Why SARA Methodology must precede software to avoid failures

The SARA methodology must precede software because technology amplifies whatever process it is given. If a process is slow, duplicated or poorly owned, automating it makes the same weakness faster and more expensive. Designing and analyzing the process first, with the steps Simplify, Analyze, Reduce and Augmented productivity, is what allows software to deliver the efficiency its vendor promised.

Imagine a chief financial officer who approved a seven-figure investment in a new platform eighteen months ago. At the quarterly review, the project sponsor reports that the system is live, the licenses are paid and the users are trained. The CFO then asks the only question that matters: why is the cost of closing the month the same as before? The answer is uncomfortable. The company installed the software on top of a process with eleven approval steps, three spreadsheets that reconcile one another and two departments that enter the same data. The system now performs those steps faster, and nothing else has changed.

In the age of technology, it is common for many companies to feel pressured to adopt the latest trends. This article explains why it is crucial that process design and analysis be established before the implementation of any technology, and how ICX proposes to do it with its own methodology.

How does technology relate to business efficiency?

In a world where technology is increasingly integrated into the daily management of companies, it is imperative that they try to improve their processes by automating them with platforms or systems. The advances that exist and those that are coming will undoubtedly be impressive and increasingly sought after, which makes their use mandatory for any company that wants to move forward and adapt.

There was a trend, now outdated, to automate everything possible indiscriminately. That mistaken point of view took an old process, ineffective and inefficient, and changed only one thing: the activities were now performed by automated tools instead of people. This is where the most important point must be emphasized. The purpose of process design is to produce quality deliveries, whether they are automated or not. The idea is not new. In a classic article in the Harvard Business Review, Michael Hammer argued in 1990 that companies should rethink their work instead of paving it with technology, and the title of his piece, Reengineering Work: Don't Automate, Obliterate, remains one of the most concise summaries of the principle.

ICX bases this analysis on the design and analysis of Business Process as a fundamental discipline of business management that goes far beyond implementing software or systems. It requires a holistic and strategic approach that seeks to optimize and improve the way an organization performs its activities to achieve its objectives. It also requires attention to corporate culture, which will be critical to the success of any implementation.

Facilitating tasks, automating, and delivering high efficiency and productivity are some of the terms a software vendor uses when it shows its tools. They are legitimate promises, but if the conversation about process design does not take place before the software is implemented, the system will not deliver results. The only effect will be great disappointment on seeing that what was promised is not fulfilled.

The industries in which this happens most visibly are those with long chains of approval. A retail bank that automates its credit origination without first removing duplicated verifications produces a faster queue, not a faster decision. A manufacturer that digitizes a purchasing process with five signatures obtains an electronic version of the delays it already had. A hospital that installs a scheduling system without reviewing how admissions and clinical areas hand work to one another discovers that the waiting room is the same. In each case, the technology worked as designed, and the design was the problem.

What are the main objectives of process design and analysis?

ICX identifies seven objectives that process design and analysis should pursue before any software is chosen. Taken together they make the case for the sequence process first, technology second.

Operational efficiency and cost reduction. These are two essential concepts in the analysis of business processes, and they have a significant impact on the profitability and competitiveness of an organization. Operational efficiency refers to a company's ability to carry out its operations optimally, minimizing the resources used and maximizing production or service delivery. In other words, it is about doing more with less, which involves identifying and eliminating waste in time, human resources, materials or energy. An efficiently operating company can produce high-quality products or services more quickly and cost-effectively, which can become a competitive advantage in the market.

Cost reduction is directly related to the reduction of overhead. It means identifying areas where costs can be reduced without sacrificing quality or efficiency, whether in production, distribution or administration. It is a key strategy for improving profitability, especially in competitive economic environments or when margins are tight. By reducing costs, a company improves its financial position, can invest in growth and becomes more resilient to economic fluctuations. Overall, the two are interrelated aspects of business management, since both seek to optimize available resources to maximize profitability and competitiveness. A detailed process analysis is essential to identify the specific areas where these strategies can be applied, with a positive impact on the long-term sustainability of the company. It involves identifying and eliminating bottlenecks, redundancies and unnecessary activities, and it results in accelerated delivery of products or services and improved quality.

Market competitiveness. In a highly competitive business environment, organizations must constantly look for ways to differentiate themselves and stand out. Efficient process design enables companies to be more agile and to respond effectively to changing market demands, which gives them a competitive advantage. Competitiveness is the ability to stand out and succeed in a demanding environment, and this success is not limited to the ability to sell products or services. It encompasses a number of factors that influence the position and performance of the company in the market, which is why it is an essential concept in the analysis of business processes and a determinant of the long-term success of an organization in its sector.

