Business consultant and marketing expert Jeff Nock explains the importance of process identification and documentation in business maturity.
Jeff Nock, an experienced business consultant based in Iowa City, Iowa, runs through several key stages of so-called business maturity as he explains more about the topic and the importance of process identification and documentation in the now widely regarded practice.
Business maturity is defined as a measurement of the ability of a company or other organization to achieve continuous improvement, typically within a set discipline. “A more mature business, for example,” explains Nock, speaking from his office in Iowa City, Iowa, “will be better equipped to transform mistakes or errors into opportunities for improvement than a less mature one.”
This, the consultant says, comes as a result of business maturity essentially facilitating an organic ability to address quality standards, or the use of resources, in order to transform possible negatives into potential positives; something which many younger businesses—or those simply lacking business maturity—are often unable to achieve.
According to Jeff Nock, achieving business maturity most commonly relies on what’s known as a maturity model, and, of course, time. “The process,” he goes on to point out, “should also be further supported by process identification and documentation.”
Largely seen as part of the business maturity process itself, process identification and documentation may, Nock explains, assess people, culture, and technology, as well as a host of other areas of day-to-day business.
“Process identification and documentation in business, in the most straightforward sense, involves creating, following, and updating a roadmap for a company or organization, which helps to identify current states of business process, and determines and dictates where improvements can, or should, possibly, be made,” says the expert.
Where any process needs to be repeated or requires more than one person to complete in the first instance, it should be documented for the purpose of streamlining the roadmap going forward, hence the documentation aspect of process identification and documentation, according to Nock.
Briefly returning his focus solely to business maturity, the Iowa City-based business consultant points toward several stages frequently, and ideally, encountered during the process, ranging from improved knowledge sharing to reduced operating costs.
“Business maturity generally involves a number of stages, ideally starting with improved knowledge sharing and employee connections,” adds Nock, wrapping up, “followed by increased innovation, improved brand recognition and reputation, and culminating in deeper customer relationships and reduced operating costs across the board.”
