The Benefits of BPM?

In my last BLOG post I expressed my view that BPM allows organisations to ensure that the right person does the right task, at the right point in time, with the right information.

But that leaves the question, as raised by one of my associates... what are the benefits to be derived from BPM?

Before I dive into the detail, please note that I am looking to set out the benefits [as I see them] of applying a Business Process Management approach, without considering for now, the chosen enabler e.g. a software application etc.

I believe it is fair to say that every organisation is unique and the ability of each organisation/project, to deliver the promised BPM benefits is reliant on a number of factors, which I plan to consider in a subsequent post.

Having reviewed a number of documents, publications etc. here is list of some of the stated benefits of adopting BPM:

· Increased value and profitability of operations,
· Get the most out of existing system platforms and databases
· Measurement of operational performance against best practice
· Reduced process or transaction cycle-times
· Improved business continuity
· Reduced resource deployment and re-deployment costs
· Increased process accuracy, zero defects and zero-latency
· Freeing up management time
· Increased control over outsourced processes
· Reduced training and development costs
· Improve the customer experience
· Reduce process related costs
· Mitigate commercial/operational risk
· Ensure control, consistency and transparency
· Deliver a better experience for users: consistent and easy to use
· Deliver better outcomes for business as process owners can actively measure and improve process outcomes.

Whilst I recognise these are all genuine benefits, I feel that the case for BPM can be distilled down to three fundamentals:

· Improved Efficiency
· Improved Effectiveness
· Enhanced Agility

Considering each of these benefits in turn...

EfficiencyPractically most organisations first witness efficiency benefits when deploying BPM. By definition most processes can, and will, contain significant waste. This is because of manual activities and effort, an over reliance on undocumented (and often verbal) hand-offs between individuals, departments and teams. Business processes that have not been scrutinised utilising BPM principles generally suffer from an inability to monitor, track and report on overall progress. Even the most basic first phase of a BPM project eliminates these issues and the benefit can be typically measured in full-time equivalent time saved.

How could these benefits be seen by the business? Here are some generic examples:
· Reduce the manual analysis and routing of purchase invoice exceptions.
· Eliminate manual data entry in to multiple systems when adding a new employee.
· Reduce process cycle time in processing transactions

EffectivenessWhilst crudely put, efficiency is about doing things faster, and/or avoiding wasted energy or effort. Improved effectiveness in contrast is about producing a better result, or outcome, and often organisations generate some of the largest gains from improved effectiveness.

Experience suggests that these benefits are derived from employees being better equipped to handle exceptions, i.e. the ‘rainy day scenarios’ and make better decisions at crucial points in the process.

In addition the increased level of control and consistency provides an added benefit; improved compliance and regulation of people, processes and systems.

How could these benefits be seen by the business? Here are some generic examples:
· Handle exceptions better and more rapidly
· Improve customer satisfaction by providing employees with the ability to be proactive rather than reactive
· Make better decisions


AgilitySomeone famously said [I forget who] “...that the only constant in life is change!” and experience suggests that the ability to observe the change, and adapt to the change quickly, is essential.

Change can be internal or external: new opportunities may arise, new competitors may threaten your market position, new partners or customers may look to you to trade in a different way, government legislation may alter the legal landscape in which the business operates, and general economic and trading conditions can [and often do] change constantly.

I would suggest that BPM delivers a solid platform from which an organisation can rapidly, and cost effectively, adapt by changing processes faster, and in a more controlled fashion than any other option.

One word of caution here, it can often be very difficult to calculate hard returns from enhanced agility, although most organisations do [or rather should], recognise that the ability to quickly adapt processes is a critical to their success.

How could these benefits be seen by the business? Here are some generic examples;
· Ability to change preferred suppliers, ‘on the fly’, based upon the best bid provided.
· Ability to re-route approval process for potential new client, based upon ‘new’ information, discovered during the process.