Why Business Process Management and Enterprise Architecture Are Key Ingredients in Business Transformation

Speaker: Gia Thi Nguyen

Write up by Christine Joy Pandaan

In today's fast pace of business, organizations need to keep on transforming and reinventing themselves to be always one step ahead in the competitive field. However successful business transformation requires more than new technologies or processes and a holistic approach to keeping every single layer of the organization aligned with the strategic objectives of the business. As Gia-Thi Nguyen or "Thi" as he would like to be called is the Vice President of Market Impact at SAP Signavio, insists, BPM and EA are turning into critical business drivers for such transformations. In this article, we discuss just why BPM and EA are such important initiatives and how they deliver business transformation.

The Role of BPM and EA in Business Transformation

Business Process Management (BPM) and Enterprise Architecture (EA) are usually pursued as separate disciplines, but together they present an unbeatable framework for the transformation of a business. BPM focuses on how work is carried out within an organization to ensure processes are effective and efficient, and add to the realization of business goals. EA focuses on the overall structure of the organization and how processes, applications, data, and technology interact with one another within the context of the business. Together, BPM and EA ensure that literally, every piece of the business works together in concert to execute its objectives.

As Thi has put it, business transformation is not about putting new systems or tools in place; rather, it's about creating an integrated approach to strategy and execution. BPM and EA provide the blueprint for integration so that this transformation will not only be successful but also sustained.

Holistic End-to-End Approach to Transformation

But from a holistic and comprehensive perspective, end-to-end is how SAP approaches business transformation. In a further breakdown, five key phases are contained in the approach: Discover, Analyze, Design, Implement and Operate. Each of these phases is an important step for driving transformation and ensuring that the organization achieves its outcomes.

1. Discover: Current State Understanding

The Discover phase involves the identification of processes, applications, data, and organizational structure representing the as-is of the business. It is the most critical phase for gathering information that is required for identifying improvement opportunities. Assessment exercises will help organizations pinpoint gaps and inefficiencies in business processes.

2. Analyze: Gaining Insights

Once the current status has been determined, the Analyze phase begins. During this phase, the information that has been gathered will be analyzed for an understanding of how the performance of an organization is going and the many challenges it faces. Thereby, the organizations come to know the actual causes behind the problems they face and base the design of solutions thereof.

3. Design: Writing out the Blueprint of the Future

During the Design phase, the organization creates the architecture for the desired future state. That involves designing new processes, systems, and organizational structures that are required for business goals to be realized. The design stage allows an organization to ensure the transformation will align with the organization's strategic objectives and that changes will achieve the intended results.

4. Implement: Bringing the Vision to Life

The Implement phase is where the designed solutions are actually brought into being. This will take the new processes, systems, and structures live to ensure the future state envisioned is actually realized. Implementation requires careful planning and coordination of communications to guarantee the changes are adopted successfully throughout the organization.

5. Operate: Continuous Monitoring and Optimization

Operate is the final stage and is continuous in nature. This is where the new processes and systems go live and are utilized regularly. In this stage, the organization will continue with monitoring and optimization of its operations to make certain that the transformation realizes value on a sustainable basis. This will be an important phase to ensure the sustainability of benefits derived from the transformation and the agility and responsiveness of the organization towards further changes.

Process and Application: The Core of Transformation

Thi insists that process and application are the core of business transformation. Processes answer the question "How does work get done?" whereas applications answer "Where does the work get done?" Both elements need to be understood and optimized to drive transformation.

Examples of such solutions that make it through from SAP include the likes of SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX. SAP Signavio is believed to be a market leader in process transformation, with an organization being provided with tools that will help in the visualization, assessment, and improvement of processes. SAP LeanIX, on its part, leads in enterprise architecture, having robust solutions that guide the enterprise through IT architecture transformation. Both provide a comprehensive toolkit for organizations driving business transformation.

Leveraging SAP Tools for Business Transformation

SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX have been developed to assist an organization at each step in business transformation. SAP Signavio is an authority in process mining, customer journey mapping, and even digital twin creation in organizations for deep comprehension of businesses and ways to enhance them. This helps an organization with visualizations and data-driven decisions to achieve efficiency and effectiveness.

Where this is complemented by the powerful enterprise architecture management platform of SAP LeanIX, which supports the organization in mapping its IT landscape, assessing changes for their impact, and aligning architecture with strategy. These combinations of tools drive seamless transformation experiences that are meaningful and tangible in results.

SAP's Own Transformation Journey

Thi also mentioned that the same tools and strategies have already been tried by SAP in its journey of transformation. By the use of SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX, SAP was able to drive this transformation and proved that the solutions are applicable and efficient in action. This is a real-world example of how business transformation can be driven effectively when the holistic approach is applied and integration between BPM and EA is made.

The Importance of the Holistic Approach

Probably the most important insight from Thi's presentation is the fact that business transformation is unique in every organization. Each has its challenges, goals, and needs. However, a holistic approach that integrates BPM and EA is the way organizations should ensure that their transformation efforts are comprehensive, aligned with their strategy, and capable of delivering sustained value.

This approach supports the achievement not only of an organization's immediate goals but also positions it for long-term transformation success. Because organizations tackle both business processes and their driving applications, the outcome is a more agile, responsive, and resilient enterprise.

Conclusion: BPM-EA Drives Business Transformation

Fundamentally, business transformation cannot happen without a robust BPM and EA strategy. The two strategies are supposed to establish an alignment of strategy and execution such that various areas of an organization work towards one common goal. SAP's holistic approach ably supported by the use of tools such as SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX shows how organizations can leverage BPM and EA in driving meaningful change for enduring success.

Any organization embarking on a transformation journey will understand the importance of BPM and EA. Most organizations will emerge from the complexity of transformation stronger, more efficient, and better aligned with strategic objectives by adopting a structured end-to-end approach. As Thi would insist, if one wants to transform successfully, he needs to know how the work gets done, where it gets done, and make certain that every single element of an organization is working in full synchronization with each other toward its goals.