methods Peter recommends for getting started and understanding processes is what lean coaches call a “Gemba Walk.” This involves going to the workplace, sitting down, and observing what’s happening around you.
“We heard that the accounts payable process was very cumbersome and very manual at the time. The cycles were very long and we didn’t have a good reputation for our ability to pay on time.
When we went to visit the premises, we were very frustrated by what we saw. We looked at a number of things. Firstly, the way in which invoices were received and what we were doing about it. At the time, we were still sorting through the items manually and doing a terrible job. It was taking hours when it should have taken minutes.
We then had a sorting process, which was not very efficient and was not really traceable. We then put the invoices in folders and drawers and hoped that people would deal with them in the right order. All of this adds no value in terms of our ability to pay our supplier on time."
Once the key workflow challenges were identified, it was time to make process improvements.
“From there, we took a couple of approaches. We came up with one or two quick fixes to sort the mail daily. We worked with the AP team, slowly but surely, to improve phone number in the philippines every aspect of the process. It wasn’t easy to change workflows. We had to challenge some of the biggest holdouts to what we were trying to do. We ran very clear sessions for them to understand their processes and get them to realize that maybe their baby wasn’t as pretty as they wanted it to be.
Peter's advice : "Workflow analysis is about eliminating inefficiencies to truly understand how processes work and improve them. It's not about analysis. Real improvement comes from upskilling the people doing the work so they can identify sources of waste and systematically eliminate them.
4. The Gemba Walk inspired by lean production
Let's listen to another real-life case example in which Peter tells how he was able to visit a production facility of the famous toy company, the LEGO Group. This case is an example of the "Gemba Walk" method, which consists of going to observe the actual place where the work takes place.
A memorable conversation in a factory workshop
While working for the LEGO Group, Peter Evans led continuous improvement initiatives that took him to different parts of the world to see how different business units operated. One of the methods Peter recommends for getting started and understanding processes is what lean coaches call a “Gemba Walk.” This involves going to the workplace, sitting down, and observing what’s happening around you.