The roadmap to economic recovery

Infor’s Christina McKeon offers her own insight into how organisations can ride out the economic uncertainty through streamlining operations and reviewing processes.

They say that hindsight is 20/20. Certainly, the economic crisis hit many companies out of the blue. Was the writing on the wall simply obscured from our view, or were we just too blind to see it? And more importantly, has our vision cleared enough now to recognise the signs next time, before it's too late? This is a time of reflection for many companies, pondering the "could of, would of, and should of". While we must all look to the past and learn from it, we must also look forward. Where do we go from here? What processes need to be in place to prevent this from happening again?" These slower times provide opportunities for companies across all industries to review their processes in preparation for the upswing and learn how to identify future downturns more quickly.

Several companies have a major lag between the time they realise demand has slowed and the time it takes to adjust. Most commonly, I find this is due to disconnected and siloed information across the enterprise. The recent slowdown has led to the discovery of a breakdown in communication and data sharing between sales, production and finance. This lack of accurate and timely data sharing leads to delayed reactions and limits the flexibility to proactively respond. The cause of this is mostly a horrible reliance on disparate systems of information across the enterprise that must be manually consolidated. Companies of all size are prone to this and many still rely on what I call a time-lagged, stagnant collaboration, otherwise known as Microsoft Excel. This data is static, based on the moment in time it was pulled from the system. By the time it is passed from department to department, the information could be weeks old and full or errors from manually re-entering the information as it climbed the corporate chain.

It's time to start learning properly from the past and revolutionise this process. No one can argue it has certainly been a rough road and some dark days still loom on the horizon, but companies should stop second-guessing the decisions of the past. Most businesses have put as much attention on cost-cutting efforts as they need to and now is the time to focus on developing the processes that can help spur growth. If this recession has taught us anything, it is that we must be forever vigilant and that we cannot always simply accept the information placed in front of us unless we understand how it was derived. Just because something works, it does not mean that it should be left alone or is more beneficial than another process. Status quo is not always best.

Stringently evaluating business processes and making the necessary changes in corporate strategy and behaviour, combined with investing in new technology, can help position companies to capitalise on new opportunities the eventual economic resurgence will bring. These changes can also help companies prepare for the next downturn. As we move through this period of reflection, take notice to the warning signs pertinent to your company. These signs are not the macro indicators, but the micro effects of a forthcoming downturn specific to your company.

Visibility is knowledge, and knowledge provides the power to act. Organisations must gain greater visibility across the enterprise by scrapping manual, disparate spreadsheets in favour of integrated performance management solutions based on an enterprise-wide database. This empowers organisations to utilise data to accurately evaluate current performance and pinpoint the underlying factors that affect it.

Furthermore, by aligning valuable resources with corporate objectives, executives are in a position to act on this information, making real-time adjustments to actual, budget or forecasting processes given the existing market climate. Furthermore, companies benefit from enhanced financial and operational planning, flexible budgeting, and realistic forecasting. When organisations can combine meaningful reporting with analysis, they are able to better monitor and control performance that leads to improved decision-making. It's time to start learning.

Christina McKeon, Director of Product Marketing and Performance Management (PM) at Infor, is responsible for driving Infor's global PM strategy. McKeon works with users, managers and executives within organisations to understand market drivers for PM. She has more than 17 years' experience including working for manufacturers of power management devices and pulp and paper products.