Curaçao-based Kooyman professionalizes organization and puts focus on customers

After mapping all their processes, the Caribbean’s largest DIY chain Kooyman B.V., which is based on the Netherlands Antilles island of Curaçao, moved on to improving their processes and the organization as a whole. “Properly mapped processes are the basis for organizational improvement. It made it clear how processes run and how we would like them to run.”

Even though Kooyman’s business process manager is in charge of the company’s BPM and improvement initiatives, he still always tries to stay on the sidelines and not get too involved in the specifics of the processes. “People have to do it themselves as much as possible, because that’s when they are more likely to buy into processes and improvements!” Kooyman has been working on an improvement program for some time now, with a focus on low-hanging fruit at each department. What are quick points for improvement in our processes that we can tackle? “People across the organization are very enthusiastic about this project. By showing that they can tackle small points for improvement themselves in no time and achieve real progress doing it, people are increasingly adopting the process-based mindset that we aim for. They experience the purpose and benefits first hand!”

The challenge that remains for the organization is to embed the organizational improvements and changes. “Our people have really bought into the idea of improving processes, they see improvement opportunities and act on them. We just have to make sure these improvements are embedded properly, so that they are maintained.” Process automation is the next step for Kooyman in making their working methods more consistent and creating more clarity in tasks and responsibilities. The organization has mapped business-critical processes that lend themselves particularly well to automation. Requirements are defined based on current process descriptions. “The process descriptions give us a clear idea of the required actions and activities and which steps could be automated.”

The leaflet process under control
The leaflet process, i.e. the process of creating and producing a leaflet with special offers, is one of the processes that Kooyman has automated recently. “It used to be a series of administrative actions with a lot of scope for error. With this process automated now, there is, for example, always a link to the database of items and the procurement system, so that we never advertise products in our leaflet that we don’t have in stock. It gives workers a better overall view and the process runs much more efficiently,” Kooyman B.V. has found in practice. “The process that we had mapped using Sensus process management gave us the foundation for this change. The bottlenecks in the process were immediately clear. This approach of mapping and visualizing the process has really helped us automate this process and make it more efficient. We now have much more control over the process!”

Professionalization and customer focus
The plan now is to further professionalize the organization. “Being a retail organization, our focus is always on our customers. But due to the large number of administrative processes and actions, you sometimes lose sight of the customer’s perspective. In order to serve our customers well, it is crucial that we also have our back office in order. Thanks to automation and the solid foundation we have now built using the Sensus method, we no longer spend time on unnecessary administrative red tape and have more time for innovation. And that’s very important to us!” Over the coming period, more of our processes will be automated, including the HRM processes.

BPM and IT go hand in hand
“BPM and IT really have to go hand in hand to be the best possible support for the business. Only then will it be truly beneficial!” Initially, Kooyman started out with process management to introduce a greater level of consistency in working methods and embed them in the organization. After successful BPM projects that involved regular support from Sensus-methode consultants, the organization has made great progress. “We are now noticing that there is a lot more to process management than just documenting knowledge. And that’s great!”