Simplifying the complexities of enterprise collaboration with ECM and BPM

Handling content in a digital age & the impact of a robust enterprise content management has never been side-lined and with an agile business process management coupled in, the impact is for everyone to witness. Invensys Skelta as a part of the partner co-marketing initiative recently teamed with an OEM partner – Solgenia SPA to promote Solgenia Freedoc to a larger audience in the form of a web event.

Solgenia Freedoc is the answer to a collaborative environment where people can store, share and exchange structured and unstructured business information securely - in a single repository. Users are empowered to manage information, streamline workflows and maximize productivity extending social collaboration using file sync and sharing capabilities for a true real-time social collaboration also for the mobile workforce.

The partner driven webinar which will run for 40 minutes on the 10^th of December at 2 PM GMT will introduce Freedoc, components of Freedoc which includes special focus on using Social Space with or without Social Network, Integration with Microsoft Office, Freedoc Mobile and Freedoc in Cloud. You may register for the webinar here.

One of the core components of the Freedoc is the business workflow to design and implement business processes and internal workflows, enabling a systemic approach to improve business processes through the integration of IT and management methodologies.

A must attend session for enterprises before the start of the holiday season. For those, whose schedules are already blocked, do leave in a comment for this post and I shall ensure that the link to access the recording is made available to you.

Register today. 

BPM in manufacturing … what’s the enterprise level opportunity?

The generic and flexible nature of a BPM solution makes it a good fit for almost any sector. The current business climate and global pressure to improve safety, compliance, quality, productivity and cost are forcing companies to evaluate and improve their operations.

In this regard the Manufacturing sector is no different.

BPM and workflow software help support business critical outcomes providing a range of enablers for customers in the manufacturing space.  Pre-configured scenarios and solutions, built on a strong BPM platform allow workflow enabling of manufacturing solutions. Embedded workflows are a natural extension of application & technical integration allowing participation in and with enterprise and other collaborative workflow processes.

But is there a BPM opportunity specific to Manufacturing?

With rising energy costs, ageing infrastructure, obligation to shareholders and a highly competitive environment within the Manufacturing sector, enterprise integration and operational efficiency have taken on fresh relevance as the key factors to organizational success.  BPM can address, with measurable results, operational and business challenges at the Enterprise level in Manufacturing.

While at the plant level workflow software integrates with a range of plant systems and streamlines execution, automating manufacturing specific processes such as change management, SLA management, Design review processes & compliance management lend several business efficiencies at the enterprise level.  

For BPM to work end to end, it needs to be embedded into manufacturing systems, filling the gaps and completing the chain from enterprise to plant floor. BPM’s process modeling, managing, analyzing and optimization capabilities ensure continuous improvement for:

1. Corrective and preventive action (CAPA)
2. Driving lean manufacturing                                                            
3. Turning best practices into standard operating procedures      
4. Increased plant productivity                                                           
5. Accelerated project delivery                                                                                    
6. Real time interoperability between enterprise applications                  

In our next post, a detailed analysis of BPM as an enterprise application in manufacturing. 

Have a great week!

Invensys Skelta Partner Contest Winner!

Invensys Skelta (BPM software provider) VAR - The IT Bunch win "Name the Whitepaper Contest" with their inspiring title text.


"The aggregation of Business: ROEI and Skelta BPM"! 

Download the Whitepaper here http://www.skelta.com/newsletter/Skelta-Communique/february-2012/Whitepaper-Invensys-Skelta-Contest.pdf

BPO Business Transformation through BPM?

The BPO business hub in India has been growing at the rate of 70% every year and is now worth $1.6 billion. In an industry that employs 1, 00,000 people, there is bound to be cost competitiveness due to the sheer numbers –in other words, high volume intellectual capital. For business success in what is already a crowded space, only 100% customer delight can make the cut and spell the difference between high profitability and a mad clamor to stay afloat.

So what is in the BPO success mix?

