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Bob Carter will regularly respond to any comments posted below.

You've probably heard of Six Sigma, but have you heard about how it relates to business process management? ebizQ's Gian Trotta recently spoke with Bob Carter, a senior consultant with the Raytheon Company, about this very issue. Carter will be making a presentation on the subject at the IOPC's Upcoming Seventh Annual Business Process Conference.

"I think by achieving the right what/why/how balance, organizations can focus their new business investments on the right projects and innovations," he said. "Lean Six Sigma is a powerful methodology to enable this balance, especially in innovation where success depends not only on finding the critical idea but in turning it into reality."

Lean Six Sigma's Role in Business Process Management

According to Carter, many Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma tools can help to manage ideas that might make a difference and then reduce time to market once the critical few are identified. If Lean Six Sigma is a bridge between the current and desired future state, he said, innovation is the same thing.

"The only main difference between the two is that Lean Six Sigma solves problems and innovation helps to introduce something new, it develops the opportunity," he said.

One example of the how this works is in what Carter called the "channel strategy" to turn early, quality information into important business ideas. Channel strategy channels the idea into the part of the organization that can act on that idea. Carter plans to discuss this concept in the upcoming conference.

Human or Process Oriented BPM

Both human and process-oriented BPM is important, said Carter.

"You might know what to do, you might even know how to do it, but if for some reason, you don’t really understand the reasons why and if you haven’t made the emotional connection with the people that you’re helping, then it’s unlikely really that you’ll be addressing the right issues for them," he explained.

And all BPM is really all about the team anyway, Carter continued, and finding a way to harness the creative power of a mixture of right and left brain oriented thinkers.

Future of BPM and BI

BPM will need to address the strategic needs of a business or organization, said Carter, and leaders need to be prepared to think and act with strategy and tact, addressing both top and bottom line growth with focus on customer success in both a macro and a micro viewpoint.

"I believe that BPM has got a great role to play, innovations got a great role to play and through customer success our organizations will become more successful," he said.

Executive Summary by Krissi Danielsson

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