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Business process management (BPM) has been a "hot topic" in many
executive suites for a decade or more. At a conceptual level, BPM is a systematic
cycle of analyzing, streamlining, integrating and automating a set of coordinated
activities that will lead to realizing one or more organizational goals.
Successful BPM projects have been proven to:
- Accelerate time to market for new products and services
- Improve the customer experience to win new clients and reduce churn
- Reduce costs through improved efficiencies
- Prevent or eliminate human and process errors, thereby maximizing quality
- Maximize asset utilization (people and equipment) by optimizing process
throughput
- Improve compliance with myriad laws, regulations, and internal controls
Recently, however, a Gartner analyst wrote:
"[We predict] more than 50 percent of BPM programs will fail by 2011.
[... Many organizations are undertaking BPM projects without having established
needed 'guide rails' such as process hierarchy, modeling standards and a process
improvement methodology -- all areas that would be governed by a BPCC. […]
Organizations that fail to establish a BPCC will find their efforts stagnating
at the project level and delivering meager results. […Companies should]
utilize the BPCC as a resource to grow the BPM discipline and leverage tools,
methodologies and best practices across functional silos."
With such promise and potential, how does an organization maximize its probability
of success and minimize its risk? With odds not much better than a coin toss
is it a risk worth taking? What factors can an organization control to improve
its chances and realize the benefits BPM has to offer?
Here are 5 actionable suggestions to help reduce risks and increase your chances
of success:
1. Ensure Program Management
The program or project management role is the owner of scope, expectations,
change management, ensuring alignment of the project to strategic goals, and
reconciling priorities and managing to them. Project management involves applying
governance, knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to deliver an acceptable
system at optimal cost within a specified timeframe.
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