Business Process Management Software (BPMS) solves many business process-related issues by simplifying and streamlining the management and execution of business processes. Much of this is done through automation, often referred to as business process automation (BPA), which speeds up processes by allowing the software to take on some of the work for you.
Before BPMS, most processed-based issues were resolved through numerous meetings, whiteboards, and stacks of paper. While many organizations use methods involving these mediums today, these methods present limitations in how much they can improve your processes and help you to attain optimal efficiency.
If the barriers between you and achieving operational excellence are process-based, BPMS may be the solution you’ve been looking for. To help give you a better idea if BPMS is right for your business, here are just 6 problems BPMS can help you to solve.
1. Inconsistent execution of business processes
Perhaps your organization has several great processes in place, but even good processes don’t mean much if they aren’t consistently employed by all members of the organization. In an article on Inc, Eric Holtzclaw discusses how consistent processes allow an organization to measure their effectiveness and create accountability. Without consistency, however, it can be difficult for an organization to identify how and where to improve.
Thankfully, consistency can easily be resolved by adopting BPMS. Within your BPMS, your organization can establish company-wide processes to employee-specific processes. This provides a clear guideline for what your staff should working on each day. Additionally, it allows your organization to better track and assess how well those processes are being adhered to.
2. Poor communication around processes
Once your organization’s processes have been clearly established, the next step is to ensure that those processes have been carried out effectively. That being said, if there isn’t a clear line of communication between employees, your team’s performance may lag just as greatly as if those processes hadn’t established in the first place.
Poor communication is expensive—four surveyed corporations in the U.S. and U.K. lost an estimated $37 billion in one year alone due to poor communication practices.
Communication tools can further reinforce the prescribed processes. Through tagging, commenting, messaging, and other communication-related tools, your BPMS can make it possible for employees to better communicate as they follow said processes. This makes it easier to ensure that business operations are in line with the business processes that have been put into place.
3. Poor project management
If your organization is project-based, you likely have a project manager who manages projects based on his interpretation of your organization’s processes. Unfortunately, 80% of project managers are unclear on “how their projects align with their company’s business strategy” (Capterra). The unclear connection between what’s being executed and business strategy can lead to poor project management, increasing your potential for project failure.
As noted previously, your BPMS can help to clearly establish your business’s processes, further bridging the gap between your business strategy and the projects he is overseeing. Along with this, your project manager will be able to gain better insight into where other team members are at in the business process funnel, making it possible to assess where processes, or maybe even the overarching business strategy, could be more effectively executed.
4. The potential for human error
Some process-based issues are simply bound to happen when humans are executing them. For example, when crunching numbers, it’s important that the results are accurate. However, people are known for making mistakes, and those mistakes can result in bad data. The problem with bad data is that it’s expensive, costing U.S. companies an average total of $3 trillion per year (Harvard Business Review).
When humans are the root of a process-based issue, it’s sometimes best to take the human out of the process: Instead, you can allow a BPMS to automate the processes that people were poorly executing, virtually eliminating the potential for human error altogether. In addition to reducing your chances of acquiring bad data, you’ll give your employees more time to do the tasks only humans can do.
5. Inaccurate insights into processes
In addition to our potential for human error, people are also good at drawing inaccurate conclusions. When trying to improve your organization’s processes, this can be particularly problematic, as inaccurate insights can lead you to start making the wrong changes to your business processes. In fact, drawing the wrong conclusions could make things worse.
“Using analytics to measure key performance metrics across areas...can produce calculated insights to solve complex business scenarios.”
—Harshdeep Singh (Medium)
Rather than spending an inordinate amount of time trying to assess how things could be better and what should be done instead, your BPMS can use analytics and reporting tools to provide insights for you. At the click of a button, you can produce a report that offers more accurate insights into your business processes than any human could.
6. Loss in revenue due to ineffective processes
The final, and perhaps most noteworthy, process-based issue many organizations face is loss of revenue due to poor processes. In fact, inefficient processes cost most organizations an average of 20 to 30% in revenue per year (SMB CEO). That’s a lot of money that could easily be regained through more effective processes.
While acquiring a BPMS certainly isn’t free of charge, using a BPMS to improve or supplement your existing processes may be worth the price. It’s up to you to run the numbers and determine your potential ROI. Generally speaking, however, if the cost of the software is less than the amount of money you’re losing from poor processes, it’s a worthwhile investment.
Need your own business process management software?
There are a variety of ways you can get your hands on your very own BPMS. Many off-the-shelf programs are available, such as bpm’online CRM, Bonita BPM, or IBM Blueworks Live. If you’d prefer a system that’s tailor-made to your unique business processes, however, consider hiring a software developer to build a BPMS custom to your business.
For over a decade, ClikFocus has built business software, from CRM to BPM software, for small non-profits up to enterprise-level organizations. Whether you’d like to supplement your existing software or build something new altogether, our team is ready to create business process management software personalized to your needs.
Take another step closer to perfected business processes—drop us a line.
