2020 and 2021 were challenging for businesses as they had to re-imagine and restructure their operations. Organizations had to adapt quickly to changing market conditions to gain a competitive advantage. Business Process Management (BPM) solutions helped many organizations to align business functions with customer needs.
The business world changes fast, and there’s no time for hesitation. Customers expect perfect products and services, and the market is not tolerant of mistakes, which makes BPM a no-brainer. BPM and workflow management tools can help executives determine how to deploy, monitor, and measure company resources. If properly executed, BPM can improve business productivity and efficiency, minimize errors and risk, and reduce costs, optimizing results.
Forrester reports that BPM initiatives offer up to 50 percent productivity gains for administrative processes. BPM tools not only streamline business processes, they also boost employee morale and enable remote work.
A Brief History of BPM
In 1911, Frederick Taylor published “The Principles of Scientific Management.” In it, he explained how productivity could be significantly improved by applying a scientific method. In the 1960s, technology became the business driver and accelerated change. A process management concept called Kaizen became very popular, and Japanese companies gained a competitive edge due to their focus on quality improvement programs.
In the 1980s, a company known as FileNet developed a workflow management system for routing scanned documents through a predefined process. This was the precursor to modern BPM software. Gartner first coined the term “Business Process Management Suite” (BPMS) in the 2000s to refer to software applications that manage processes.
The Current State of BPM
Many organizations now use cloud-based BPM platforms to automate and streamline processes. BPM now focuses on the customer experience, and many enterprises have changed their processes for better collaboration, innovation, and support to enhance the customer experience.
Many companies are implementing BPM for digital transformation. They use BPM software to drive customer engagement, automation, and collaboration. Modern BPM solutions require almost no IT intervention to create, deploy, and optimize processes.
The Future of BPM
According to Statista, the BPM market will be worth USD 14.4 billion by 2025, with a CAGR of 10.5 percent over the forecast period (2020-2025). This rapid growth can be attributed to the integration of modern technologies and automation with BPM.
We live in uncertain times, and organizations want higher productivity, better cost control, and improved risk management. The best low-code development platform can help. Organizations with a great technology stack can increase their agility and deploy new solutions and processes faster.
The future of BPM looks bright. The technology will increasingly be driven by automation and become more prevalent with artificial intelligence and machine learning. It will also improve the customer experience by using data and analytics to streamline processes and offer personalized interactions.
How Does a Company Run with and Without BPM?
A company without a BPM solution heavily relies on humans to push tasks toward completion. The staff spends a lot of time sending emails for approvals or managing requests on spreadsheets. Manual processes lengthen task completion time and often lead to inefficiencies and errors. A company can’t respond quickly to market changes or consumer behavior.
But once an enterprise implements business process management, it simplifies and streamlines its processes by eliminating human intervention. Automated processes enhance product and service quality, reduce unnecessary costs, and digitally transform an organization. Employees have more time to focus on high-value work.
Benefits of Implementing a BPM Solution
Business Agility
Agility helps a company to adjust easily to external changes and internal changes. It grows and changes with the market, quickly adapting to shifts and trends. A business model that prepares a company for the unforeseeable gives it a competitive edge.
Business changes happen fast and demand a quick response. A BPM solution can give your company the flexibility to meet those demands. You can also pause your business processes, make adjustments, and redeploy them with minimal lost time. Employees can track business process changes and refine them per company requirements. Precise documentation allows managers to see how changes affect overall business processes easily.
Minimal Errors
When employees input data manually and use tools like spreadsheets and emails, errors are inevitable. Also, they have no way to ensure data stays updated or check who manages which task. When processes have no stakeholders for each step, errors occur frequently. Employees can “toss stuff over the wall” and fail to take responsibility for work.
A good BPM solution greatly reduces the possibility of errors. Stakeholders ensure each step is completed properly and meets the defined criteria. And in case an error occurs, its source can be easily traced.
Better Compliance and Security
In every industry, there are multiple policies to comply with. For example, accounting and HR teams have different internal and external policies to comply with. A BPM solution can help an enterprise streamline its processes and create a framework to comply with internal and external policies. Employees find it easier to understand processes and follow strict guidelines.
Process mapping enables managers and users to ensure that all necessary documentation is in place. Thoroughly documented workflows can also provide a framework for greater security. A BPM tool safeguards business assets, private information, and physical resources from theft or loss.
Reduced Expenses
Another great benefit of business process management is lower expenses. BPM implementation streamlines business processes, so a company has a lower output-to-expenses ratio. It may have a larger output at the same process costs or the same output at lower costs. Research has shown that enterprises that implement business process management boost their ROI by up to 41 percent within the first year.
Transform Your Organization with Business Process Management
According to Gartner, 80 percent of organizations executing BPM projects have an internal ROI of over 15 percent. But for business processes to be profitable, they must be clear, efficient, and adaptable. Managers and employees must develop business processes with a clear understanding of how each process fits into the larger organizational structure. As digital transformation forces companies to quickly adapt to changing technology, BPM will become more mainstream.
