Growth is the foundation of any successful business, as companies that stay static cannot respond quickly to market disruptions. Business process management (BPM) tools allow companies to efficiently audit internal processes for best practices to more efficiently respond to changes. The more you know about how work moves through your organization, the better you can respond to your customers' evolving demands.
What Is BPM?
BPM is a combination of technology and organization that monitors and controls business processes. It works a lot like an escalator, smoothing out operational bumps and helping things move along more quickly and with less friction. For example, if your company follows a series of steps for order fulfillment, BPM tracks employee performance at each phase to identify potential weaknesses. If there's a slowdown between sales and fulfillment, for example, you can observe it in real-time and implement changes for improved efficiency.
Businesses need to work smarter, not harder--and that's where BPM comes into the picture.
BPM Tools for Better ROI
When you move toward digital transformation, it can be challenging getting buy-in from others in your company. By nature, people are resistant to change. Even when you can demonstrate tangible organizational improvements, employees can fall into old habits. Replacing your entire workforce is neither feasible nor cost effective, so you need alternatives. That is where the two basic tools of BPM shine.
Tracking and Monitoring
The first part of any BPM initiative is monitoring. Before you can make changes, you need to know what the problems are. Efficiency monitors in BPM platforms allow you track work as it happens. Historically, one of the biggest process lag times is between sales and shipping. Let's say your sales department closes a sale, but the shipping department might not receive the order until the next day. Finding ways to drop the order immediately creates a dramatic efficiency improvement.
Tracking Workflow
General tracking and monitoring finds the areas of weakness in your existing methodologies. Tracking actual workflow lets you monitor employee response to changes. You can see when employees are following new processes and when they are not. This can also help you identify areas that could be automated. Automation saves on man-hours and reduces time to deliver services.
Putting Everything Together
You know that BPM can offer substantial efficiency improvements, but how do you implement it? You can always isolate areas for improvement, but for the biggest ROI, you need to think bigger. By integrating a BPM platform with other technology suites, like your CRM and inventory control systems, you can roll out enterprise-level changes with much less push back and fewer delays.