Cost savings obviously – the bedrock of the BPO industry

      Increased efficiencies through optimized SLA management

      Increased bottom-lines

      Response to change

In order to consolidate and find new differentiators, BPM promises operational efficiency in a sector heavily dependent on quality and rapid turnaround.  So Business Process Management and BPO are all about cutting costs but if you cut to the chase what is it about a BPM product that delivers value here? It has to be about getting your workforce to do more within tight SLA frameworks and to do it right.

Lauren Bielski in CIO points out quite accurately that BPM in BPO makes digital what used to be flow charts scribbled on white boards or sketched out on notepads.  This method allows subordinate processes to be more easily taken over by contracted outsiders in jobs such as loan processing, application support, or claims processing.

Business Process Management in this scenario can rapidly define, modify and deploy processes cost effectively while at the same time providing for continuous monitoring of performance and projection of resource requirements.

If we’re talking specifics, a robust Queue Management system designed to accelerate productivity with its dynamic queue allocation is integral to BPM for BPO. Common task dispatch patters such as FIFO, LIFO and round robin are well supported as are custom dispatch patterns, automatic, semi-automatic and manual modes of task dispatch.  BPM can differentiate in this one process that makes or break a BPO operation – project delivery.

Long term fixed priced BPO contracts in the backdrop of escalating operational costs have long been the bane of the BPO industry. However, the sector has shown potential to be profitable. Now with more and more BPOs focusing on business transformation with BPM software, maybe it can?

BPM framework for BPO

The Proof is in the Pudding?

Following up on my post last week on what goes into the making of a BPM project, let’s talk a little more about Proof of Concepts (POCs). To truly gain traction from Discovery to Automation and to zero in on the right BPM software, a POC showing your vendor’s competency on a number of issues is essential. It’s simple really – Don’t Invest till you Test!

When it comes to evaluating a POC, there are the usual suspects

-         - Time to delivery from start to finish

-         - Sustainability (does the vendor have the bandwidth and skill to support optimization over a long time period)

-        -  Human reaction to change

-        -  Ability of the product to react to change

But apart from these the most critical test of concept is the scope of the POC. A scope bound POC which is a sub set of the actual BPM project offers enormous clarity to the process owner.  More importantly, as a BPM customer you should be cognizant of your exact BPM requirement before evaluating vendors ... the idea is to map the software to your needs rather than spend time and money on a POC to reinforce its inherent strengths.

A BPM customer should drive the outcome of a POC and test for compatibility with existing IT environments among other things. Introduce scenarios that test vendor agility and response to process change – indication of a strong services team means that you gain from the vendor’s BPM project experience when it comes to building a new application around the product.  For a BPM vendor of course, a well defined POC directly translates to cost efficiencies and in depth understanding of the client’s requirement.


Invest more technical resources in rolling out a POC and you have yourself a sustainable BPM customer who views you more as a BPM partner and less as a software vendor.

10 Point Program for BPM Excellence

What really makes for BPM project success? Visualizing a lean and efficient business structure, or how to “Think Big, Start Small, Scale Fast!”

1. First, identify a few processes that are costing the company’s bottom-line, increasing turnaround times or represent a compliance risk.
2. Put together a think tank of subject matter experts, process owners and forward thinking individuals from your organization to draw up a new goal based process.
3. Look at your internal technical skill set and various platforms in your IT landscape and evaluate BPMS tools from vendors that fit well with your existing IT investment.
4. Choose a BPM software vendor to develop an initial proof of concept (POC).
5. Run and test the process. Revise, revise, revise till you get it right.
6. Measure the new process for KPIs which are key to your business – common measurement indicators are cycle times, cost implication and customer satisfaction.
7. Deploy the process and continuously monitor the Business Activity for improved achievement on overall governance aims and better customer offerings.
8. Synchronize and Collaborate with teams on potential ideas for competing in the market and use these as BPM opportunities to scale up your BPM initiative.
9. Consider integrating your BPM software with your existing ERP system and extend the bandwidth of your process optimization tool.
10. Leverage organizational knowledge and market intelligence to constantly update your process with a trial and deploy methodology.

