What's the Single Greatest Benefit of BPM?

I found it interesting that the survey above listed process automation as the single greatest benefit of using a BPMS. I agree that process automation is critical, but it is the means by which other benefits are achieved, rather than a benefit in its own right. The second thing on the list includes a couple of the most important benefits: “ability to visualize and trouble shoot business processes�. Simulation was also on that line, but I wouldn’t put that in the same value category as the other two.

If I were allowed to list a second benefit of process automation, it would be the ability to automate some of the activities of the business process. An automated activity is different from an automated process, since it is possible for an automated process to include only human activities (which allows the people to do their work without having to decide who should do what next). Progressively moving more and more activities from being manual to being automated is where operational efficiency can be dramatically improved. Having automated processes makes it possible – and frequently even easy – to automate activities. Instead of having a human activity that directs someone to use the UI of an application to accomplish some task, the automated activity can just do the work through the application’s API.

One (master) description of process for many needs
- Model in solution design (communication between IT and business, formal validation)
- Input for project planning and execution (ready to generate the WBS)
- Executable program for coordination of work (what you model is what you execute)
- Documentation for all staff members
- Basis for management decisions (simulation model)

Thanks,
AS

The biggest benefit to me is the simplistic view: that BPM represents the process that actually gets executed, in a visual model that the business can actually understand.

The "dirty little secret" of integration heretofore was that while we made neat little whiteboard sketches or UML diagrams, the business process itself would be implemented and coded behind the scenes by technicians in a way that probably didn't resemble the process at all.

The inability of business stakeholders to be involved in real process design - because it used to be an exclusively technical endeavor - is exactly what created disconnects between requirements and delivery. So in my opinion, the visual model of an executable business process itself is the most important benefit of BPM.

The single greatest benefit of BPM is profitable growth. At the end of the day, everything we do in creating a product or service designed to fulfill a need for our end-user, and maintaining a positive customer experience is critical. If a company's internal processes are running smoothly that means deadlines are being met and deliverables can meet or even exceed expectations. Ultimately, BPM helps better serve customers, and therefore leads to business growth.

I'd love to know the profile of people questioned in the survey. My guess is that the respondents were not the business sponsors of a BPM project.

For my clients, the biggest benefit from BPM they have in common is the opportunity to make changes to the business. A BPM project gives people an impetus to find new ways to work better, and BPM tools and methodologies just facilitate those thought processes to become reality.

If there was only one benefit of BPM, it is how effectively it has allowed business focus percolate into application design and development, and that too in a way that can actually influence how business itself is conducted and managed.

While I understand how many of the survey respondents voted automation of processes as their single greatest benefit, I think as they mature in their experience with BPM that will change. From my perspective the greatest benefit of BPM is the ability to manage and monitor performance, which truly supports continuous improvement.

Shared Mental Model

Before you get to automating processes, BPM forces you to model them. Working across silos in the business to get an end-to-end visualization of a business process is often the first time a business is forced into a common understanding of their operations.

From this common understanding comes benefits like better business-tech alignment, process standardization, better operational metrics, a culture of continuous improvement and, of course, automation of routine tasks.

Automation is often the end of this journey and the last benefit captured. Many business benefit from BPM without ever getting to automation.

BPM single greatest benefitwill be differnet for different business area, and with time it changes too. We all know BPM concept is from mass-production industry, and the objective is to scale up the prodcutivity with "ordinary works". for this business area and objective, the single greate benefit is the effciency and productivity, then gradually changed (with time) to cost reduction.

Now BPM has been applying to a lot of business areas, and more and more kbnowledge works have been involved under this flag. They are more empowered, doing innovative exploration, and leading or driving business transformations. What's the single greatest benefit to use BPM in this context? I think it should be enable business tranformation and foster innovation (knowledge sharing and collaboration). If we apply it right, these two benefits combined (business tranformation and innovation) can far overweigh cost reduction as BPM's ultimate benefit.