Before we delve into Business Process Management – what is a business process?
Business Process Management (BPM) is a discipline involving any combination of modeling, automation, execution, control, measurement and optimization of business activity flows, in support of enterprise goals, spanning systems, employees, customers and partners within and beyond the enterprise boundaries.Nathaniel Palmer
A business process is more than the ideal set of work steps captured in formal process documentation. Rather, it is the actual work that spans one or more organizations inside or outside the enterprise. That work consists of different types of interactions and resources, and may include any or all of the following:
Human tasks
Workflow done by systems (applications, machines, devices)
Decisions
Collaborations that occur between workers inside and outside the enterprise
Social interactions
Events
Information flows
Business rules and policies
Analytics
BPM platforms manage that work and coordinate those interactions and resources to produce specific business outcomes, such as reductions in cycle times, increased capacity for growth, higher Net Promoter Scores and so on.
Take a moment to think of all the processes your business has in place to make it run more efficiently. How many of these processes have become a huge time suck and a major source of frustration? This is the reality for most businesses; you put systems in place to run your business but eventually, the systems seem to run you. This is why so many business owners are recognizing the need for business process management.
Business process management is a systematic approach to improving workflow and helping operations run more smoothly. Because the business landscape is constantly evolving your business needs to be able to evolve and change with it. This article will explain what business process management is, why your business needs it, and how you can begin to make it work for you.
What is Business Process Management?
A good introduction to this post is to understand the nature of a business process – covered in the video below.
To understand business process management, it can be helpful to imagine that your business is the vehicle you driving to reach a certain destination. Business process management is the tool you will use to fine-tune it along the way. You wouldn’t expect your car to run efficiently for years without regular oil changes and maintenance, would you? It’s the exact same way with your business.
According to this article in Entrepreneur, businesses lose 20 to 30 percent of their revenue every year due to inefficient processes. Business process management is a method for evaluating the current systems set in place and finding ways to improve them. The reality is that what works in your business today may not work a year from now. That is why it is so important to be constantly reevaluating and reassessing your processes. Sometimes knowing what isn’t working can be just as helpful as knowing what is working.
The problem is that while business process management sounds great in theory, how do you actually put it into practice? How can business process management actually work for your business?
How Does Business Process Management Work?
To get started with business process management, you need to evaluate the systems you currently have in place. Begin paying attention to common problems that arise throughout your workday. As you start noticing bottlenecks that regularly occur, a pattern will most likely begin to emerge. Identifying the cause of that problem is the first step toward finding a solution.
As you begin to figure out what the root cause is, figure out what tools you will need to fix it. Are there any technologies that could provide a solution to the problem your business is facing? Be sure that any software you choose to invest in will truly align with the needs of your company so it doesn’t end up creating more problems than it solves.
The important thing to keep in mind is that business process management is not meant to be a quick fix or one-time solution. To be successful, it must be used for continuous evaluation and improvement.
What are the Benefits of Business Process Management?
As this guide points out, the biggest benefits that come from business process management are usually intangible. It allows companies to become more flexible and adapt to a constantly changing business environment.
But there are numerous tangible benefits companies will see from implementing business process management. One of the biggest tangible benefits companies will see is lower costs and increased productivity from employees.
When systems are very inefficient, there can be a real lack of accountability because nobody really knows who is responsible for what task. By implementing business process management, every step of the workflow is assigned to one particular person. This helps employees to be more productive, make better decisions, and as a result, they will create more value for the customer.
Over time, this will not only save the company money, it will also increase its revenue. This is because bottlenecks create stalls, stifle creativity, and produce poor customer service. When your business can identify and eliminate most bottlenecks, companies can make better decisions and create faster cycle times.
As we mentioned before, reducing expenses and increasing productivity and revenue are all tangible benefits of business process management. Ultimately, the intangible benefits will benefit your business the most in the long run. As your business becomes more adaptable to changes in the marketplace, it will be more competitive.
Why Does Business Process Management Fail?
All this information probably sounds great but you may still be wondering, what if it doesn’t work? And this is a fair question because often times business process management projects do fail. Even with the best of intentions, sometimes businesses won’t see a return on their investment. This article does a good job of explaining why many business process management projects fail. There are a number of reasons why this could happen but let’s take a look at the four biggest culprits below:
- There is a lack of direction
Without a clear plan in place from the start, your business process management project will almost certainly fail. Even with best-laid plans, it can be hard to motivate your employees and keep everyone engaged so without one you are pretty much doomed from the start.
Be sure to identify you goals for the project, exactly who will be involved and what their roles are, and a time frame for completion. You should also set a budget for your project so you know what you are able to spend and can better focus your efforts.
- There is no real support from management
Implementing a business process management project takes a lot of work from everyone involved. One of the most important components for success is support from upper management. If management is uninvolved or is perceived as being unsupportive, this sends very conflicting messages to the rest of the employees. They might begin to sense that the project isn’t very important after all and that it doesn’t really require their full time and attention.
- Your plan does not focus on the customer
The process you are trying to improve should ultimately benefit the customer in some way. If your efforts are not somehow directed toward improving the experience of your customer, your plan will mostly likely fail. To do this you have to understand exactly who your customer is and how you are going to help them.
- Ineffective communication
As we have already established, in order for business process management to work everyone needs to be on board. Most employees will naturally resist change so it’s important that they understand why you are doing this and how it will benefit everyone involved.
Conclusion
Business processes play an important role in helping your business achieve its goals. By aligning your efforts and resources toward the desired outcome, your business can become more competitive and create a better customer experience.
If you know your business processes need improvement but you are unsure of where to start, Tallyfy can help. We provide a comprehensive and easy-to-use workflow app. You can build your processes in just minutes, easily track them, and measure your improvement over time. Schedule a conversation or begin your free trial today.
Photos by marfis75, MaRiNa, AJC1, marfis75, Kay Kim(김기웅), Tatiana12
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