Informed decision making. Process analysis provides a deep insight into how an organization actually operates, rather than how it is supposed to operate. This enables business leaders to make informed decisions based on hard data rather than assumptions or intuition, and it provides a solid foundation for strategic planning. The work involves collecting, analyzing and using relevant data and knowledge of the process in question, including its inputs, outputs, run times and other relevant parameters. Once the data has been collected it must be analyzed in depth, with techniques such as statistical analysis, mathematical modeling or trend analysis over time, to identify patterns, trends or areas for improvement. Decisions should include a comparison of costs, benefits, risks and potential effects on the process.

In addition to quantitative data, expert knowledge plays a crucial role. People with experience in the process can provide valuable information on factors that cannot be easily quantified, such as quality, safety or technical feasibility. What ensures success is communicating findings and options effectively to stakeholders, including decision makers and process workers. Consensus and collaboration are key to implementing successful process changes.

Regulatory compliance. In many industries there are strict regulations that organizations must comply with. Process design and analysis help ensure that business activities are aligned with current regulations, which reduces the risk of fines and legal penalties. A process that does not comply can expose the company to significant financial and legal risks, so it is essential to identify and assess continuously any gaps between current practices and legal requirements. Compliance can also influence operational efficiency, because processes must be designed to comply without compromising productivity or the quality of the product or service. Managing regulatory compliance involves clear policies and procedures and constant monitoring, and it may include staff training, internal audits and updating processes in response to regulatory changes.

Identification of potential changes. It is essential to identify and anticipate changes that could affect the process, by monitoring market trends, technological advances, government regulations and other external and internal factors that could generate transformations. Once potential changes have been identified, their impact on efficiency, quality, costs and other relevant aspects must be assessed. Four points are key. The first is flexibility and agility: processes should be designed to be as flexible and adaptable as possible, avoiding unnecessary rigidities and establishing procedures that can be adjusted efficiently, so that companies adapt to new circumstances, emerging technologies and market needs without significant disruptions. The second is communication and change management. Everyone involved must be aware of the planned changes and understand how they will affect their roles and responsibilities, and change management is key to minimizing resistance and ensuring a successful transition. Employees need the training to adapt to new processes or technologies, and an environment where feedback is encouraged and ideas are heard improves adaptation.

The third point is measurement and monitoring. Key performance indicators should be established to assess continuously the effectiveness of the adapted process, which identifies the areas that require further adjustment and ensures that adaptation is an ongoing process. The fourth is risk analysis: it is important to assess the potential obstacles, implementation failures and unintended consequences that changes can bring, and to develop contingency plans in case problems arise.

Continuous improvement. Process design and analysis is not a one-time project but a continuous cycle of improvement, based on the idea that there is always room for improvement and adaptation to changes in the business environment and customer needs. By adopting this approach, organizations stay competitive and keep their processes aligned with their strategic objectives. Organizations can apply methods such as continuous improvement (Kaizen) to look constantly for ways to optimize operations and stay ahead in their industry. The American Society for Quality describes continuous improvement as the ongoing improvement of products, services or processes through incremental and breakthrough improvements, which is the discipline that keeps a redesigned process from decaying.

Customer satisfaction. Efficient process design can have a direct impact on customer satisfaction, which is at the center of every organization's attention, since a satisfied customer is more likely to maintain a long-term relationship, recommend products or services and, ultimately, contribute to the success of the company. Four observations matter when monitoring it. Identifying expectations is the first step: what customers expect, what aspects they value most and what outcomes they want when they interact with the company. Tracking the customer experience throughout the entire process is critical, through surveys, interviews, data analysis and direct feedback that give a complete picture of how customers feel at every stage. Identifying pain points, such as delays, service errors or communication problems, shows the moments at which customers feel dissatisfied. And effective communication, which keeps customers informed about the status of their requests or orders and gives them channels to voice concerns, can make all the difference.

In summary, if the objectives of the design and analysis of processes are not defined, a software implementation project is comparable to the voyage of a last-generation ship without a route chart and without defined ports. It will be nothing more than sailing aimlessly, with the latent danger of getting lost despite having the most advanced navigation tools.

What is the SARA Methodology®?

To define what process improvement is, techniques are used to evaluate the current processes in use, adapting them and explaining them through ICX's own methodology, named Objective SARA, the starting point for design and analysis. The name is an acronym for four verbs and a result: Simplify, Analyze, Reduce and Augmented productivity.

Simplify

Simplifying consists of examining carefully how tasks and activities are carried out within a workflow or system, looking at even the simplest of its operations to identify repetitive manual tasks, and always aiming to simplify operations for employees. Simplification is essential because it promotes clarity, efficiency, effective communication, more informed decision making and a better overall quality of working life. In practice it begins with questions that sound naive and are not: why does this approval exist, who reads this report, what happens if we remove this field?

Analyze

The approach is not to analyze with perceptions but to identify opportunities with data. Analysis allows the company to understand, evaluate and make informed decisions about a situation, problem or data set. It breaks down complex problems into more manageable components, which facilitates the identification of effective solutions, and it makes it possible to address the underlying causes of problems rather than simply treating the symptoms. It also reveals hidden patterns and trends in data that are valuable for strategic decision making, for identifying business opportunities and for detecting anomalies. The process mapping and analysis service applies this step with measured times, volumes and error rates.

