Process challenges can be extremely difficult to deal with. Organizations often use a combination of tools, including business process management (BPM) software and enterprise content management (ECM) solutions to resolve process-relatedissues. The end result is a situation in which processes are clearly defined, automated when possible and aligned with technology in a structured, efficient way.
These technologies can contribute to incredible revenue and productivity results. As business needs have changed, the way these technologies need to be deployed has also shifted. Case management has emerged as a key component of BPM and ECM strategies. These technological solutions and strategic initiatives have intertwined, leaving many companies in a position in which they can leverage BPM, case management and ECM to breed major gains.
Understanding the role of case management within BPM plans
The move toward case management as a component of a BPM strategy began in earnest as early as 2009. According to a Forrester Research whitepaper that was published that year, case management began to gain steam as a key solution in 2009 because businesses were facing new social collaboration and productivity challenges. These issues quickly converged into an environment in which companies had to deal with many unstructured processes that could not be easily governed using traditional management paradigms. Instead, unifying BPM, ECM and case management was becoming necessary, giving the case management sector, which had receded to the periphery of the enterprise world, new steam.
If the situation of unstructured business processes creating operational challenges sounds familiar, that may be because the whitepaper, though written in 2009, is talking about issues that are still impacting plenty of businesses today. The rise of cloud computing, social media, big data and mobile computing have eliminated many of the traditional structured business processes from relevance and forced companies to rethink their business process strategies. Contemporary BPM solutions that take case management principles into account can prove ideal in this situation.
Using innovative BPM platforms to maximize process efficiency
Introducing case management into the BPM sphere positions organizations to handle process management tasks in a more dynamic way. This is especially evident in cloud, enterprise social and mobile BPM solutions, all of which are capable of offering extremely flexible and adaptable BPM functionality. The convergence of BPM, case management and ECM may have begun a few years ago, but it is truly emerging now as companies require dynamic process management capabilities.
Ben Farrell
Director of Corporate Communications
