IAN JAMES: Sometimes, it's hard to see how IT and business process fit together. So here's a simple way to think about it. Let's start with process. Business process happens in the real world.

Let's say we have a hiring process. We advertise a job. We interview candidates. We make a decision, and a new guy turns up at work.

Or let's say we have an accounts payable process. We get an invoice from a vendor. We make sure it's valid. Then, somebody approves it, and then we cut a check and send it to the vendor.

Every day, in a typical business, there are thousands of transactions like these that follow some process or another. In fact, there are so many, we could not possibly keep track of all this information without help. Once, we did this all by paper. Armies of people were required to write it all down. Now, we use computers and call it information technology.

But whatever the tools are, we're doing the same thing. We're making detailed notes of all the things that happen in the real world. So for example, when we hire someone, we have to keep track of the details.

We give them an employee ID. We add them to the payroll with a Social Security number. We set a salary in the payroll system. We update the headcount. When you look at it, you'll find a surprising amount of data that's generated by everyday transactions like these.

In a sense, we're creating a mathematical model of where we are with all our transactions. The data are the building blocks of the model, and it's constantly changing. By reducing the detail to numbers, we can manage the vast amounts of data that get generated by our transactions. We can capture it and store it using databases and software programs.

Now, you never get to see an actual database. What we do see is the software that displays the data. The software allows us to capture it, retrieve it, change it, run reports, and otherwise manipulate it. So the role of software is to support the process by providing the means to create and maintain a mathematical model.

But software does not exist on its own. For that, we need the other component of IT-- the hardware. It takes PCs and servers and keyboards and networks and all the other paraphernalia that the guys with the pocket protectors love. Now it's a bit easier to see how all this fits together. The hardware supports the software that supports the processes. This three-layer model is pretty simple, but is a good way to think about what's going on.

When you realize that IT is merely supporting business processes, then you can start to see that fixing your processes is every bit as important as improving hardware and software. It's amazing how many smart businesspeople are ready to spend money on improving efficiency with IT projects without getting their processes right first. I hope this model helps you avoid that mistake.

There are lots of ways to improve processes. You can find out more by watching other videos in this series. You can get them on my website, the ProcessConsultant.com. Thanks for watching. I'm Ian James, the Process Consultant.