Every organization has processes and even if those processes are not defined, there are business processes that are being used in the organization.
Business processes are used to describe the way in which tasks should be performed.
Because of the numerous business processes in the organization, Business Process Management is used to optimize those processes. It is focused on creating structured and repeatable business processes.
But how is Business Process Management used to improve processes ?
Business Process management is used to analyze a business process and find ways to improve it. There are some steps involved in process optimization and they are:
- Design: in order to improve a business process the process first has to be identified. The existing organizational business processes should be identified and documented and once it is documented, then it can be analyzed and optimized.
- Implement: Once the processes improvements recommendations have been made they should be implemented, either manually, with automation or with a mix of the two.
- Optimize: After the business processes improvements are implemented, they should be regularly reviewed and optimized to help achieve cost savings and increase efficiencies.
So what is Business Process Management system?
A Business Process Management system (BPMS) is a software application that is used to design, implement and optimize business processes.
It can also be used to automate business processes. Business processes that are ideal for automation are those business processes that have a lot of manual, and repetitive steps.
What are some of the benefits of using a BPMS?
There are numerous benefits to be gained from using a Business Process Management System (BPMS) and they include the following:
- Increased productivity: business process management systems are used to optimize business processes by removing unnecessary steps, eliminating bottlenecks and automating tasks. Once the business processes have been optimized, a business process management system can be used to automate some or all of the business process.
- Increased customer satisfaction: most business processes have some administrative tasks that is performed by the employees in the organization. While those steps might be vital to the fulfillment of the customer’s order, they are not recognized as value adding tasks. So when these steps are optimized, the employees would reduce the time they spend on these activities and spend more time on more important tasks. This in turn would leas to an increase in the customer’s satisfaction and build brand loyalty. An example of some non value adding task in a business process are customer account reconciliations.
- Improved employee satisfaction: Improving and automating business processes can also help improve employee satisfaction. With business process optimization, the employees would be free to spend more time in activities that bring more value to the business and eliminate boring, repetitive tasks.
Some examples of BPMS applications include Microsoft Power Automate, Process Maker and K2.