Another issue for many businesses are processes that are either not described, missing or not aligned with other processes in the business. This often leads to situation where there is no clear definition on who is doing what and then two (or more) employees redundantly perform the same task.

Or even worse, to situations where no one performs the task and the result is a disappointed customer.​

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Loss of customers

A company was in need of a new online store to boost their sales. They developed the new online store and put it into production.

The day after their service desk received numerous calls from customers complaining that they were experiencing problems when submitting orders on the website.

The company immediately started solving the problem, but even with a lot of manpower dedicated to solving the problem, it still took precious time before they found the root cause and got it fixed.

This little ‘hiccup’ was expensive, as the company not only lost revenue while finding out where the problem lay, but they also experienced a lot of customers not returning as they had found other places to shop.

What the company lacked and what could have prevented this, was a solid process for transitioning projects into production.

 

Risk of disaster

The IT department of a large corporation had set up a new datacenter and as the services they provided was required 24/7, they had implemented redundancy on several levels, two independent power sources, a backup generator, independent internet connections and a redundant network backbone just to name a few.

But what they did not have, was a disaster recovery plan with roles and responsibilities defined. So in the event something happened, there were no written guidelines for the employees to act by.

Just an example how important it is to have roles and responsibilities clearly defined.