The key elements for any business are: man, material, machine and money. But how do we make these elements more efficient and keep them intact to achieve desire goals? The business goals might be increasing productivity, reducing cost, increasing profitability, effective utilization of resources, minimizing risks, enhancing customer experience and so on.

Process improvement

The business goals can be achieved successfully by bringing in these key elements on a common practice called “PROCESS.” Businesses run on processes and you need to improve these constantly.

Wikipedia defines Process Improvement as “Aspect of organizational development in which a series of actions are taken by a process owner to identify, analyze and improve existing business processes within an organization to meet business goals and objectives.”

There are various methods to improve processes, such as Lean, Six Sigma, BPM, Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) and others. In recent years BPM has gained popularity as a methodology and technology. This transformation has given BPM a new dimension not just as process automation tool, but as an effective process optimization tool and also businesses can gain operational intelligence and drive innovation.

Critical Success Factors for BPM

So how do you get started and how do you make your BPM initiative a success? Some of the critical points that make your BPM program a success:

• Project should be backed by leadership/CXO team
• Select right set of people (both from IT & Business) with well-defined roles and responsibilities
• Keep it simple; start small with well-defined objective by picking high value processes
• Have a 30-60-90 days plan, not beyond this time frame
• Assess the results at every stage and take corrective actions immediately
• Use existing resources and infrastructure, limiting add-on investments
• Have room to “what-if scenarios” and encourage out-of the box ideas
• Work closely with your BPM vendor, from planning to implementation to execution

Selecting a BPM vendor

The next thing that will come to your mind is: “How do I select the right BPM vendor?”

• Do your research and understand the BPM vendor landscape
• Based on the research outcome, shortlist few vendors for initial evaluation process
• List the standard vendor evaluation criteria. For example vendor track record, customer list, product features, vendors experience and geography, pricing, training, support and maintenance and of course assess vendor promptness during evaluation process etc…
• Take a BPM software demo and have a high-level understanding of the tool
• Map your scope with the evaluations results
• Design the proof of concept ( Derived from the scope) for the next set of shortlisted vendors
• Take free software trial and list down your user experiences
• Based on the overall evaluation results, experiences and budget, finalize agreements with the BPM vendor

In today’s demanding and dynamic business environment, regardless of organization size and industry they operate, processes are proving to be assets. BPM technology is becoming more effective tool which will introduce best practices, provides more visibility and agility, increases productivity by eliminating wastages, provides analytics for effective decision making and much more …

Keep moving…

Remember the mantra …..BPM is a journey, not a destination. Keep moving, keep improving, and keep innovating to transform your business growth!

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