Although it’s not one of business’ primary activities, business process management is nevertheless an essential part of running your company. In this day and age, the old way of doing it – with bureaucracy, micromanagement and constant hands-on managerial involvement – is severely outdated. The old systems have proven themselves to be wholly inadequate in dealing with the current state of the world. As a result, all top companies are doing away with outdated practices and implementing new more sophisticated methods of BPM.
Digitalization is prevalent in all aspects of life, and business is no exception. Naturally, there are many production-related activities that simply can’t be digitized completely – but process management can. In fact, due to its focus on data and accessibility, process management is one of the key activities of a company that stands to benefit the most from moving online.
There are many reasons why implementing BPM software is essential to business success.
Its main functions are invaluable both from a productivity standpoint and from the perspective of the employees, management and the customers. Here are just a few of the things implementing BPM will help you achieve.
Smooth out essential business processes
Iteration and data analysis is the main way for a business to improve. Due to its communication and organizational features BPM software enables a process’ iterations to be put into practice as soon as they are devised. Additionally, BPM makes collecting feedback on any of your actions and practices implemented easy and quick. All the information you may need to make tweaks and adjustments to any process is easily accessible to the right people at all times.
Identify and Remove Bottlenecks
Process bottlenecks are a serious issue for many companies, and can result in serious underperformance if neglected. Bottlenecks can take many forms – in many situations, employees can end up having to waste time waiting for someone else to finish a task before they can continue with their own work. This is especially problematic for small and medium businesses. Another common scenario is for unfinished products to end up stuck at a certain manufacturing stage. This happens when the company’s infrastructure doesn’t have the same level of output all the way through the process.
Identifying systemic bottlenecks and providing detailed information on where, when and how they happen is one of the primary functions of BPM. A well-implemented BPM solution the people in charge of the processes all the possible information that could be gathered on the subject. This enables timely adjustments and helps avoiding this type of situation.
Get on Board With Automation
AI technology, and automation in general, is the future of work. There is little doubt about that – it provides invaluable tools for almost any job, and can even outright replace human labor in some cases. However, its costs can be prohibitive in many cases – and since every business is different, employing a one-size-fits-all approach is often suboptimal. You usually need bespoke software and even hardware that caters to their specific needs – and that can be monstrously expensive.
Fortunately, you don’t have to spare the expense of automating the performance of every single task – just the key ones that are the most cumbersome and repetitive. BPM is perfectly suited for identifying precisely which processes should be automated, and can give you invaluable information on how that can be done.
Oversee Projects in Style
Implementing a BPM software solution provides managers instantaneous access to both focused information about the employees or projects they are overseeing and a broader view on the whole organization. In days past, access to this information was obtained slowly, through cumbersome bureaucracy and required much more effort to compile and analyze. Now, with digital BPM, you can easily look it up and act on it instantaneously.
Increase Top-down Communication
Process management platforms are specifically set up to facilitate communication within your company. This allows managers instant and access to employees, regardless of all other circumstances that may normally hinder the process. Task allocation becomes easier than ever. If everyone uses the same system, it doesn’t matter if they’re at the office, social distancing in their homes or in another place entirely. Maintaining a clear and professional line of communication between managers and staff is essential to running your company – and BPM excels at that particular field.
Improve Employee Communication
Communication, both with management, within other team members, and across teams and departments is key for both an employee’s efficiency and their morale. A clear line of communication is essential for synchronizing tasks, as well as resolving any problems that crop up along the way. Having access to all of the people you need to talk to on one platform is very convenient for employees.
Minimize Distractions
Distractions are a blight on the working process. They cripple productivity, reduce employee morale and can end up severely damaging any business process if they get out of hand. BPM software is uniquely positioned to help you get rid of distractions of all sorts. Working with an online system that tracks everything ensures that employee paperwork, and bureaucracy in general, is reduced to the absolute minimum. Instead of compiling a whole official report about something, printing it in triplicate and sending it up the corporate ladder, an employee can just text management about a specific detail, and their message would be available to all the right people at all times.
Additionally, the need to stop working to provide routine updates is minimized with BPM software, as the system can be set up to track activity automatically and compile the data in a usable form.
Improve Transparency
Having all the data about employee activities, communications and interactions is good for employees as well as managers. Transparency ensures that when something goes wrong, the right people would be held responsible, which is a relief for employees. Conversely, an employee can always point to BPM logs as proof of adherence to protocol, or a breach thereof. Having a system that ensures accountability provides stability, which is essential for maintaining employee morale.
Develop Better Products
Cleaning up your company’s organizational processes gives your business the opportunity to focus on R&D and improving the quality of their product. Improving product quality over time is the key to both winning over new customers and maintaining old ones. Implementing BPM facilitates this indirectly, but noticeably.
Provide Better Customer Service
Good customer service often hinges on active, smooth and swift communication between employees, teams and departments. This is one of BPM’s core functions, and it is one that BPM excels at.
Stay Relevant And Competitive
Implementing BPM software brings immense value to your company. No business has a chance of staying relevant and competing on the market nowadays without an adequate technological solution in place to oversee and manage it. At this point, BPM software is no longer a novelty or a luxury, but a necessity that is essential for keeping business afloat.
Guest post courtesy of Mariela