Impact assessments are commonly associated with businesses but in fact they are applicable to all areas of life.
In short, an impact assessment will look at what possible outcome a specific action can have and how to minimize or prevent any negative outcomes.
A good example of this is when shipping items. You can evaluate the shipping procedure to find what is known as damage indicators. These are the stages of the process which are most likely to result in the product being damaged.
The response to this is to develop a packing method which will keep your specific product safe from when it leaves your factory to when t reaches the customer. The more product lines you have the harder this can be but the more important it is.
General Life
Have you ever needed to make a decision but don’t know which is the right path to choose? Chances are you’ll consider all the options and what the likely outcomes are. This is an impact assessment!
Why Is Impact Assessment Important
There are a variety of reasons why impact assessment is so important:
- Costs
The most obvious benefit is the reduction of costs in a business environment. If you have a specific product which you sell but 50% of them are damaged in transit then you’re going to want to do an impact assessment and figure out how to keep the items safe in transit.
This will reduce the amount of damages and the amount of funds you have to spend sending replacement for free.
This will reduce your costs and could dramatically improve your profit!
- Reputation
Perhaps just as important is the reputation of your business. The right thing to do when something is damaged in transit is to replace it free of charge. This keeps the customer happy and damages your profits.
However, no matter how good your customer service if the same issue keeps happening then your customers are likely to get fed up. The free replacement will still mean they are waiting extra days to receive the product. This is something that most people are not happy to do in the modern, instant gratification society.
Word can spread that half your products arrive broken and your reputation will be badly damaged; it’s much harder to rebuild your reputation that it is to destroy it.
- Morale
The people most likely to spot an issue during your production or packing process are actually the staff doing this process. These are the also the best ones to ask to figure out how to prevent the issue.
As a bonus if you consult your staff and particularly if you implement a suggestion they make, they will feel that their opinion and voice counts. This will boost the morale in your workplace and encourage them to mention other places where you can make improvements.
You could make a significant increase in you profits and gain a more loyal staff simply by doing impact assessments!
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