Redirecting resources to find and close business opportunities, rather than spend time looking for information spells Operational efficiency and results in better bottom lines.

Future Forward! - BPM Futuristic Trends

Future Forward - BPM Futuristic Trends :

How can Business Process Management optimize business outcomes and performance? Last year’s leading BPM events and the views aired therein by the industry’s thought leaders all bring out a dominant and somewhat worrying scenario – after a decade, Process Agility is still a pipe dream for organizations struggling to connect BPM technologies with their real world business processes.

Companies continue to focus on process automation as the quick fix to achieving Business Process Management goals without clearly defining end performance parameters and process improvement metrics. There is a need then to step back from the blinding array of available BPMS and concentrate on building operational resilience achieved through continuously introducing new process incidents for goal fulfilment and performance measurement. The need is also to identify a set of techniques that allow people, processes and information systems to adapt to changing patterns repeatedly.

The success words for the future of BPM include Activity Monitoring and Business Intelligence – a greater shift towards “predictive” instead of the “reactive” models being followed; Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) and Business Event Support as an important aspect of any full service BPM platform whilst evaluating best fit BPMS by organizations. BPM platforms with a strong focus on BAM, will come out on top by providing the critical visibility today’s embattled organizations need to establish relevant business goals and accountability.

The road this year will organically lead to social BPM - an ideal scenario where knowledge workers and partners model collaborative processes and BPMS designs address needs of unstructured process such as those that rest with knowledge workers. . As organizations begin to see the light about creating structures that are operationally resilient, BPMS as a technology takes a back seat. Key features of BPMS that support real world company goals for operational intelligence such as BAM and Process Designers for continuous process improvement take to the forefront of BPM as a solution to achieve operational success.

Business transformation has emerged as the key to sustaining organizational success and there is negligible concern on technology issues. Processes as a platform must necessarily come to pass as more and more users are vested in the belief that processes will eventually run in the cloud (both public and private).

The economic downturn has everyone looking inward and setting the house in order. Going forward, structured process automation will slowly give way to process management for unstructured processes – harnessing knowledge repositories within enterprises.

The emerging face of BPM extends accountability to process management as the means to optimize business outcome. This means that BPMS needs to keep pace as organizations start adapting process at the pace of business changes and not at the pace of their BPM package!

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And How Does BPM Feature in the Retail World?

The retail landscape has seen significant changes since the inception of the internet. While retailing in the past essentially meant simply distributing the product in question, that is no longer the case. In order to succeed in today’s fast paced retail world, a business needs to focus on retaining customers just as much as attracting new ones. Aspects that need to be addressed in such scenarios include enabling better communication between the business and its customer base, improving the supply chain, as well as seeing how IT solutions can help simplify the overall workflow.

Various retailers have already delved into the BPM sphere. Amongst the various things that one can expect a good Business Process Management solution to provide include, lowered operational costs and reduced cyclic times. Besides, one can also expect a significant ROI in an investment such as this simply because the operations and the solution would work in tandem, and both would be equally responsible for the outcome of the implementation.

How Can BPM Help?

Retailers now accept that their field is becoming more and more complex, and this is mainly because of the surge in service channels coupled with problems in tracking sales. Moreover, brand loyalty isn’t what it used to be, anymore; and in order for customers to come back, one has to ensure not just the high quality of the product, but high service levels as well. With an effective BPM solution in place, you can provide your customers with various platforms to interact with you (these would include in-store communication, over the phone, emails, chat, etc). Of course, you don’t necessarily need a BPM solution in place to offer your customers these options but a BPM solution would ensure that the interactions that take place through the varied mediums are fused seamlessly, thereby giving the business in question better flexibility, better productivity, better processes, and thereby, better customer satisfaction.

BPM solutions for the retail industry also take into account that having a smooth and reliable supply chain can affect the way the business functions to a large extent. A good BPM solution, when it comes to addressing the supply chain, would be able to send out automatic notifications across the business’ various stores, departments, etc; and the same can also be done when it comes to routing work across different sections/levels. The automation would help minimize errors and would also hasten the entire process.

