Selling Spree Sends Dow Below 10,000 Mark. Turmoil In Europe. These were today's headlines on NPR's website. It's a no brainer.

Companies will be tightening down with cuts here and freezes there. Knee jerk reactions. Is that a good move? Maybe not.

If the reaction is not thought through and implemented systematically, things could get worse in the longer run. I propose the strategy of getting new processes and procedures in place to ensure efficiencies. 

For example, let's say your organization has many projects. Now executives say their budgets are being cut in half. A smart organization would not react without thinking. It will invest up front time in defining processes to drive the cost cutting initiatives.

One such process is how to review and decide on whether a project should be cut. Treat this as a a crisis management project in itself that can be repeated over and over for each department for their projects and roadmaps. This crisis management project would have project phases, action steps, people roles, and final deliverables.

Another example is an enterprise initiative to implement efficiencies. Again, this could be setup as a process template with procedures that identify efficiency opportunities and execution correction steps. This template would then be replicated throughout the enterprise, driving efficiency best practices or hard procedures for cost cutting and efficiency gain results.

Investing in new processes require a systematic approach. You need processes, good people, and technology for implementation and governance.

Now bear with me. I'm going to put on my sales hat, but I'm doing so for a good reason. PIEmatrix can help as the technology facilitator.

As a process and procedure platform, Pie can be setup by small to large enterprises with their act-now-financial-crisis procedure steps as ready-to-use templates. They can execute these templates as projects.

Assigned team members would use Pie to know what to do, collaborate with stakeholders, and keep track of execution progress. And upper management can then monitor the results in real-time.

Timing is critical, so get started now. Define processes for finding and implementing efficiencies. Use Pie to get those processes executed. Govern the initiative. Update the process quickly. Be smart, systematic, and stay out of trouble.