What is Business Process Management?

Business Process Management (BPM) is, in a nutshell, the way your company manages and improves business processes. This can mean making all sorts of changes to how the process works. You could, for example, restructure it (remove a step, add a step, etc.) or completely re-engineer it using new technology (automating just about anything).

Business Process Management – A Simple Introduction

In a world filled with business-buzzwords, it can sometimes be hard to keep up. “Business Process Management” is one of those terms that get thrown around a lot. And unless you’re an experienced Chief Operations Officer, the whole BPM thing can be a bit confusing. So, we’re here to shed some light on process management. Business Process Management (BPM) is the long-term strategy of analyzing and improving your processes. But before we dive into the specifics of process management, let’s talk a bit about processes.

So What’s a Process?

A business process is a series of repeatable steps that you need to carry out to achieve some sort of business goal. The key here is repeatable – it should be something your business does on a regular basis. This can mean onboarding a new employee, for example, or shipping a product to a customer. “Processes” shouldn’t be confused with either projects or tasks, though. A project is usually a one-time thing. You could be, for example, creating a marketing strategy for a client. What you create for that specific client is probably going to be original work. Tasks, on the other hand, are specific steps in a process or a project. A process could consist of 5-6 tasks that need to be completed in a sequence, for example. Or in a similar way, a project might involve carrying out a number of tasks for it to be completed.

How BPM Works

There’s no one way of “doing” BPM. Rather, it’s more of a loose term. If you’re constantly analyzing and trying to improve single processes, though, that’s when your organization does Business Process Management.

Legacy BPM software exists – but it’s painfully broken

“Old BPM” software is tired and broken. It never worked for business users. Here’s why:

• Users are now deciding to buy software themselves. Old BPM was bought by your IT department, who didn’t generally care about user experience – as long as it was made by a large/boring company.
• Cloud tools are now free to try by anyone, anytime. With Old BPM you had to call sales and wait for 50 questions just to look at it and finally decide it sucks.
• People want to share workflows with clients. With Old BPM you were stuck with trying to automate internal processes only. Your clients would be very scared and run a mile from it.
• People expect to integrate cloud tools without IT. With Old BPM you had get engineers to write code to make a simple integration. That’s now become a drag-and-drop service.
• People expect to work on phones. This means giant, clunky flowcharts in Old BPM are dead – because they don’t fit on your phone’s screen – and only define “the perfect process”.
• People are tired of flowcharts. Old BPM was all about the high priest telling you how a process can/will be done, and you would obey. Now – modern workers and teams are paid to collaborate.
• People expect all the benefits of the cloud. Old BPM was never cloud-born and was never designed for the cloud. And that creates a massive bunch of missed opportunities.
• Companies of all sizes need process management – and never had it. Since Old BPM was so expensive and complicated, only large companies could afford it. The rest of us were left out.
• People are excited about AI – but confused about where to begin. With Old BPM you have zero chance of using AI without an army of engineers. With cloud-born systems like Tallyfy – it’s childs’ play to use any AI you like to run amazing automations for photos, voice, video and more.

Tallyfy is the only BPM software that anyone can understand in 60 seconds. The only way to see this for yourself is to learn more and try it. Process improvement is a bit more standard than BPM, though. There are several steps you have to carry out… If you’re thinking that this might be a lot of work, well, yeah. We definitely can’t argue with that. BPM can be hard and time-consuming. The payoff, however, is definitely worth it.

BPM Helps Get the Most out of Your Business

Over half of all businesses now view business process management as extremely important due to the increasing return on investment many companies are seeing. Other than pure profit, there are several other essential benefits provided by BPM…

• Business Agility – Any company that focuses on constant improvement develops a culture of innovation. Your employees will be used to change, so whenever you’ll want to make some drastic changes to company strategy, you’ll be able to do it without much hassle or panic.
• Customer Satisfaction – If all your processes are efficient as they can be, you’re going to end up having a better product or service overall. You could, for example, make it cheaper because your processes cost less. This, of course, makes your customers happier.
• Employee Morale – Employees like to feel engaged. If you use their feedback to improve your processes (and reward them for it), they’ll be much happier with their job.

