News & Views

October 19, 2011  from Industry Week – “I have often been asked whether continuous improvement (CI) is possible without technology change, and I tell people that CI is about making changes to business processes, not necessarily technology. Without a doubt, technology change is often an enabler that allows CI to occur, but it is not a prerequisite since it is often working on different aspects of the business. We tend to think of technology change in relation to things like information systems, new product developments and refinements or radical new production processes, while CI is focused more on changes to our business processes…

What you should not do is allow yourself to be stopped from your goal of continuous improvement by others throwing out the red herring that you can’t do anything because it would require substantial changes to the technologies used in your business. It usually doesn’t, so don’t let arguments that they will  stop you on your CI journey.”

180 View – We agree that technology is not the only enabler  of  business process or continuous improvement. The article is not specific about the other enablers that we would include, namely simplifying the business process, changing motivation, improving HR and improving the facilities. However just as money can’t buy happiness, but it sure helps. The same goes for IT in that it does not ensure efficient and effective business process, but it sure helps.