As I sat reviewing last quarter's operational metrics, I couldn't help but reflect on that basketball interview I'd recently come across where Erram emphasized, "Hindi lang naman talaga si June Mar 'yung kailangan bantayan. Their team talaga, sobrang very talented team." This insight perfectly captures what we often miss in business process optimization - it's never just about fixing one superstar problem area while ignoring the entire operational ecosystem. In my fifteen years of consulting with mid-sized companies on their Process-Based Architecture and Chief Digital Officer strategies, I've seen this pattern repeat itself countless times. Organizations pour resources into optimizing their most visible processes while neglecting the supporting cast that truly makes the magic happen.
Let me share a recent experience that drove this point home. We were working with a manufacturing client that had invested nearly $2.3 million in automating their production line - their "June Mar" so to speak. Yet their overall efficiency gains plateaued at just 12% against the projected 28%. Why? Because they'd overlooked their inventory management and supplier coordination processes, which were quietly hemorrhaging efficiency. The supporting processes, much like the talented team in Erram's observation, needed equal attention. This is where a comprehensive PBA CDO strategy differs from piecemeal digital transformation - it recognizes that business processes function as interconnected systems, not isolated components.
The fundamental shift I advocate for involves mapping your entire process universe before attempting optimization. Last year, we mapped approximately 187 distinct processes for a financial services client, and what emerged was fascinating - their customer onboarding, which they considered secondary, actually had the third-highest impact on overall operational efficiency. We discovered that improving this single process by 15% through digital workflow implementation created ripple effects that boosted cross-selling success rates by nearly 9%. That's the power of understanding your entire team of processes, not just your star players.
When implementing PBA CDO strategies, I've developed what I call the "70/30 resource allocation rule" - spend 70% of your optimization budget on your core processes (your June Mar equivalents), but deliberately reserve 30% for enhancing your supporting processes. In practice, this means if you're automating your primary sales process, you should simultaneously be streamlining your customer service follow-up protocols. The data consistently shows that companies following this balanced approach achieve 23-35% higher efficiency gains compared to those focusing exclusively on their headline processes.
One of my favorite success stories comes from a retail client who transformed their returns process - traditionally viewed as a cost center. By applying PBA principles and treating returns as an integral part of their customer experience ecosystem rather than an isolated headache, they reduced processing time from 48 hours to just 3 hours while increasing customer retention by 17%. The key was recognizing that this "supporting" process directly influenced their star process - repeat purchases. They went from dreading returns to leveraging them as relationship-building opportunities.
The human element in process optimization cannot be overstated. I've observed that approximately 68% of failed digital transformations stumble not on technology, but on organizational resistance to changing established workflows. That's why my approach always includes what I term "process empathy" - understanding why teams cling to inefficient methods. Often, it's because those methods solve unaddressed needs that your new system must accommodate. I make it a point to spend at least two days per month shadowing different teams, not to audit them, but to understand their daily challenges and hidden workarounds.
Looking toward emerging trends, I'm particularly excited about how AI is revolutionizing PBA implementation. We're now able to simulate process changes with about 89% accuracy before implementation, dramatically reducing trial-and-error periods. One client recently used this approach to redesign their procurement workflow, identifying potential bottlenecks that would have cost them roughly $420,000 in delayed projects. The simulation suggested a minor tweak to their approval hierarchy that ultimately saved them 160 administrative hours monthly.
What many organizations misunderstand about PBA CDO strategies is that they're not one-time projects but continuous practices. I recommend quarterly process health assessments where we measure efficiency metrics across at least 15-20 key processes. This regular checkup prevents the gradual efficiency erosion that plagues so many companies - that slow creep where processes become 2-3% less effective each quarter until you're suddenly 25% less efficient than you were a year ago without understanding why.
As we move forward in this increasingly digital landscape, the companies that will thrive are those that embrace what Erram understood about team dynamics - success depends on your entire roster, not just your MVP. Your accounts payable process might not be as glamorous as your sales conversion funnel, but neglecting it can undermine all your other optimization efforts. The most elegant PBA CDO strategy I've seen recently came from a logistics company that achieved 41% operational efficiency improvement not by revolutionizing any single process, but by elevating the performance of their entire process portfolio in concert. They understood that in business, as in basketball, you can't just guard the star player - you need to respect the entire talented team.
