Process standardisation: one best way, lower cost per task

Key takeaways

Process standardisation means agreeing one written way to do a task and having everyone follow it. It lowers cost per task because the fastest reliable method replaces several slower ones, errors fall, and training takes days instead of weeks. It is also the step that makes automation and outsourcing possible, because nobody can run a process that exists only in heads.

• One written method replaces several informal ones.
• Cost per task falls because variation and errors fall.
• Training time drops from weeks to days.
• Standardise before you automate or outsource.

What is process standardisation?

Process standardisation is the practice of defining a single agreed method for a recurring task and making it the normal way of working. The method covers the steps, their order, the tools used, the standard expected and what to do when something does not fit. It is recorded so that a new person could follow it.

• How BPO can help businesses reduce operational costs
• Document your processes before you outsource

How does it lower cost per task?

Standardisation lowers cost per task in four ways: it removes the slower methods, it reduces errors that need correcting, it shortens training, and it lets work move between people without loss. Each of these reduces the hours needed for the same output.

• Speed: everyone uses the quickest reliable route.
• Accuracy: the same checks happen every time.
• Training: new starters follow a page, not a person.
• Cover: anyone trained can pick the task up.

• Right first time rate: the quality number that cuts cost
• Work out your cost per task before you outsource

What does the saving look like in numbers?

Take an illustrative team of three raising 300 quotes a month. One person takes 12 minutes a quote, one takes 18 and one takes 24, each using their own layout. The average is 18 minutes, or 90 hours a month. If all three adopt the 12-minute method, the month takes 60 hours.

That is 30 hours a month saved with no new software and no change in headcount. At a loaded £19.81 per worked hour, it is about £594 a month, or roughly £7,100 a year, from one task. These are example figures to show the mechanism.

• Cost baseline: measure today's cost before you change it
• The cost lever scorecard: find savings process by process

How do you standardise a process?

Standardise by observing how the work is really done, choosing the best current method, writing it on one page and testing it with someone who has never done the task. The people who do the work should choose the method. A standard imposed from above is ignored within a month.

• 1. Watch or record each person doing the task.
• 2. Time each version and count the errors.
• 3. Agree the best method with the team.
• 4. Write it down with screenshots.
• 5. Test it on someone new and fix the gaps.
• 6. Review it every quarter.

• Value stream mapping for service and admin processes
• Exception handling: the few cases that drive most cost

When should you not standardise?

Do not standardise work that depends on judgement, such as advice, design or a difficult client conversation. Do not standardise something done a few times a year, because the document will be out of date before it is used. And do not treat a standard as permanent: it is the best method known today, to be improved when someone finds a better one.

• Core vs non-core activities: what to keep in-house
• Continuous improvement in outsourcing: savings past year one

How does standardisation connect to BPO?

Standardisation is the entry condition for BPO and one of its main benefits. A managed team needs a written method to work from, and a good provider will help write it during handover. Many firms find that the act of preparing to outsource produces a saving of its own, because the process is examined for the first time.

• A BPO transition plan for the first 90 days
• Economies of scale in outsourcing: why providers cost less

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see during handover: three people describe the same process and give three different sets of steps, each convinced theirs is how the company does it. Agreeing one version takes an afternoon. That afternoon is often the first time anyone has asked why a particular step exists.

• See client work
• BPO Solutions for UK businesses

Standardisation checklist

Use this list for each process you standardise.

• The task happens at least weekly.
• Every current method has been timed.
• The team agreed the standard.
• The steps fit on one or two pages.
• Exceptions and who decides them are listed.
• A new person has tested it.
• A review date is set.

• How to improve operational efficiency in a small business
• Cost reduction KPIs: the numbers that prove savings are real

Next step

Tell us which task is done differently by different people in your business. We will show you how to capture the best method and what the difference is likely to be worth.