How a business responds to shifting market conditions often dictates its short- and long-term success. When the economy, consumer demands or industry supply chains shift, organizations have to be ready to adjust their processes to meet new requirements. In an economy that is slowly recovering, but driven by technological innovation, many markets are changing fast. Business process management software is an essential tool providing companies with the flexibility and adaptability they need to frequently adjust their operations to meet market conditions.
Considering what goes into process changes in traditional organizations
Adjusting business processes in a traditional enterprise climate requires a combination of statistical analysis, executive decision making, IT alterations, employee training and operational changes. It also may require the purchase of new software and hardware. In some cases, organizations also have to hire new employees to support the change in how things get done.
In such a traditional corporate setting, changing processes can take months. In the current economic climate, the conditions that were being responded to through process innovation could have shifted by the time new processes are put into action. As a result, organizations have to find a way to more quickly and intuitively change processes without having to perform major manual IT overhauls, or overwhelm employees with excess data and application-related tasks.
Thinking about process change in companies using BPM software
Shifting processes starts out the same when organizations are using BPM solutions. Executives gather with some team members from different departmentstoanalyze data, consider current operations and make key decisions on how to improve processes and workflows. Once that is accomplished, employees are educated on the new expectations,and IT adjusts the process automation functionality to reflect the new operational climate. This creates an environment in which the software enables the IT systems to share data in a social way,and workers only have to deal with the applications and information they need to get the job done. As a result, the transition to new processes is much more intuitive,because automation handles all of the messy migration tasks and workers are left able to focus on their day-to-day activities.
With such a powerful software system in use, it can be tempting for organizations to simply automate almost every process. While process automation is integral to finding success with BPM, organizations have to consider the value of the intangible human factor as well. BPM platforms provide companies with an easy enough path to process innovation that they can take the time to balance automation with human interaction.
Malcolm Ross
Vice President of Product Marketing
