June 2, 2020
Article
Harvard Business Review Digital Articles

How to 'Re-engineer' Your Business for Safety

Format:Electronic

Abstract

Process reengineering was a massive trend in the 1990s. By focusing on improving either cost, quality, or service, a company could gain benefits in all three categories. Today, the principles that underpin process reengineering can be applied anew, with safety as a core category to improve that will carry benefits across multiple other dimensions. By focusing on improving safety as companies begin to reopen—always while keeping the company’s purpose front and center—companies will gain benefits on four other dimensions. First, they can increase reach, by using virtual connections that attract customers who can’t be physically present. Second, they can create new customer experiences that consumers will want regardless of if they were created to overcome quarantine. Third, they can help re-invent the business as companies see new markets to serve through the lens of safety. Finally, they can improve costs.

At a time when companies are severely challenged, considering a safety reengineering effort may help create valuable new innovations, and revenue streams.