Business Process Management – Methodology & Software

One of the reasons why BPM can be confusing is because everyone keeps using the term in a different context. While the word itself refers to the methodology, there’s also the software part of it. The main difference between the two is that BPM is a methodology of mapping, optimizing and improving processes. Business Process Management Software (BPMS), on the other hand, is a means of execution. The software helps with each tiny part of BPM. It allows you to…

• Map Your Processes – With BPM, you can create digital models of your processes. This makes it significantly easier to both analyze and improve them.
• Enforce Changes – Without the software, you’d have to keep track of your employees and ensure that they’re following through with the new process, and not just reverting back to the old one. With BPMS, all you have to do is make a change within the system and it’s going to automatically enforce the change.
• Process Analytics – BPMS keeps track of your processes, letting you know whenever there are any bottlenecks, inefficiencies, etc.

Here’s a sneak peek of how the software looks like… You might be thinking that all this sounds amazing – the software basically does half of the work for you. True, the software is extremely useful, but there’s a big problem with major BPM software providers. They’re a bit outdated. And as with most of the older enterprise software, it’s both extremely expensive and hard to set-up. The installation itself is going to take months AND cost you somewhere around 6 figures. And that’s just one problem with legacy BPM software. They’re also extremely hard to use, so you’d need to conduct special training for your teams to actually get the hang of the software. Those exact problems are the reason we created Tallyfy. We make BPMS easy. You can start running your processes within 30 minutes after registration, and it only costs $15 / user / month.

Wait, so Why is BPM so Expensive?

You’re probably wondering, what’s the trade-off? There has to be a reason why old BPM is expensive, right? How can we manage to bring the price down by more than 100x? Well, the main issue with most Business Process Management Software is that they’re old. The price issue wasn’t just about BPM – most old software solutions used to be extremely expensive. In fact, it was so expensive, that only the bigger organizations could afford it. Today, most software companies innovated. All you have to do to start using software is go online, find the right provider, and pay a very low fee. No setup, no training, no nothing. And that’s exactly what we’re doing with Tallyfy – making business process management accessible to everyone.

3 Practical Examples of Business Process Management

Now that we’ve got all the theory out of the way, you’re probably wondering, “Where do I start?” Well, to give you a better idea of some of the most common uses for BPM, we’ll cover 3 practical examples, which you can directly apply to your own business!

HR

If there’s one business function that could REALLY benefit from BPM, it’s HR. About half of the work is forms or documents management. Get the applicant to fill in this document, have the company management sign it, approve & sign vacation forms, etc. This can all be extremely chaotic and time-consuming. You don’t want your HR department to be spending half their time making sure the right document is signed. If you use BPM software, though, you can automate all the documents management. Let’s say, for example, you’re trying to automate vacation approval. Your employees fill in a form through the software, which is then forwarded to HR. Once HR approves, the system sends it over to the management to sign. Without the software, this would involve a lot of email exchanges.

Publishing

If you’ve ever worked with a blog or media company, you’ll probably agree with us – publishing can be hectic. If your company publishes a lot, you’ll be hearing a lot of… “Wasn’t this post due a week ago?”“Did the designer finish up the graphs for the new article?”“Where did that post go? The one we were supposed to publish 2 weeks ago?” Unless you have a well-structured publishing process, all this chaos can turn into a real problem. At Tallyfy, we have a defined publishing flow (using our own process management software)… The process helps us stay on track with the deadlines, making the entire publishing process faster. Here’s what the publishing process would look like for this exact article…

Onboarding

Whether you’re working with a new client, hiring an employee, or starting work with a supplier, you first need to onboard them. This means bringing them up to speed on how your organization functions. Some of the ways you could use BPM here are… Employee Onboarding – Whenever you’re hiring a new employee, you need to bring them up to speed ASAP. There are a lot of documents you need to approve, get them the right equipment, making introductions with the rest of the team, etc. BPMS gives you a structure for this process, ensuring that you never miss a critical step. Client Onboarding – If you’re starting to work with a new client, whatever the project may be about, there are several key steps you need to carry out. You’ll need to figure out what the client needs you to achieve, how they want to communicate, and so on. As with employee onboarding, you can use BPMS to streamline your client onboarding process.

Getting Started with BPM

Now that you know the ins and outs of process management, all you have to do is put it into practice. And what’s a better way to start than with a software specially designed for BPM? Give Tallyfy a try for free, and see how it can make a difference.

Related Questions

What does business process management mean?