Also, since the workforce is quite an important aspect in this sector, businesses can also use BPM solutions to track the performances of their employees and the processes through an assortment of tools designed specifically for this purpose. This would allow a business to review, strategize, improve and execute their future plans in accordance.

On the whole, with an effective BPM solution in place retailers can expect to respond to change more quickly, give their customers a better experience, get real time control over the business’ processes, effectively manage the supply chain, as well as look forward to enhanced retail distribution, product portfolio, and campaign management.

E Governance in Today’s BPM World

Any government, it is said, is only as transparent as its citizenry wants it to be and as the government functionaries choose it to be. However, with an increasing number of countries now paying due attention to their citizens’ rights to information, this transparency does seem to be on the rise. With e-governance, a government gives all its citizens a common platform to voice their opinions, seek answers, and most importantly, to get work done.

E-governance is not something that is limited to the west any more, and a number of Indian states have also embraced this technology is some form or the other. States that are already part of the e-governance revolution in this country include Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu, with more looking to follow suit.

This shift in paradigm is not without reason. Not only does this allow the government mechanism to be available to the common people round the clock, but it also cuts across the geographical barriers owing to the continually rising internet connectivity penetration even in previously unreachable hinterlands. So, not only would this result in saving time and money, but would also provide people with the much needed ease of access. For instance, registration of property could be incorporated into e-Governance, and so could an assortment of application processes.

Governments need to recognize that looking at BPM e-Governance solutions is the way to go because documentation accounts for a considerable chunk of its work, and this would include collecting documents and forms from the electorate, or supplying the electorate with any record or document that it requires.

With a good document management system in place governments would succeed in making their processes more transparent. Moreover, since government processes, like any other business process, require to be cost efficient, incorporating an effective document management solution would work in reducing the costs considerably. Process and documental Security is also a crucial aspect, and with the right document management solution in place the classification of documents and access to the same can also be handled effectively.

Other benefits that a good BPM e-governance solution would provide include ensuring that documents are not lost or misplaced and that they can be tracked easily; that inter-governmental communication is streamlined; that audits can be more reliable; that collaboration between various departments is augmented; and a smoother overall workflow. A good BPM e-governance solution should ideally be able to seamlessly integrate with the process’ existing framework; and should also allow room for reengineering at a later stage if the need arises. Also, owing to the diverse electorate, such a solution should be multilingual. These, in effect, would lead to the smoother overall functioning of all the government bodies involved, which resultantly would lead to a more satisfied electorate.

And since this is the primary aim of every government body (or should be), then not using e-governance to empower the people would only leave them discontented, unsatisfied, and looking for change.

SaaS BPM – A Suitable Present Day Confluence?

The talk about SaaS BPM has been doing rounds for over a couple of years now. An increasing number of industry related experts now speak in favor of this integration and one of the main reasons is the level of collaboration that this integration offers. Process managers and others involved with the project, who until recently, had to be physically present together for implementation of the project, can now partake in the input/decision making process from remote locations.

What is SaaS?

Software as a Service (SaaS) is an offering wherein the provider’s role extends far beyond delivering a functional product, and includes providing the customer with availability, scalability, reliability, etc. A good SaaS model would also give its users the ability to personalize and customize their own settings, while also offering common functions to all users. What essentially sets a SaaS model apart from the onsite solutions though is the licensing aspect. As opposed to using a perpetual license, a SaaS solution would come with a subscription model, wherein the ownership of the solution would remain with the provider.

There are various advantages of offering a BPM solutions as SaaS, and apart from increased collaboration, these are the added advantages.

Business Size Not a Constraint:

When it comes to implementing a BPM strategy for a big business, one can expect to bear considerable expenses coupled with risk and complexities. If the business involves more than one location, then infrastructure would have to be provided for each location, and each location could also end up requiring its own support staff. Opting for a SaaS based BPM solution in such a scenario would help not just because you do not have to worry about the technological support, but also because it is, more often than not, a more cost effective option.

