"Everything that your customers won't pay extra for, comes out of profit!"

Costs are determined by the prices of raw materials plus the expenses of the processes used in operation. Processes used in operation generally fall into two categories--those required to transform raw goods into finished product, and those that handle the movement and storage of information

After studying and improving business processes involving the storage and handling of information for more than 20 years, we have noticed that most of these processes can be categorized into one of 4 areas:

1.
Collecting data from distributed locations to a central point
2.
Distributing data from a central point to multiple locations
3.
Processing large volumes of transactions of a similar nature
4.
Moving data across 'system' boundaries


These are important, even essential functions, but the cost of performing these tasks does not add value to your service or product.  By value, I mean, would your customer be happy to pay you $100 more for each purchase if they knew your costs in one of these 4 areas were $100 higher than a competitor?