Improve Day-To-Day Workflows
Find the friction, cut waste, reduce manual effort, and speed the work people do every day — incrementally.
Overview
Business Process Optimization
Maximize efficiency. Lead where you compete. Our unique solutions combine business and technology. We deliver strategy, analysis, in-house development, implementation, and always turnkey.
94%
of clients like you hate industry acronyms.
26
years in the optimization services business.
We'll spare you the industry acronyms.
You want results, not acronyms. We describe what we offer in plain english. With decades of expertise, we've been through eras: TQM in the 90s, SS, JIT, DMADV in the 2000s, now VSM, LSS, and it goes on. If you happen to like acronyms, we are happy to oblige: GrayBase, our proprietary rabbithole of industry jargon, for you to enjoy. OK, now lets talk benefits.
Tighten Connected Systems
Apps, databases, integrations, infrastructure, digital workflows — improved and tuned for performance and reliability.
Efficiency You Can Feel
Less manual work, simpler processes, better productivity — optimized workflows and automation that stick.
It used to be 80% work was new workflow systems. Now just about everyone has one, so we're called to tune things up. It amazes me, that a full 10 years later, the system hasn't been touched. And that's a big opportunity. Seeing improvements of 20-30% is quite common.
GrayWire Business Optimization
The GrayWire Approach
We drive the process, figure out what needs doing, then deliver the result.
Here is how.
From analysis and strategy through implementation, we own the work. We figure out what to do, why it matters, how to do it, then deliver the result. Each Client is unique, but this is our typical process.
Learn more
Map the Landscape
It's about people, and how they acutually work: systems, teams, approvals, handoffs, workarounds and shortcuts . We work hands-on, in-person, and learn how the relevant part of your business actually runs.
Find Improvement Opportunitites
With decades of experience, we know where to look: humans are human, and that means duplicate effort, slow handoffs, preventable errors, department boundaries, misaligned and disconnected organizational silos. And of course, the systems they use, outdated workflows, unused features, legacy and disconnected systems. Or, the Client already knows what needs fixing, and we move straight to the fix.
Measure Value of Each Improvement
As an established practice, we work to deliver improvements incrementally. So properly establishing the business value of each is essential, whighing time, labor savings and operational value, against effort, risk and cost. Timing matters as well, especially if there's a lot changing. Too much change too quickly impacts your people.
Deliver the Improvements
As turnkey provider we handle technical implementation. Our goal is to get your result with minimal impact on your business. If other specialized 3rd party providers are needed, we handle it. Each Client is different, and you have the option to handle implementation yourself.
Hand Off to You
Our ultimate goal: your problem, solved. That means we handle training, documentation and anything else needed for your people to own it.
Our Specialty
You have workflow processes and systems.
We make them better, without breaking them.
Our Client stats tell the story:
96% already have existing systems.
90% need system improvements.
10% need a new system.
In-House Delivery
Analysis decides what to fix. When it's time to act, delivery is ours. As a turnkey provider, our in-house staff implement it—engineers and specialists who stand up, tune, consolidate, and build workflow systems. Most often, that looks like one of the four below.
-
New Workflow Platform Implementation
You're adopting an industry-standard workflow platform and leaving legacy systems behind. We handle the full implementation of Salesforce, Jira, ServiceNow, or Workday—including limited development if it's needed. When we're live, your old systems are retired.
-
Workflow System Tuning
You already have a workflow system in place, but time has passed—people, processes, and the platform have moved on. We tune what you have, including features you already pay for but don't use. You end up with workflows that match how the business runs today.
-
Workflow Systems Consolidation
Your workflow is split across multiple systems. We consolidate them onto one—either an industry-specific platform or big-league SaaS (Salesforce, Jira, etc.). When all is said and done, you're retiring most, or all, of the legacy systems.
-
Custom Workflow Application
You need specific functionality that isn't available off the shelf. We build a standalone custom workflow application to meet those requirements. You end up with a delivered workflow system, source code in hand.
GrayWire
The Sharpest Tool in Your Shed
The bigger picture
Other ways it pays off
Shining Happy People
A smooth-running operation makes for happy people. Less frustration, manual copy-paste, fewer mistakes, and a sense of well-done.
Smooth Operations
Fewer late night fires, more predictabilty, happier customers, improved resource managment, and better visibility across your business.
A Fatter Bottom Line
Less wasted labor, fewer mistakes, better throughput, more consistent output, means better margins, and more money in your pocket.
The past few years, the big SaaS workflow companies have been locked in a feature race. And that's to the customer's benefit. You can do so much more with them, and you're already paying for it. Of course, you have to know what's there, and how to fit it into your company's processes. And that's been great for us. We get to deliver significant improvements. And most of the time, our client doesn't have to pay more in platform fees.
GrayWire Business Optimization
Decades in the trenches shaped how we think.
These are the convictions that stuck.
Platforms evolve, and people do too.
Once your workflow goes live, the people who configured it move on. SaaS keeps shipping features, but its unlikely that someone reviews what's new and whether it fits. Meanwhile, people treat the workflow system as fixed—so when their work changes, they take shortcuts and workarounds instead of changing the system. The gap between how the system should run and how it actually runs grows as a function of time.
Process drift is a human condition.
People change how they work. Systems and handoffs follow—a little at a time, often unnoticed—until the drift becomes the 'new normal' and adds up. That's why business process optimization isn't a one-and-done project. Human Organizations need GrayWire on an occasional basis.
Knowing what not to touch matters, a lot.
Starting from "everything is broken" is the wrong move — and can be quite expensive. In a real operation, most of what you run already works—and a smaller set carries the real opportunity. Finding what should be left alone, is as important as finding what needs fixing.
Small improvements beat a rip-and-replace.
When you already have a workflow system, 'total transformation' is often a sales pitch—not a better outcome. Throwing out a working foundation and starting over can be a net negative for the business. A focused set of incremental improvements more often delivers more real gain than rebuilding end to end.
You don't need to map the whole company, usually.
Large consulting firms often require a full end-to-end process map across the business before anything else — a slow, expensive artifact, and hard to justify. In most cases, it isn't necessary. We map where attention is actually needed, when that mapping helps deliver the result — not just because.
Take Action
Get more from your business
Call us today!
- Initial assessment at no cost
- Know what you'll pay, one initiative at a time
- Value-based approach, with a lean staffing model.
Massive projects and big commitments don't mean better results. We start with the workflows, systems, and people you already have. We will find the smartest places to move, deliver on them, and make the gains real.