Customer Centric Models:

As opposed to using traditional ‘push’ marketing, a SaaS model would be way more customer centric. This is simply because those who create SaaS BPM solutions depend on the renewal of their services to make money, and this ensures that providers interact with their clients on an ongoing basis as opposed to trying to make that single sale.

Decreased Risk:

Opting for a SaaS BPM solution would require a considerably lower investment than opting for an onsite one. Also, the process manager who uses the solution in question would be free to decide on the solution’s suitability, giving the business in question the option to stop using the service if it feels that it is not deriving adequate results from the new implementation.

The Cost Factor:

While there are people who are of the opinion that SaaS BPM solutions end up costing more in the long run, one should also take into account the ongoing expenses for on-site BPM solutions in the form of software upgrades, maintenance, and the dedicated manpower that is required. A SaaS BPM solution also makes it possible for businesses to serve any number of customers by taking away the need for dedicated server space. These solutions which provide automated periodical upgrades and help in lowering the ‘cost of ownership’ , I feel, can be particularly beneficial when it comes to small and medium businesses with little or no internal IT framework, especially considering the economic conditions, a SaaS BPM solutions would be cost effective for an immediate BPM roll-out strategy.

Lastly, while security is cited as a concern in SaaS BPM solutions, this too is being addressed by most providers. Besides, the demand for such solutions is certainly on the rise as businesses look for newer ways to increase productivity. Using SaaS based solutions gives businesses the option to experiment, and after seeing successful results, to delve further into this sphere. So just as more and more businesses look towards SaaS BPM, an increasing number of providers now aim to provide them with relevant products.

Process excellence in Manufacturing with BPM Technology

Manufacturing houses the world over have to deal with production and supply chain related issues, and this often calls for quick responses and timely intervention clubbed with innovative approaches. Not only does a manufacturing house have to deal with customers, but also with an array of distributors, suppliers, vendors, and its own workforce. While there have been various attempts in the past to streamline production processes through the use of various enterprise solutions, the results have been quite mixed. This is mainly because the focus doesn’t always remain on the business’ individual process requirements. Business units are broken down into smaller assembly units and each use stripped down process modeling with limited interaction. Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) typically only support production routing, production processes, and instructions for the work to be done. Hence, MES systems are focused only on production and are unable to execute processes, integrate multivendor applications or play a role in the planning, designing and building phase of manufacturing.

BPM to the Rescue

Business Process Management tools cure this exact pain. It gives businesses the ability to fine tune processes while eliminating any shortcomings, while also automating production processes in order to minimize errors and maximize reliability. Through effective BPM implementation a production house can also utilize its assets to the fullest, thereby getting the most out of its existing manpower and equipment. Besides, in going the BPM way a production house would have the ability to extend its channels of revenue, and this would also give the business an opportunity to gather pertinent customer data from various points of sale.

Managing the Supply Chain:

Since this fast paced technological world that we now live in calls for quick fire and accurate decision making while also maintaining visibility, it is important that businesses and their respective supply chain collaborators work in tandem by quickly adapting to changing market needs and scenarios. Using a BPM solution to streamline a business’ entire supply chain network would help the business adapt to the latest trends, minimize wastage, and run on decreased operating costs.

Operations:

When it comes to the operational aspect of any manufacturing business, one of the most common complaints involves the lack of synchronized data. If the operations part of a manufacturing house is not adequately integrated, it could very well lead to inaccurate reporting of data, loss of man hours, unnecessary inventories, inappropriate planning and decision making, etc. With the help of an integrated BPM solution, one can expect to have access to all information in real time.

Apart from the positives mentioned above, here are some more reasons why a production house would benefit by employing a BPM strategy.

