Does your IT department lack organization? Do your employees constantly seem to run into tech issues and feel like they could benefit from a few guidelines?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, implementing standard operating procedures (SOPs) can be exactly what your business needs to solve its problems. SOPs have been driving critical business processes for years, and they can bring much-needed organization to companies across the globe.
In this blog, we’ll give you a crash course on SOPs—highlighting what they are, how they benefit your business, and how you can get assistance writing some SOPs of your own.
What Are Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)?
Companies create SOPs to thoroughly document processes and help ensure consistency. Simply put, they establish guidelines or instructions so your employees know what to do in unique situations. This enables them to work more productively while complying with your specific regulations and expectations. SOPs are important because they fill the communication gap between employees and upper management, especially when a company is scaling quickly and the management team may not be able to provide hands-on instruction.
Having established SOPs makes it much easier for employees to make decisions without direct guidance from their supervisors while making sure their choices are aligned with your company’s goals and direction.
How Do Standard Operating Procedures Help My Workplace?
The importance of standard operating procedures can’t be overstated, as they deliver several operational advantages for your workplace, including:
Promoting Positive Change
Do some of your employees feel confusion about upgrading or updating their software? Have managers mentioned that they’d like more structure around IT support tickets? Do you want a way to ensure that things are being done well?
Good news: the right procedures can facilitate the change people want to see at the office. Having established SOPs is important because it helps improve the way daily tasks are done, and more importantly, changed.
When you write SOPs, you give employees the efficiency, reliability, and predictability they need to succeed. When people ask fewer questions about how to handle day-to-day tasks, your team can start performing to the best of their ability—without technology holding them back.
Tired of tech issues holding you back? When your business isn’t limited by a traditional IT infrastructure, your entire organization can work with less friction. Take a look at our blog highlighting what to consider before scaling your technology.
Improve Employee Training and Management
When you have established procedures, hiring, training, and retaining employees is much easier. That’s why SOPs are important when onboarding team members, as it helps them:
- Learn important things about your business
- Clearly understand how often processes need to be completed
- Know exactly what it takes to complete a process from start to finish
- Understand the different roles everyone in their department plays in the process
Creating SOPs helps new employees get up to speed on their own time, taking the pressure off management. You’ll be able to spend fewer hours training, which gives your team more time to get acquainted with everything.
Simply put, SOPs are important because they act as a guide that helps your staff improve their workflow, ensuring that everything is running correctly. You’ll be able to remove the ambiguity from some otherwise confusing processes and make the desired outcomes of daily tasks very apparent. Not only does this help employees be more productive, but it also reduces the possibility of errors in the workplace.
Finding Holes and Prevent Security Issues
You’d be surprised at how many tech problems you can solve when carefully writing down your procedures. When you take the time to assess the current infrastructure, it’s much easier to identify gaps in your process.
SOPs are important because, prior to creating them, you must identify and assess the way you currently operate. By examining the way you do things, it’ll be easy to know where you’re falling short, which helps you stay ahead of potential cybersecurity issues.
Additionally, it’s essential to note SOPs can help bolster your company’s cybersecurity measures. In fact, in the corporate landscape, 82% of data breaches are caused by employee error. By establishing SOPs highlighting how to securely use technology, you educate both new and tenured team members alike on how to safeguard digital infrastructures.
Looking to Create SOPs For Your Business? CIO Advisory Services Are Helpful
Every organization must have effective leadership in key roles throughout the company. CEOs establish your business’s direction, and CFOs and CMOs manage everything from quarterly financials to consumer engagement.
In today’s digital age, a Chief Information Officer (CIO) is arguably the most important. However, managing information technology can be complicated—especially if you don’t have the right strategies or SOPs in place.
Luckily, CIO advisory services can help. Whether you need to establish SOPs, scale technology, or safeguard your digital assets, professional advisory services from an established MSP deliver more flexibility, agility, and expertise than you’d get with a single consultant.
Tenisi Tech: Industry-Leading CIO Advisory Services
Your company is already spending a significant amount on technology to further its business goals. Why not invest in professional advisory services to ensure your IT approach is done right?
At TenisiTech, our advisory solutions help you build and maintain cost-effective IT environments, so your company can meet its monthly, annual, and long-term milestones. We’re not just an IT vendor that fixes your computers—we’re a business partner committed to helping you reach your goals. Take a look at our CIO advisory services to learn more, and let’s start building SOPs to improve your processes.