The Benefits and Challenges of Process Improvement

Process professionals know that the overarching goal of process management is to improve business performance. Whether the emphasis is on customer retention, employee satisfaction, cycle time, efficiency, business growth, productivity, or any other goal, organizations implement process management to improve factors that affect business outcomes. But to realize these advantages, there are certain common hurdles that must be overcome to achieve long-term results from process improvement efforts.

APQC’s 2024 Best Practices in Process Improvement survey explored how organizations identify and prioritize which processes to improve and assessed the long-term sustainability of process improvement (PI) projects. This article highlights the most common benefits gained by PI efforts as well as the challenges that many programs face in achieving sustainable change.