• Collaboration: In keeping common goals and running a unified platform a production house gives its ‘people’ network a place where they can interact and collaborate.
• Workflow: Integrating a business’ technological aspects with the processes and the people behind the processes keeps a due check on prioritization, thereby ensuring a smooth workflow.
• Transparency: Using a BPM solution would tell a business exactly where and how its resources are being used, and to what effect.

Other benefits of using BPM solutions in production industries include the ability to run processes in accordance to specific business needs; reducing the possibility of delays in the supply of materials; using automatic notifications to correspond within various internal departments and with external sources like customers, vendors, and suppliers; as well as the ability to integrate one’s existing range of applications like SCM and ERP.

So do I see more manufacturing houses embrace this technology in the time to come? Of course!

The Value of BPM for BPO Operations

BPM tools have helped businesses in various fields, and while a number of key players in the BPO industry have already jumped on the BPM bandwagon, a large number of BPO’s continue to remain under tremendous timelines related pressures. With the need for innovative products that can help increase productivity while cutting costs being the foremost criteria of almost every BPO, BPM providers continue to make continual upgrades and use state of the art technology to better their existing offerings.

If you are wondering why a BPO would need BPM solutions, do consider the following data released by IBM last year. Most businesses end up wasting more than 5 hours per employee; more than two thirds of all employees end up making decisions despite having incorrect information around once every week; two thirds feel that while there are people who can help them perform better, they just don’t know how to find them; and lastly, in excess of 90% of all the business heads who were interviewed opined that their business’ operating style needed a makeover.

Within a BPO, processes like sales, marketing, operations, insurance, banking, online services, human resources, and even administration can benefit through BPM tools. This is simply because any process which has room to be partially or completely automated, improved, and monitored, can benefit from BPM technology. Some BPOs have also used BPM tools as the key differentiator in customer acquisition situations. Through BPM, a BPO can also display its understanding of processes at the core level to any of its existing or probable client/s.

BPM can also help in the event where a business is looking to outsource work to a BPO. BPM would help the business in question have better control on the outsourced process while also being able to impart its SLAs in a more effective manner and provide complete transparency. Moreover, end customers do tend to face the challenge of basing a great amount of dependency on the BPO of critical processes. Besides, they might not necessarily feel comfortable to outsource critical tasks such as exiting or moving a process function to another BPO, and converting it into an internal process could also seem like a risky proposition. BPM can circumvent this risk by standardizing such processes and this could very well simplify a potential handover.

In looking at BPM solutions, these are aspects that a BPO should look into:

a) The offered solution should be quickly developed.

b) The solution should be low cost at the onset, and sustainable in the long run.

c) The solution should be able to integrate with the BPO’s existing technology.

Since the BPO spectrum is quite varied, the pertinent BPM solutions also follow suit. For example, the solution that a financial sector BPO requires would vary from the one that is needed by a service oriented BPO. The good thing is that BPM can deliver solutions, irrespective of the core area of expertise.

For instance, when it comes to codifying or guiding workflow, BPM would simply automate your otherwise manual tasks of taking notes. BPM could also help in creating subordinate processes which can then be handed over to third-parties in scenarios such as application support, loan processing, data verification, etc.

So yes, a BPO can surely benefit through the use of BPM solutions, as not only does this present an opportunity of garnering increased control, but also of increased and higher standards of output. And with the doldrums still not quite out of the picture, cost effective BPM solutions for BPOs do seem to be the order of the day.

Composite Applications in Today’s BPM World

The demand for enterprise applications is definitely on the rise, and a business, in this day and age, can easily find a software package to address almost any aspect of the business. Solutions for facets like CRM, ERP, SCM, MRP, etc. are quite easy to come by, with a plethora of vendors trying to fill the existent marketplace. However, just as businesses strive to create their place under the sun, the same also applies to vendors of business solutions, and this has given rise to the integration of these solutions under a single umbrella.

The idea behind running composite applications is to move the focus from individual application development, to integrating them into a single unit instead. These applications also work in addressing the gaps between existing applications and creating solutions specific to specific tasks, allowing the business process to follow the steps laid by the solution as opposed to having users work as mediators in between different processes.

