Process Glue - Explaining the Benefits of a BPMS

With so many different software products available today it's often a hard ask to fully explain the benefits of a particular piece of software. But this is where a BPMS (business process management system) is truely unique.

Whilst many pieces of software try to package themselves up to service a particular need - an ERP for example fitting the bill for many support processes - a BPMS succeeds because it doesn't wedge itself into a box. BPMS tools focus on having the fluidity to design processes the way the business needs them without compromise. But more than that they are built to expect that change will happen, and as a result are designed to have flexible and adaptive business rules that can be altered faster than regular "off the shelf" systems.

Another strenth of BPMS is their ability to interface and pass data to and from disparate systems. It's often hideously expensive to replace legacy systems - so why do so when you can wrap a BPMS around the system as an integration layer? It adds the functionality, without the pain.

I like to think of a BPMS as process glue. Organisations will always have manual processes and disparate systems. These are the areas where work slips through the cracks, where time is lost, where customers are forgotten. A BPMS helps glue the process together. It provides process visibility, it stops the errors, it speeds the process up, it kills manual work, it provides meaningful data, it gives the customers what they need...(if the process is optimised first!)

In my experience the best approach is to optimise the process then implement a BPMS. Benefits can be staggering if you do it properly - not just in efficiency savings, but in aligning the process with the customer need...

Look forward to the vision you need to make real - find all the pieces, remove what you don't need, arrange them in order and glue the process together!

Cheers,

TPN

P.S. Please share your experiences of implementing a BPMS to improve your organisation's processes...

Reprinted with permission, source.