Standardization is the opportunity—and the challenge

Standardization provides the opportunity to address the most pressing needs of your business today.

You need resiliency to handle shocks.
You need flexibility to manage volatility.
You need efficiency to absorb higher costs.

But how can you achieve it? The standardization challenge requires trial-and-error experience on real-world operations. And that takes lots of time. (Spoiler alert: The Lab has been standardizing for three decades.) You can’t hurry standardization simply by adding more people, more capital, or more technology.

Standardize what?

In a word: Everything. (Every aspect of everything in knowledge work.)

The Lab’s templates simplify standardization of four valuable Knowledge Work assets:

The Lab’s Three-Step Approach

Step 1: Summarize the current state…

The Lab’s templates act as checklists to speed documentation of organizations, processes, and sub-processes. These enable comparison of KPIs, best practices, and automation opportunities. It’s a technique we call Structured Discovery™. It’s faster, more straightforward, and more accurate than tedious conventional methods and complex process-mining technologies. The Lab’s categorized hierarchies—or taxonomies—make it easy to organize, navigate, and coordinate your business.
Everything is template-ized. Pre-built. This also reduces time requirements for your staff. One hour here. Thirty minutes there. That’s it!

Structured Discovery™ Templates: Efficiently Identify Improvement Opportunities

Step 1 (Cont’d): …Map business process detail as needed

The Lab’s business process maps provide two layers of detail essential for implementation.

A. “Micro” Layer: Work Activities and Keystrokes Target small groups of work activities (1-5 min. each) to identify standardization opportunities, and drill down to the keystroke-level (2-5 sec. each) to scope automation use cases.

B. “Macro” Layer: End-to-End (E2E) Process Understand complex E2E, cross-departmental processes to shed light on data movements, handoffs, member touch-points, and more.

Select as much or as little detail as you need. Start or stop anywhere along any process.

Business Process Maps: Capture Detail to Support Standardization, Automation

Step 2: Conduct best practice gap analysis

The Lab documents the variance from the “best practice.” We compare item-by-item to let you see what’s happening (and not), and where.

What do we compare?
– Work activities
– Job roles
– KPIs and reports (see example)
– System/software utilization
– Service levels
– Member needs
– Competitor performance

“Best Practice” Comparisons: Document Variance from Process, Data, and Service Standards

Step 3: Build standardization roadmap

The Lab starts with the low-hanging fruit. Then we establish a “lather-rinse-repeat” cadence of manageably-sized improvement iterations to achieve consistent gains without the big-bang disruption of old-school approaches.

Standardization roadmaps segment improvements into manageable waves for implementation. The Lab works hand-in-hand with each client to:

• Design roadmaps
• Implement improvements

Standardization Roadmaps: Prioritize and Manage Implementation Activities

Real-life, realized benefits for executive project sponsors

The Lab Makes It Easy

Organization-friendly engagement design

The Lab makes it easy for clients—from the C-Suite to the front line—to understand and manage the initiative:

• Minimal use of client time: One hour each week.
• Measurable benefits: Typical 12-month ROI is 3x to 5x.
• Pre-built templates: Process maps, KPIs, bots, and more.
• U.S.-based, remote delivery: Nothing outsourced or offshored.

Designed to reduce risk, increase success

Since 1993, The Lab has led the industry in eliminating risk for our clients:

• Fixed pricing and clearly defined scope
• Pre-project feasibility/value assessments at nominal cost
• Early-out checkpoints and options
• Money-back guarantees

Book your free demo

The best way to learn about The Lab’s patented Knowledge Work Standardization® approach is to book your free, no-obligation 30-minute screen-sharing demo. And you’ll get all your questions answered by our friendly experts. Simply call (201) 526-1200 or email info@thelabconsulting.com to book your demo today!