- To rise above their competition, businesses must be prepared to improve their processes on a continuous basis.
- Business process management software is designed to make workloads easier and more efficient for management, as well as provide a source for collaboration among all team members.
- Business process management software programs should be efficient, effective and provide quality satisfaction for all team members using the program.
To become and remain successful and competitive, businesses must continuously improve their processes. Failure to do so is likely to result in higher costs, lower revenues, less motivated employees and fewer satisfied customers.
Business process management (BPM) is a powerful tool businesses can use to keep all aspects of operations running optimally. For those considering investing in it to drive process improvement, here's an overview of why your company needs business process management.
What is BPM?
Gartner defines business process management as "a discipline that improves enterprise performance by driving operational excellence and business agility." Think of a business as an engine and BPM as a tool to fine-tune every component of that engine in order to achieve maximum performance.
What does BPM do?
Within every organization, there are common business processes designed to meet objectives. However, for any number of reasons, some processes may be slow, inefficient, unreliable, duplicative and redundant. A BPM puts all of these processes under fresh scrutiny, using models, metrics and analysis to make evaluations, and identify needed improvements that will produce better performance. When implementing new processes, businesses can use BPM to make sure those processes integrate smoothly and perform properly.
What are the main benefits and what to look for in BPM software?
Simply stated, a BPM program enables companies to process more with higher quality, less waste and less effort. This is particularly advantageous for startups and other companies faced with tight budgets that need to reach profitability quickly.
The specific benefits of BPM for companies fall into three main categories:
- Efficiency. Many processes are often fraught with waste due to a number of factors such as manual effort, poor interdepartmental handoff and a general inability to effectively monitor overall progress. Shedding a fresh light on processes helps companies recognize and eliminate inefficiencies to the benefit of the bottom line.
- Effectiveness. Once a process becomes more efficient, BPM can then be used to make that process more effective. Among the many benefits of greater process effectiveness is the ability to handle exceptions faster and better, the ability to make better, more informed decisions, and the ability to execute consistently, which is critical for providing a better customer experience. When all processes are running effectively, and are aligned with corporate strategies and objectives, companies become more profitable and more competitive.
- Agility. In today's ultra-competitive business world, the need for a company to be agile is more critical than ever before. In fact, companies with outdated, inflexible processes are going to get left behind. The need to change can come from almost anywhere, both inside and outside of an organization. New opportunities may necessitate change in order to capitalize on them. New business partners or customers may require change in order to accommodate a different way of doing business. And don't forget, state, federal and international regulations may require a company to change its processes.
Popular business process management software
There are numerous options to choose from when searching for the best business process management software. The choice you make depends on a variety of factors, such as the cost of the software program, whether you goal is to make the software accessible to in-house staff, remote staff or a combination of both and the ease of use for the program. To help with selections, here are two of the most popular business process management software options:
monday.com
monday.com provides a collaboration-first interface, which allows the users to build boards with a vast array of columns. The flexibility of the software allows for ease of use for any type of project, and it integrates seamlessly with third-party apps. With the monday app, team members can collaborate in real time, and it allows for the automation of remote team workflow.
Wrike
Wrike software is designed to measure, automate and optimize your business process. It is capable of promoting collaboration, ensuring accurate management, robust reporting and simplifying administrative tasks. The software allows for a real-time news feed, it eases workload management, and it offers customized templates, free mobile apps and 24/7 live support.
Thanks to business process management programs, companies can change their existing processes or implement new ones faster, and more smoothly and efficiently. This ability to stay flexible and quickly adapt in the face of changes both foreseen and unexpected is a powerful driver of competitive advantage for every company.