I think I may have finally figured something out, why it is so hard to get businesses to buy-into BPM.
To me it makes complete sense to use a BPM approach to define a business problem, document and learn from what you are doing now and eventually design a future state that provides increased value to the organization and your Customers. I have difficulty grasping why you would not want to do this?
So if this makes sense, why is not everyone buying in? Shouldn’t I be able to walk into an existing Client or a potential new Client and say “BPM” and they just open their checkbooks?
BPM as a Journey
This is the” I get it part” – No! BPM is not viewed as a short term solution, but rather a “journey”. When I think of the term journey, I think of two things. First the rock group and their song “Don’t Stop Believe-In” and secondly, a long arduous process with twists and bends and obstacles in the way, but the journey is usually worth the effort. Both of these, interestingly enough, have merit, but the focus here is on the BPM journey.
Short-term focus
We live in a business world of quarters; every quarter we need to reach sales quotas, billable hour targets, new software sales goals, and the list goes on and on. Every 90 days you are either a Hero or a heal. So how do you take the traditional BPM journey approach and apply it to this environment? It does not make sense. If I am an executive and have to decide between funding a sales campaign to reach my quarterly revenue goal or begin funding a BPM project or program, where I may not realize results for some period of time, what would I do? Probably fund the sales campaign, as everything is about the quarter.
Pragmatic approach
But let’s say you could and can realize BPM benefits quarterly? What is to say you could not apply a BPM approach to solving a quarterly sales decline issue? I believe you can. You can define a business problem, in this case “not meeting sales goals”, you can look at the high-level activities and information and issues with the current sales process and identify potential improvements. These could range from; potentially streamlining the process to determining our marketing campaign is not aligned to our sales goals, or a myriad of other reasons. The point is, by taking a pragmatic BPM approach, you can objectively and in a timely manner, look at a business problem, identify potential improvements/ solutions and implement them.
So back to BPM as a journey. Your BPM journey could be a long process or it could be short or hopefully a combination of the two. The long and short of it is, BPM is a very worthwhile effort, so open up those checkbooks and “Don’t Stop Believe-In”.
Webinar: BPM Looks Great, So What Could Go Wrong?
White paper: Speaking to the C-Suite about BPM
“To me it makes complete sense to use a BPM approach to define a business problem, document and learn from what you are doing now and eventually design a future state that provides increased value to the organization and your Customers.”
Kevin of course it will make sense to us ( me, you and every single person using this website) but does it make “sense” to the business? Convincing senior management of the value business provides is a very difficult task because many aren’t willing to learn about BPM. The workplace is not a training school. As you mentioned correctly, it’s a matter of quarters, money and the bottom line. If that value is not seen by the senior managers at the beginning no amount of convincing will work. Everything starts from the top for BPM to be directly linked to business success. You could do the odd “Proof of Concept” but let’s not fool ourselves: BPM works. If you carry on proving the concept, when do you actually move forward? When a new BPMS sweeps you off your feet? For a end to end BPM implementation with poor leadership, it never matures. An example of a good company is CORT
http://bpmmag.net/mag/how-cort-slashed-budgeting-time-1012/
They implement performance management which is some what related and they took 4 months. They are a Berkshire Hathaway company and are extremely motivated. How many companies are like that? The decision comes from the existing dynamic of the organisation. Many are sometimes intimidated by terms like Six Sigma and Cost Benefit Analysis and don’t get me started on Soa Suite and BPM Suite. The true value of BPM will only come with guaranteed link to business success. And process has its limitations. We as a community have to begin gearing ourselves to communication more opposed to tactics else we will be phased out.
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I agree entirely with your point about speed.
Part of the problem is that BPM has been hijacked by IT, who wishes to put a project together in the same way they always delivered projectts – with a 400 page report, detailed (and time-consuming) analysis and a barrage of statistics. By the time the process is delivered the products it is designed for are end of life and often the entire business model has changed.
We use a different method. We use the discovery stage to gain buy-in from the business units and stakeholders concerned. Then within days we come back with a stripped down, bare bones process.
We then involve everyone in improving it. This leads to collaboration between departments (often the first time they’ve really talked) and a shared understanding of the things each finds important.
Every couple of days we come back with a new iteration. This drives the change, keeping everyone involved and committed to the process and is also fast enough to minimise time to erect roadblocks, take intransigent stances or circulate negative PR.
Within a couple of weeks we have a throughly worked through process which everyone involved is committed to pushing through to implementation. This also means that we only build what everyone wants us to build, streamlining the implementation process and delivering results within a month or two.
First iteration in a week, agreed process in a month and value within a quarter is what we have found we can deliver, even on large projects.
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