In the age of IoT we see an increasing amount of data streaming in and out of an organization. From this data, organizations learn how to improve and adapt their business processes to better meet their organization’s objectives. Propel is a performance management tool used to align daily activities and performance to overall strategic objectives. We sat down with Joe Lonjin, a Lab Services consultant for Propel at Cohesive Solutions, to discuss trends in Enterprise Performance Management (EPM). He shared his first-hand experience with how Propel improves performance and helps organizations reach their goals with increased efficiency and effectiveness.
What is your experience with Enterprise Performance Management?
I have been involved in Facilities Maintenance and Management for over 20 years now, starting in contractor services, the U.S. Army, and then at Penn State University. Now in this new role at Cohesive Solutions, I get to share my experiences and the knowledge given to me by so many great friends and colleagues along my journey. Enterprise Performance Management is important as it should shift the focus from individual performance, to enabling cross functional teams throughout an organization to empower all employees in delivering the mission, vision, and values. If everyone understands, buys-in, and feels there is transparent communication around the goals, performance will happen intrinsically.
What trends are you seeing today in EPM?
The pace of advances in technology are driving new innovations around Performance. A trend I fully support and one that Propel enhances, is that no matter how technology is used, people are the key to performance. In this vein there is attention being paid to help organizations understand that processes support people, technology supports processes, and people can perform if there is alignment between the three. People, processes, and technology must work together; directly measuring people separate from the process is NOT the answer to achieve optimal performance.
What hurdles need to be overcome/what are companies lacking when it comes to EPM?
I believe the main hurdle is often communication, this is addressed throughout the industry in many ways. However, communication is very broad, and so the key element that I believe makes a difference in Performance Management is transparency. Since every employee contributes to an organization, each person should be able to see performance, and understand the objectives and means used to measure performance. Everyone from the board room to the shop floor should understand the organizational mission, the strategic objectives that support the mission, and how the measures are used to determine if performance is being achieved toward that mission.
What raw data/insights/improvements have you witnessed as it related to the installation and implementation of an EPM strategy and solution, such as Propel?
The truth is, most organizations feel as if they are not ready for this type of solution. In using the process supported by Cohesive, people realize what business processes and data issues they have, but more importantly which ones they need to concentrate on to support their objectives. In using Propel, multiple organizations have seen double digit percentage increases (30-50%) in performance related to training and software implementation efforts including mobile work execution, scheduling platforms, and business process training. They now know and realize whether they have ROI from those investments, greatly increasing employee engagement and buy-in along the way.
Learn more about how Propel can help your organization measure, monitor, and improve performance. Join us for my webinar in October, The New Facility Maintenance Trend to Improve Efficiency. I will share many of my first-hand experiences working through data transparency challenges and how to generate intrinsic performance.
"Let us bring human intuition and understanding back to the workplace. While we love and embrace technology, if we really listen and connect with people then good performance happens naturally."