The Changing Facade

Solutions created using Business Process Management platforms differ from the solutions developed not so long ago, as BPM solutions deliver ‘process’ models and metadata mapping instead of delivering database instantiations and database models, as in the case of conventional solutions. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) components now run completely independently, and human interaction/decision making is now a part of the entire automation process as well. This gives the end user the ability to configure/assemble components as required while also streamlining them with one’s existing web based services. Besides, by uniting the human workflow aspect with automation process, the overall workflow can be managed in a more effective manner.

One very important aspect of composite applications is that they generally do not aim at 100% functionality. This is simply because they come with a range of executable components which can then be sequenced as per the end user’s preferences. Instead of complete functionality, such solutions aim at dynamic assembly, flexibility, integration, and extensibility.

What to Expect

With more and more businesses making the required infrastructural changes, one can expect the ability of a BPM solution to enable composite applications to be one of the key components in a BPM implementation. You should also know that composite applications go beyond the realm of SOA, and various large businesses have already gone ahead and deployed various service enabled applications aimed at leveraging SOA in different forms. This also makes it important for such solutions to look at incorporating the various services/components that are being clubbed together.

The benefits are manifold; BPM enabled solutions can help streamline the business process, it can help bridge the business/IT gap, the integration capabilities help leverage on existing IT investments, it can help reduce operational costs, it can diminish business risks, it would be easy to implement; it would be a hastened process, and it would also allow both vertical and horizontal scalability. As a customer, before any BPM implementation, I would definitely ask the question… Does this BPM platform help me create applications rapidly and integrate easily with existing systems?

Business Process Management: Why Here, Why Now?

The Business Process Management (BPM) realm continues to evolve at a rapid pace. This is not just in relation to the technology/software that various businesses offer and employ but also with the approach to the process in itself. With these periodical changes taking place in this field, a good source of up-to-date information is often sought.

After all, BPM does play a significant role in the shrinking of most spheres of businesses. Not only does BPM help with an assortment of automation options, but also offers a continual improvement process coupled with various communication platforms. Evolved BPM components now allow businesses to customize their processes, policies, etc. in accordance to the target audience needs, geographical locations notwithstanding.

A good BPM strategy in today’s world would have you focus on integrating aspects like processes, systems, and data, along with your workforce spread across multiple locations. Your BPM strategy would also allow you to associate metrics with the life cycle of your business process, and this would take into account aspects like improving, redesigning, implementing, and managing your business process.

In looking to incorporate a BPM strategy, some basics that need to be addressed include:

• Globalization: Even if you run a single unit today, you should ensure that your strategy takes into account that you might soon operate from one or more remote locations, thereby requiring one common platform.
• Innovation: Ours is a constantly evolving world, and irrespective of the strategy that you follow, you should always look to embrace new technology.
• Productivity: Your BPM efforts should not come at a cost of reduced productivity, and if that is the case, then you are obviously doing something wrong.
• Streamlining the flow of information: Since automating various business aspects is the key to Business Process Management, you can easily collate data from various sources and use it as valuable information.
• Customer Satisfaction: Since this forms the crux of every successful business, it is very important that you know just how you can use your BPM efforts to focus on the needs of your customers. The fact is that through your BPM efforts you can manage to retain your existing customers with a considerably higher rate of success.

Therefore, in these trying times, while most prominent economists are at loggerheads about whether the economy is rising only to fall again, having your core business strategies in place becomes very important. So while you might wish to implement a BPM strategy to simplify your workflow and/or expand your business, it is very important that you go about doing so in the right manner. With the sea of information about BPM that you have access to through the internet, it is quite easy to get lost.

While I do end up referring to a plethora of sources in my quest for BPM knowledge, I understand that not everybody can be as patient (or resourceful). This, therefore, is my endeavor to keep you posted about all the developments in the world of Business Process Management and Workflow solutions.

Also, if there’s anything that I miss, or if there’s anything that you would like to share, please feel free to contribute.