Put quite simply, in order for a business to become and remain successful and competitive, they must continuously improve their processes.

Failure to do so usually results in higher costs, lower revenues, fewer satisfied customers and less motivated employees. If your business has made a turn for the worse over the past few years, then perhaps it’s time to fine-tune the processes within your business – perhaps it’s time to look at BPM.

What is BPM?

Business Process Management (BPM) is a methodology that helps businesses work optimally. According to Gartner (one of the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company), it is “a discipline that improves enterprise performance by driving operational excellence and business agility.”

For almost a decade now, I have passionately been implementing elements of Business Process Management in my positions as a project manager and consultant. Making processes more efficient, effective and agile gives me utmost satisfaction. Yet, I realise that many businesses are acutely unaware of why their business needs BPM.

What can BPM do for your business?

Every organisation has a core set of business processes which are meant to meet strategic objectives. However, often some of these processes can be slow, inefficient, duplicative, unreliable, or even obsolete.

BPM uses analysis, models and metrics to put existing core processes under fresh scrutiny. It provides a platform to evaluate and identify and implement much needed improvements to produce better performance. BPM normally focuses on high-level activities and the ‘highest value processes’. As Gartner puts it the method focuses on “…[processes] that are most aligned with the business goals and strategy.”

What are the main benefits of BPM?

BPM focuses on three main benefits for a company. These are:

1. Efficiency – Increased efficiency is one of the first benefits a company sees when they implement a BPM program. Processes are often fraught with wastage due to manual effort which often results in human error, poor hand-offs from one department to another and the inability to effectively monitor overall progress of a business. Casting fresh eyes on processes helps companies recognise and eliminate inefficiencies and reduce wastage to improve their bottom-line.
2. Effectiveness – Once efficient processes are in place, BPM is then used to make the process more effective. A more effective process has many benefits for a company, including being able to handle customer and stakeholder expectations better and faster, making more informed decisions at every level, and executing an outcome consistently hence providing a better customer experience. The goal here is to ensure processes are running effectively and are aligned with corporate strategies and objectives, so the company becomes more profitable and more competitive.
3. Agility – Being agile in today’s fast-changing business environment is critical to the success of a company. Businesses whose processes are inflexible and resistant to change are the ones that get left behind. Internal or external factors can instigate the need for change. New opportunities may necessitate change so you can capitalise on them. New customers, regulations and even business partners may require you to change your processes in order to accommodate a different way of doing business. Building in agility through BPM is therefore key.

Business Management and Business Process Improvement (BPI) programs give companies the platform they need to improve their existing processes and better align them with strategic objectives. With more efficient, effective and agile processes in place, your company can once again become more competitive within your industry.

Give Me Marketing works with businesses to implement Business Process Management practices.