By Dr Suresh Vidyasagar Menon-Chief Consultant & Business Advisory for Six Sigma, Operations, Strategic Management and Information Security
There are a number of issues that are high priorities of many business organizations. Although not every business is faced with these issues, many are. Chief among the issues is the following.
Economic Conditions. The lingering recession and slow recovery in various sectors of the economy has made managers and leadership cautious about investment and rehiring workers who had been laid off during the recession
Innovating Finding new or improved products or services are only two of the many possibilities that can provide value to an organization. Innovations can be made in processes, the use of internet or the supply chain that reduce costs, increase productivity, expand markets, or improve customer service.
Quality Problems The numerous operation failures underscore the need to improve the way the operations are managed in an IT organization, this relates to product design and testing, oversight of suppliers, risk assessment and timely response to potential problems. Ideally the usage of six sigma and its implementation is recommended which will take care of the major operations issues the IT organization is facing in today’s world. Some of the IT companies have a six-sigma steering committee but most of them don’t so the day-to-day activities of employees are not fully improvising on the productivity of the organization. Six Sigma can be implemented wherever there are gaps in the processes of the organization, thereby reducing costs and transactional times.
Risk management the need for managing risk is underscored by recent events that include financial crisis, product recalls, accidents, natural and man-made disasters and economic up and downs. Managing risks starts with identifying risks, assessing vulnerability and potential damage (liability costs, reputation, demand) and taking steps to reduce or share risks.
Cyber-Security. The need to guard against intrusions from hackers whose goal is to steal personal information of employees and customers is becoming increasingly necessary. Moreover, interconnected systems increase intrusion risks in the form of industrial espionage.
Competing in a global economy. Low labor costs in third-world countries have increased pressure to reduce labor costs. Companies must carefully weigh their options which include outsourcing some or all of their operations to low-wage areas, reducing costs internally, changing designs and working to improve productivity.
Increasing globalization. Increasing globalization has expanded the physical length of supply chains. A global supply chain increases the challenges and also having far flung customers or suppliers means longer lead times and greater opportunities for disruption of deliveries. Often currency differences and monetary fluctuations are factors as well as language and cultural differences.
So as we know six sigma implementation plays a major role in enhancing the operations which if complemented by the right strategic approach using advanced strategic management methods can yield rich dividends.
Dr Suresh Vidyasagar Menon has 30 years plus of overall experience in IT, around 3 Years in Auditing of ISO 27001-Information Security Standard , has executed 25 plus projects in IT and two turnkey projects for eastern railways(Liluah) and has to his credit twelve publications in International journals of Science & Engineering.
