Learn More About Business Process Management

What is business process management (BPM)? Business process management is a process that aims to achieve a specific organizational goal. It is a set of activities that aim to make the workflow more effective so that the organization operates in an efficient manner. BPM is considered as a business practice that constitutes structured methods. BPM involves the following:

• Facilitating continuous change in order to bring in improvements in an organization with the passage of time

• Establishing processes to ensure a smooth workflow

• Standardizing processes in order to reduce errors and mitigate risks

• Correcting or streamlining processes to increase the overall productivity of employees

• Continuous evaluating processes for better efficiency

The steps involved in BPM are the following:

• Analyzing
• Re-designing
• Implementing
• Monitoring
• Managing
• Automating

BPM is not a one-time exercise. Processes should be continuously evaluated to bring in improvements in the workflow; this eventually will lead to a better organization. BPM includes many components. It includes process modeling. Process modeling is a pictorial way of representing a process that becomes part of the application and governs how the business process performs when you operate the application. The other component is web and systems integration technologies. This includes retrieving data through a web browser. Another component is business activity monitoring through which one gets reports on how well the business processes are functioning.

Optimizing processes that involve people has been a challenge. One barrier to optimization has been the lack of visibility and ownership for processes spread across different business units. Businesses often change dynamically. Thanks to the presence of web browsers and the emergence of simpler applications and integration technologies, IT has been able to deploy smart technology that can support business processes across cross functional business units. BPM can be used across departments like Human Resources, Finance and Purchasing, Customer Relationship Management, Sales and Marketing, Research and Development, etc. BPM can be applied to training requests, recruitment, termination, employee performance reviews in the HR department. Incorporating BPM in HR makes the processes more efficient. BPM can also be applied to Finance and Purchasing. BPM works well when you have to manage purchases, track expenses and monitor suppliers and contractors. An effective BPM makes the process of coordination easier. A BPM solution can help in seamlessly integrating marketing, sales and support systems within an organization. BPM can do wonders for customer relationship management teams by helping to solve problems in a more efficient manner and by providing customers with the latest information.