Business process management, or BPM, is the practice of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of an organisation by automating its business processes. Many companies have business processes that are unique to their business model. These processes tend to evolve over time as the business reacts to market conditions, which means the BPM solution must be easily adaptable to new conditions and requirements and continue to be a perfect fit for the company.
An organisation can implement BPM to automate any business tasks, such as expense report travel requests, purchase orders, new accounts and credit authorisation.
The idea of BPM is to bring processes, people and information together because, if you know what your company does, you can do it better. Here are 10 ways to know if your company is ready for it:
1) Do your KPIs reflect inconsistent quality, poor customer experience, and a resulting loss of revenue?
Inefficient processes result in poor customer service. BPM co-ordinates all aspects of a process, so that it is executed accurately, quickly and efficiently, resulting in satisfied customers. Companies know that a small percentage increase in sales success, a few days` improvement between order and payment, or even a slight drop in manufacturing defects can significantly increase profits.
2) Does your company have regular business cycles with equally regular inputs and inputs? Organisations such as banks, insurance companies and manufacturers that have understood, analysed and optimised their business process can enable those processes through people, systems and technology.
3) Do your departments operate as autonomous or semi-autonomous entities or silos?
Identifying business processes is relatively easy. Breaking down the barriers between business areas, and finding owners for the processes is difficult. BPM not only involves managing business processes within the enterprise but also involves real-time integration of the processes of a company with those of its suppliers, business partners and customers.
4) Are you finding synergy gaps between product or service conceptualisation and delivery? In other words, are your processes inhibiting the delivery of new products/services?
BPM co-ordinates all aspects of a process, so that it is executed accurately, quickly and efficiently, resulting in satisfied customers.
Victoria Vaksman, MD, Tilos Business Solutions
In today`s rapidly changing business environment, it is not enough to improve process efficiencies and reduce costs alone; a business must be agile and adapt quickly to changes. Such agility translates to sustainable competitive advantage, which ensures long-term business success. BPM allows new business applications to be developed and enables companies to differentiate themselves through streamlined interactions with customers.
5) Are your costs unacceptably high?
Improving productivity and thereby reducing costs is dependent on the effective use of employees` time. BPM maximises the value of every person in the process chain, sending tasks to the right people at the right time, and ensuring coordination between systems and people. Correct processes save costs, and every cent shaved off your operating costs goes straight to the bottom line.
6) Can you easily identify redundancy, errors or duplications in your business?
BPM integration ensured that errors and exceptions can quickly be picked up and resolved. Processes can be measured and monitored to identify any bottlenecks.
7) Are your legacy systems inhibiting change?
Packaged applications may be configurable, but they are also difficult to change. Because of BPM`s process-centric nature, users can define and model their own business processes without requiring technical expertise. This makes it easy to design and implement new processes, or change existing ones, in response to business requirements.
8) Are industry dynamics and compatibility issues forcing you to rethink your business processes?
BPM provides the tools to measure and monitor your business processes, enabling real-time analysis and rapid action.
9) Have you perceived a need to devolve ownership of the business to the business users themselves?
Because BPM allows business processes to be changed and deployed by users without technical knowledge, changes can be made almost instantaneously, thus enhancing the flexibility and responsiveness of your business.
10) Are you struggling to meet regulatory requirements?
Regulatory compliance and corporate governance requirements, such as Basel II, King II, the ECT Act, Sarbanes-Oxley, triple bottom line reporting and IAS 2005, mean that companies have to comply with regulations and prove that they are doing so, failing which massive fines and even imprisonment are realities.
BPM allows users to create and maintain business processes that are compliant, and provides management with a complete audit trail of all the steps involved in any given process, thereby providing a platform for process compliance.
BPM makes visible the maze of interactions between system and people, so that they can be arranged, co-ordinated and then automated. It addresses the interactions between people and within applications and systems, enabling companies to function more efficiently.
Share