BPM Hits The Big Time

Why Business Process Management Continues To Shine

Seeking to fulfill their quest for process paradise, companies continue to jump on board with BPM, an area that saw tremendous growth in 2004 and promises even greater strides this year. Yet for companies hesitant to tackle their fragile business processes, questions abound regarding BPM's ability to boost productivity, improve performance, and save money.

Although BPM is a relatively recent concept in the world of business, the ideas and elements that make it work are not. Several systems that also address process problems, including ERP, CRM, and SCM (supply chain management), are still in use today; they often serve as adequate solutions and continue to influence BPM. ERP and CRM systems frequently entail extensive business process analysis, which can help companies effectively oversee the vital components of their business. Naturally, SCM also delves heavily into process analysis, though it focuses solely on the supply chain, limiting its effectiveness on processes outside of that realm.

Using systems such as CRM and ERP to regulate and automate business processes is still the right choice for some companies, but for others, the implementation of these systems can be difficult to modify, particularly as the companies grow and the software they're using becomes increasingly disparate. Without a flexible system that bends with that growth when necessary, processes can again lose efficiency due to lack of control and depletion of vision over the entire process structure.

Process Control
With BPM, companies are discovering that they don't need to re-engineer their processes to introduce greater efficiency, production, and cost savings. In fact, many companies that target current processes as causes of inefficiency could be pointing the finger at the wrong culprit because the processes themselves are often fine. It's the management of the processes that's lacking.

BPM looks at all existing processes throughout the enterprise, allowing effective analysis that pinpoints problems and provides solutions. The intent of BPM isn't to merge all processes into one amalgamation but rather to optimize the different processes under the entire enterprise umbrella until all processes are functioning as a cohesive unit. Whereas an ERP system doesn't touch all areas of a company, BPM branches everywhere.

The benefits of BPM aren't limited to large enterprises with deep process chains. The same process perils that plague the big boys are also inherent in small to midsized enterprises, but BPM can help these companies get a grasp on the overall picture and tune processes to work like they should.

For example, just like larger enterprises, most SMEs use a complex mix of email, paper, routing, and other processes to handle accounting, customer support, and other vital functions. Gathering information in such environments requires time and skill, but BPM can boost efficiency by delivering electronic repositories, browser-based information access, data protection, and integration with existing tools. SMEs can also enjoy the benefits of process automation and workflow, thanks to BPM tools that can automatically perform steps in processes that previously required manual work.

For IT managers, BPM can spell the end of perpetual involvement in all facets of business processes. Without tight control over the process environment, a constant IT presence is required to ensure that the technical infrastructure can support changes to processes as business needs change, but BPM creates leeway on both the IT and business ends, allowing business managers to focus on the processes and IT managers to oversee resources and deliver them where they're needed.

Because employees will have an easier time accessing and processing information, data centers can similarly experience an efficiency boost, though the increased reliance on digital data can mean more demand for storage. At the same time, optimizing current processes could help IT managers free underutilized storage and other resources. BPM also improves collaboration within and between processes, efforts that can help technicians tune data centers for peak performance across all departments in the enterprise.

Oversee, Not Overhaul
Through a combined corporate and software strategy, a successful BPM implementation can reap surprisingly immediate rewards for SMEs looking to clean up their processes. Companies that remember the re-engineering efforts of years past might cower in fear at the thought of touching their processes, but BPM takes a different track. Instead of rebuilding processes from the ground up, BPM keeps processes that technically work and makes them efficient in real practice.

Particularly for SMEs, BPM can be integrated swiftly and effectively, in some cases requiring less than a month for software to have a process running smoothly. Granted, successful implementation takes plenty of planning to assess current and future business needs and develop an overview of business processes. This requires thorough input from both the business and IT sides to understand why processes need to be improved, how the infrastructure can support potential automation, and future process goals.

Although BPM isn't a magic bullet, it can certainly help to transform stunted, unproductive processes into winners. However, SMEs looking to implement BPM need to configure the tools using current process information that's accurate, even if managers aren't willing to admit that those current processes are outright failing. With the right information, BPM has a better chance of success.

With buzzword status already in the bag, BPM looks to be an industry mainstay behind its strong software and practices. Although finding the right package to oversee a collection of processes can be a challenge, the rewards appear to be worth the effort.