Business Process Management (BPM) isn’t just about pretty flowcharts that gather dust. It’s about creating living systems people actually follow. At Tallyfy, we see BPM as turning theoretical process maps into practical daily actions. It’s like being a traffic controller for your business – making sure work flows without crashes or detours using smart workflow software.

What are the 5 stages of BPM?

The five stages are design, model, implement, monitor, and optimize. But I’ve noticed something – most companies get stuck endlessly redesigning flowcharts without implementing anything! The real magic happens in the implementation stage when processes become actual workflows people follow. That’s why execution matters more than perfect diagrams.

What is the difference between a process and a procedure?

A process is your high-level game plan – the “what” that needs to happen. A procedure is the detailed “how-to” instructions. For instance, “client onboarding” is a process, while “how to verify client information” is a procedure. Processes show the journey; procedures are the turn-by-turn directions. One gives direction, the other gives details.

What does a business process manager do?

Today’s effective process managers aren’t just flowchart artists. They identify workflows that matter, digitize them in tools everyone can use, measure performance, and drive improvement. They’re more like orchestra conductors than traffic cops – helping teams harmonize their work rather than controlling every movement from above.

Why is BPM important for small businesses?

Small businesses actually have the most to gain from good BPM! With limited resources, you can’t afford inefficient processes or repeated mistakes. The right approach helps you create consistency, reduce errors, and focus on growth. You don’t need complicated software – just practical tools that fit your scale.

How is BPM different from project management?

Project management handles one-time missions with defined endpoints, like launching a product. BPM focuses on recurring activities that power your daily business, like fulfilling orders. I think of projects as special occasions, while processes are the daily routines that keep your business healthy. Projects eventually end; processes keep going.

What tools do you need for BPM?

Skip the complicated flowchart tools! Modern BPM requires: something to document processes simply, something to track who’s doing what, and something to measure results. Your tools should eliminate manual status updates and make work visible without extra effort. Simplicity beats complexity every time.

How do you know if your BPM is working?

You know BPM is working when people stop asking “what’s the status?” because it’s already visible. Look for: faster completion times, fewer errors, increased capacity without adding staff, and happier customers. My personal favorite sign? When people voluntarily say “this actually makes my job easier” instead of complaining about “following the process.”

Can BPM help with remote work?

BPM isn’t just helpful for remote work—it’s essential! When teams are distributed, clear processes become your lifeline. Successful remote teams digitize workflows so everyone knows what to do without endless Zoom calls and email chains. Good BPM creates the virtual structure that holds remote work together when physical offices can’t.

What’s the difference between BPM and workflow automation?

BPM is the comprehensive approach to managing all business processes, while workflow automation is one tool in the BPM toolbox. Think of BPM as the blueprint for your house, while automation handles specific functions like the smart thermostat. They’re complementary – automation works best within well-designed processes.

How do you start implementing BPM?

Skip the massive documentation project! Start with one painful process that’s causing real problems. Document it simply, involve the people who actually do the work, create a digital version they can follow, and measure improvement. One successfully implemented process beats a hundred perfectly documented processes that nobody follows.

What are common BPM mistakes to avoid?

The biggest mistake is treating BPM as a documentation exercise rather than an operational system. Other killers: making processes too rigid, forcing people to adapt to software rather than vice versa, assuming a process is “done” after implementation, and not measuring if your processes actually improve outcomes.

What does Tallyfy think about traditional BPM approaches?

At Tallyfy, we’ve seen traditional BPM fail too many organizations. Those complex flowcharts? Nobody reads them. Those expensive systems requiring IT consultants? Often create more problems than solutions. We believe real BPM should be simple enough for anyone to use, focused on execution rather than documentation, and actually make work easier.

How does BPM impact real businesses in the real world?

The proof is in the results our customers experience every day. As Rhonda Toston from Fortune 500 company JLL shared: “Tallyfy provided us with a modern, global platform to automate, maintain, and cascade content to a wide array of stakeholders, effectively eliminating the need for our teams to ask ‘Where can I find the latest version of a playbook?'” And Timothy O’Leary from Opera Theatre of Saint Louis experienced: “After switching to Tallyfy, routing documents and layouts went from taking over a week to taking just 2-3 days.” That’s the difference when processes become action, not just documentation. See more customer stories here.