Smooth Your Processes to Boost Operational Efficiency

It’s not unusual to look around your organization and see that there are places where operations simply don’t flow as smoothly as they should. Sometimes the problem is technology-related, while other issues seem to be rooted in processes — often legacy processes that have outlived their usefulness. Each small inefficiency may seem minor, but these details add up to significant hits to your cash flow over time. Small businesses in the U.S. are suffering a cash-flow crisis, with 82% of organizations failing due to a lack of ready cash when they need it. Philantech3 is an IT managed services firm that helps philanthropic organizations actively search for anything that slows the flow of business, providing a needed boost of expertise in the realms of technology and business process improvement.

Reduce Distractions: Improve Awareness

Creating a business workflow that flows throughout the organization requires looking at people, processes and technology to define and eliminate any roadblocks. The team at Philantech3 quickly learned that they couldn’t lead with technology solutions — they first needed to identify factors that could be causing disruption within the business. To this end, they provide quarterly reviews for their clients, sharing with them the threats that should be keeping them up at night. Many times, small business owners lack the language to understand where these problems might occur and may not be able to quantify the business impact of distractions of slowdowns. The Philantech3 team spends a great deal of time with clients, helping identify the places where crunches to their process might occur and the impact on overall cash flow. According to Business Insider’s study on small businesses in the U.S., 82% of small businesses fail due to cash flow problems — dramatically more than any other reason for failure. This business consulting is often every bit as important as the technology side. Raising the awareness of these difficulties or roadblocks to a smooth process often gives businesses the starting point for conversations around improvement and adaptability to changing business needs.

Shifting from a Technology Mindset to a Business Focus

Wil Buchanan, founder and CEO of Philantech3, realized early in his entrepreneurial career that he needed a deeper knowledge of business and credits a fortunate hire for his business mindset today. One of the first people that Wil hired was an accountant who had “the heart of a teacher” and provided the impetus to commit to an undergraduate and then graduate degree in business from Western Governors University. Very often, Philantech3 identifies businesses in the community that may need some additional assistance and provides them with advice and business support — which explains why the organization included the word “philanthropy” in their brand. Small businesses today often struggle with having the mental space available to wrestle with advanced concepts, and the entire Philantech3 team has a passion for helping support the community in this way.

Synergy: Together We Are Stronger

One of the core values of Philantech3 is synergy, which requires a significant focus on teams and how they relate to each other. The Philantec3 team embodies their spirit of support and protection for each other and firmly believe that teams should be a safe space for individuals to grow and evolve. Being a part of something bigger than yourself allows the team to accomplish amazing things. As the team leader, Wil believes that he is a servant, too — ensuring that all team members have the tools that they need to be successful. In leadership, there’s the potential to have positional authority but that can cause leaders to lose the synergy that comes with teams.

Recognizing “I’m the Bottleneck”

Instead, Wil defines leadership by providing individuals with the objectives that they’re trying to accomplish and their role in the company and leaders ask individuals “What can I do to help you accomplish your goal?”. This shift in focus creates a higher level of trust between individuals, freeing the organization to grow and adapt to changing conditions. Part of this includes recognizing that leaders are often the bottleneck to teams accomplishing their goals — a difficult thing for many business and technology leaders to acknowledge. Leading by example, Wil is continually looking for ways to reduce overhead and create a smoother and more cohesive process for his organization and sharing his learning with others.

Keeping Pace With Change

The pace of change today is staggering, and Philantech3 seems to have found a way to address this and continue to provide a deep level of knowledge and support to their clients. As Wil explains it, they have one team leader who is completely devoted to cybersecurity — understanding the current and upcoming challenges, researching new solutions and understanding how this important aspect of technology will impact Philantech3 and their clients in the future. The business has continued to specialize in a variety of topics because they dedicate a role to important topics such as cybersecurity. While the rest of the organization may have a high-level understanding of the concepts, the remaining teams allow that individual with the space to be the expert in their field. When you build that trust in individuals throughout the organization, then you’re able to reduce the bottlenecks that can stop the steady flow of knowledge throughout the organization.

Creating an organization whose processes flow smoothly, with extreme efficiency and a positive culture does not happen overnight. It requires a great deal of self-awareness from leadership as well as a willingness for individuals to pitch in and determine how they can improve the overall climate and productivity of the business. Philantech3 provides the ideal blending of philosophy and technical skills to businesses in the Spokane area. Contact their team today at 509-590-4240 or submit a quick online request to receive a response and see how you can enhance the operational readiness of your business infrastructure.

Wil Buchanan