Reduce

The reduction of waste, steps and delays should be based on five principles.

• Obtain particular, measurable, non-subjective objectives, expressed as a percentage increase or decrease.
• Create actions that make sense together, so that the set of activities leads to the fulfillment of the objectives set.
• Secure the credibility and coherence of all the personnel involved, since reducing waste modifies processes, and if the staff do not share the idea, the reduction will not succeed.
• Focus on resolving obstacles during continuous improvement.
• Deliver results in the short term, so that those involved see differences between the before and the after of the implementation.

Augmented productivity

Augmented productivity must start with a culture toward business productivity. The leader should identify collaborators as chess pieces, knowing the way each of them operates. The best ideas for improvement are in the processes, that is to say, in the people who work day by day in each position, and they should never be left out of an innovation process.

What this means for the C-level

For the chief executive, the sequence process before software is a question of capital discipline. Technology investments are among the largest discretionary commitments a company makes, and they are the ones whose returns are least often audited against the original business case. Requiring that every significant system project begin with a documented process baseline, a target and a measure of benefit turns a bet into an investment. It also protects the credibility of the executive team with the board when the project reaches its first anniversary.

For the chief financial officer and the chief operating officer, SARA offers a vocabulary that connects operations to results. Simplification lowers cost to serve, analysis replaces opinions with evidence, reduction produces savings that can be counted, and productivity is the measure that finance recognizes. For the chief customer officer, the sequence has a further benefit: when the process is designed around the experience the customer should receive, the software is configured to deliver that experience instead of the convenience of the department that bought it.

The honest trade-off is speed. Designing the process first delays the visible launch, and in many organizations a launch date is a political commitment. The delay is usually measured in weeks, and the cost of skipping it is measured in quarters of rework. Executives who accept the first and refuse the second tend to be the ones whose projects are remembered as successes.

How can a director start on Monday?

A seasoned consultant would begin with a pending software decision rather than a new initiative. Take the project that is closest to approval, whether it is a CRM, an ERP module or an automation tool, and ask its sponsor to draw on one page the process the software will support, as it is performed today. The exercise takes a morning and usually produces the first surprise: the sponsor discovers that the process is longer than expected, or that two teams describe it differently.

Next, apply the four questions of SARA to that drawing. What can be simplified, removed or made less rigid? What does the data say about time, volume and errors? Which reductions can be shown within a quarter, with a number attached? And which of the people who perform the work should be part of the redesign, because they know where the process really fails? Only when those answers exist should the vendor be asked to configure the system. Software chosen this way tends to be smaller, cheaper and better adopted, because it is built around a process that people already understand and have helped to improve.

How ICX helps

ICX Consulting, a commercial strategy and customer experience firm headquartered in Miami, applies SARA and its broader process framework to help companies in the United States and Latin America design what they automate. The work typically combines process mapping and analysis, process improvement and process automation, and it ends with the selection and implementation of the platform that fits the redesigned process, which may be a CRM such as HubSpot or a workflow platform. Related reading from ICX covers the key benefits of defining your processes and process improvement using As Is and To Be.

To begin documenting the current state, use the Define Activities and Processes Toolkit. We recommend it for this topic because SARA starts from a clear description of what the organization does today, and the toolkit provides the structure for capturing activities, owners and flows before any technology decision is made.

Frequently asked questions

Does designing processes first mean delaying the software project?

Slightly, and deliberately. The design phase typically takes weeks, but it shortens configuration, reduces rework and prevents the cost of automating the wrong steps. Projects that skip it often spend more time later correcting what was built, so the net effect on timeline is frequently positive.

What is the difference between SARA and other continuous improvement methods?

SARA is designed as a starting point for process design and analysis, with four steps that executives can remember and apply quickly. It is compatible with Kaizen, Lean and DMAIC, which can be used afterwards to sustain and deepen the improvements that SARA identifies.

Can we apply SARA to a process that is already automated?

Yes. Many companies discover, after a system is live, that it reproduces old inefficiencies. Applying Simplify, Analyze and Reduce to an automated process often yields savings in steps, approvals and data entry without replacing the software, because the configuration can be changed to match the improved design.

Who should participate in the redesign?

The people who perform the work, their supervisors, a representative of the customer's perspective and a sponsor with authority over the process. Leaving out frontline staff is the most common mistake, since they know where the process fails in practice and will determine whether the new version is adopted.

Every system a company buys inherits the processes it is given, and the cheapest moment to improve them is before the contract is signed. If you are about to select or implement software, request a diagnostic with an ICX consultant and we will help you review the process it is meant to support.

Related articles from ICX: Key benefits of defining your processes, Business Process Automation, Process improvement using As Is and To Be, 10 reasons to automate processes, Retail industry and its processes, How Value Stream Mapping drives customer experience and Challenges in manufacturing industry processes.