About the Author
Tim has worked in the information technology arena for over 25 years, with 14+ years of ERP implementation experience. He has served as a lead solution architect for several companies' Business Process and Quality & Risk Management for Application Lifecycle Management initiatives. He has a very strong background in compliance and testing competency work and extensive experience in business process, information technology process reengineering and application rationalization.
Why Business Process Management (BPM) is a Key to Success.
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How would you feel driving down a busy street without traffic lights, signs or directional lines on the road?
Some would say that’s chaos, unsafe and they wouldn’t dare go out on the road.
Without clarity of direction, alignment in process, or discipline in your daily processes, your business is in chaos.
It’s hard to see the disorder unless a problem arises.
Business process management is crucial to your company’s success and longevity. An organization's understanding of how it works enhances your chances of enduring and thriving through whatever complications come your way.
What is Business Process Management
BPM can be defined as:
“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.”
How do you apply these concepts successfully to your business?
The clarity in Strategic Direction
Leadership should establish a clear path or direction for each part of the business. One part cannot go a different route than another. Everyone must work together in unison.
Effective BPM allows each level to be flexible and capable of change rather than a functional focus, traditional management approach.
How do you get everyone heading in the right direction?
· Hold brief meetings to establish the company's processes to reach strategic goals.
· Create a public informational hub where employees can go for reference.
· Conduct weekly/monthly process evaluations to ensure everyone is on track.
· When a change in the process occurs, update the central information hub, notify all employees affected by the change, then follow up to check for understanding.
Now that your employees are aligned do the same for all company resources.
Alignment of Company Resources
Evaluate each job title, software, and any other assets associated with the company's direction. Any weak link in the process chain can lead to inefficiencies and make some of your processes ineffective.
When optimizing your procedures, take a look at what is automated and what requires a human touch. Both should allow you the control needed to execute the wanted action to achieve the desired result.
If you cannot measure the results, then consider if that process is in alignment with your overall goals. Without the ability to measure results, then you are simply flying blind into a potential storm.
Discipline in Daily Operations
BPM is an action. It is something that you physically do. The time of having meetings just to conceptualize ideas is over. What is the company physically doing on a daily basis to ensure the flow of activities? That is your focus.
So much work needs to be done organizing and optimizing the business process. Is everyone on the team disciplined enough to follow the process through to completion? Employees skating by hoping that other teammates will pick up the slack is detrimental to your company.
At the forefront of each employee's mind should be how they are personally affecting their stage of the process. Implementation of thoughts is crucial.
Participation is not good enough. Measurable daily results are required.
Conclusion
Simply put, business process management is about improving your business processes. It’s not a product, software suite, or position in the company. BPM is the process to improve them.
Whether the company’s BMP relies on people or technology doesn’t matter as long as the processes are structured, actionable, and measurable.
Nothing above is complicated. It takes time, effort, and focus to evaluate every process on every level seeing where it aligns with the direction the company is heading.
If achievement is not linked to a specific process, revise that process to have an even bigger reward.
Don’t be content with accidental success.
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