Unlocking Business Process Management for Modern Enterprises
1.???? What is Business Process Management (BPM)?
Business Process Management (BPM) is a pivotal strategy in today's dynamic business environment, enabling organizations to achieve operational excellence and foster cross-functional collaboration. In this article, we delve into the core concepts of BPM and its role in shaping the future of enterprises.
Gartner defines "business process as an event-driven, end-to-end processing path that starts with a customer request and ends with a result for the customer", crossing departmental and organizational boundaries. This transparency fosters better communication across departments and lays the foundation for process improvements. It is crucial to note that not every process necessitates immediate enhancement; careful evaluation and planning are prerequisites for successful improvements.
BPM's true strength lies in pinpointing pain points within processes, identifying stakeholders, and collaboratively evaluating areas for enhancement. Process transparency becomes paramount, as employees can only collaborate productively when processes are well-documented and accessible. BPM empowers organizations to model and design processes, offering a holistic view and structured navigation, both internally and externally.
a.???? Navigating Process Implementation:
A transparent process forms the bedrock of successful implementation. We must execute each process end-to-end, and BPM plays a pivotal role in seamlessly integrating processes into a company's structure. Automation and distribution to internal teams follow suit, streamlining once manual tasks.
b.???? The Benefits of BPM Unveiled:
BPM yields various benefits, from enhanced agility and productivity to reduced risks and heightened transparency. The fusion of technology and process management underscores employee satisfaction while enabling seamless integration of tech solutions.
c. Navigating the Complex Architecture:
Distinct concepts within process architecture provide a blueprint for understanding an organization's processes. Value chains offer a top-level view, while end-to-end processes delve deeper into specific areas. Process areas provide insights into functional segments, and sub-processes break down processes into finer details. Furthermore, customer journeys intertwine with business processes, enhancing the perspective of affected processes from a customer standpoint.
d.???? From Models to Reality:
Process documentation, spanning As-Is and To-Be processes, captures the essence of improvement. Process design crystallizes project specifics, offering a frame that includes purpose, responsibilities, systems, and more. Process analysis diagnoses problems and estimates potential, paving the way for implementation, change management, and automation.
2. What affects BPM in practice?
Minou Benraad, Baris Ozkan, Oktay Turetken, and Irene Vanderfeesten (2022) suggest that establishing a BPM-supportive culture shapes attitudes and behaviours, influencing individual process orientation and adherence. Strategic orientation, organizational structures, and management styles are significant in ensuring perceived process quality.
Wil M. P. van der Aalst, Marcello La Rosa and Flávia Maria Santoro (2016) assert that research should be better aligned to the original goal of BPM of improving business processes rather than improving process models – an observation also made by Marlon Dumas in his recent keynote speech at BPM’15 (Dumas, 2015).
We can employ various Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure process improvements. These KPIs, also known as process performance measures, are quantities that can be unambiguously determined for a given business process, assuming the data to calculate these performance measures is available (Dumas et al., 2013). We define them over performance dimensions such as time, quality, cost, flexibility, etc. For example, we can measure time using cycle time, waiting time, or non-value-adding time; cost per execution, resource utilization, and waste; and quality using customer satisfaction, error rates, and SLA violations. The choice of KPIs to measure should reflect the organization's strategic objectives. One promising direction to better link BPM to the concrete improvement of process KPIs is to exploit event data present in the organization.
3. Paving the Future of BPM
BPM's trajectory is intertwined with technology and strategy. Challenges and opportunities beckon enterprises to adopt purpose-driven strategies, embracing customer-centric designs and emerging technologies like IoT, blockchain, and AI. Evolving BPM capability areas demand an expanded scope, incorporating insights from innovation, data science, and agile methodologies. Georgi Dimov Kerpedzhiev, Ulrich Matthias Konig, Maximilian Roglinger and Michael Rosemann (2020) propose updated BPM capability areas.
Tahir Ahmad and Amy Van Looy (2020) remark that scholars could focus more on supporting Industry 4.0 based on intelligent tools and technologies (T9, R4, C4), including smart waste disposal processes leading to sustainability. Business processes and digital innovations should be compatible with other available IT infrastructures.
Wil M. P. van der Aalst(2013) suggest that authors and tool developers are encouraged to clearly state which BPM use cases their results (algorithms, procedures, tools, etc.) aim to support. Practitioners and academics are encouraged to share open-source software and data sets (collections of process models, event logs, etc.).
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According to IBM, hyperautomation is akin to a second industrial revolution. Hyperautomation is the use of automation technology to streamline any and every process possible in an organization, enabling repetitive processes to run without manual intervention. Production facilities can use hyperautomation technologies and business process management (BPM) to produce higher-quality products at scale.
Mckinsey (2017) believes Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) will be a core part of companies’ next-generation operating models with five core technologies: Robotic Process Automation (RPA), smart workflow, machine learning/advanced analytics, natural-language generation (NLG), cognitive agents.
Business Process Management transcends traditional models, embracing technological innovations and strategic alignment. As practitioners, we stand on the cusp of a transformative journey, poised to capitalize on the potential of BPM to reshape the business landscape. By staying receptive to advancements and engaging in cross-functional collaboration, we can navigate the complexities and reap the benefits of a BPM-driven future.
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References
An Exploration into Future Business Process Management Capabilities in View of Digitalization | Business & Information Systems Engineering (springer.com)
Sustainability | Free Full-Text | Business Process Management and Digital Innovations: A Systematic Literature Review (mdpi.com)
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