Speaking to the C-Suite About BPM_130313

7/30/2019 Speaking to the C-Suite About BPM_130313

1/13

Bonitasoft2013 www.bonitasoft.com |1

SPEAKINGTOTHECSUITEABOUTBPM

Speaking to the C-suite

about BPM

Whats at the top of the C-level agenda

and how BPM added value aligns to strategic vision

ByRuthCernesFagebaume

VP

Sales

and

Alliances,

BonitaSoft


2/13



TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 3

1. BPM provides powerful company-wide governance capability .......................................................... 4

2. The company ERP cant cover everything! ........................................................................................ 4

3. BPM helps fill gaps ........................................................................................................................... 5

4. When operational excellence helps your company differentiate ......................................................... 6

5. When agility is a key success factor for development........................................................................ 6

6.

Boosting employee motivation .......................................................................................................... 8

7. If risk management and mitigation is at the top of the CFOs agenda ................................................ 9

8. Do employees collaborate or are they silo-ed? ............................................................................ 10

9. When your business demands flexibility .......................................................................................... 11

10. What if your company doesnt have an ERP? ............................................................................... 11

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 12


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3|www.bonitasoft.com Bonitasoft2013


Introduction

BusinessProcessManagement,orBPM,

canbe

seen

in

different

ways.

BPM

can refer to both a methodology to

improve efficiency through better day

todayprocesses,andalsotoan ITtool

to automate and monitor those

processes

What BPM can achieve

When done right, BPM involves

businessprocess

analysis

(methodology

side)togetherwith the implementation

of business process management

software(toolside).

Inthispaper,thetermBPMreferstoboththemethodologyandtheITtooltoenableaglobal

approach.Thistightinterconnectionisthekeytoanswertothecoreneedsofbusinessactivities.

This is why BPM is known as the game changer it can provide a real competitive advantage.

BPMimplementation

in

acompany

can

be

imposed

from

the

top

down,

from

upper

management,

but itcanalsobeginandgrow locally.BPM isanempoweringtoolforworkers inall levelsofan

organization. Themiddle and lower rungs of an organization gain direct benefit and are often

pushingtheBPMagenda.

Yetwidespreadadoptionneedsthebuyinoftopmanagement.

HowtotalktotheCSuiteaboutBPM?

Byaddressing the issues that theCEO,COO,CMO,CFO,CTO,CIO,andother topmanagersare

concernedwith: theways that BPM can be specifically applied in an organization to improvegovernanceandsustainabilitythroughimprovementofoperationalperformance.Inthispaper,welllookatthefollowingandprovideexamplesofthestrategicvalueofBPM.

Qualityofservice&customersatisfaction Operationalexcellence&productivity Businessagility Employeemotivation&collaboration Riskmanagement

WhatsatthetopoftheClevelagenda?

Governance&sustainability

Qualityofservice&customersatisfaction

Operationalexcellence&productivity

Businessagility

Employeemotivation&collaboration

Risk

management


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1. BPM provides powerful company-wide governance capabilityValue fromBPM implementationcomes fromcontinuouslyplanning,doing,measuring, learning

andimproving.

Its

an

iterative

process,

where

your

company

can

repeat

cycles

as

required.

YoucancompareittothePDCA(PlanDoCheckAct)managementmethodmadepopularbyDr.W.

EdwardsDeming,andwidelyadoptedinmanyindustries,ortheDMAIC(DefineMeasureAnalyze

ImproveControl)cycleintheSixSigmamethodology.

Like these approaches, BPM as amethodology can be applied to any organization or process

withinthecompany,fromthesmallesttothelargest,fromthesimplesttothemostcomplex,from

technicaltobusiness.ThedifferenceisthatBPMcanalsobeapplieddirectlyasanITtool.

The company can imply BPM incrementally to make the entire

organizationlean.

As

process

after

process

improves,

your

company

savescostsandimprovesoperationalperformance,bottomline;but

also top line, with increased quality of service leading to higher

customer satisfaction andmore sales. BPM solutions provide the

means to actually monitor efficiency of all the processes in an

organization, to identify bottlenecks, and to report the

improvements made in efficiency, easily and clearly with actual

measurements.

BPMgives

employees

the

right

tools

to

be

more

efficient.

They

can

focus

on

added

value,

hence

more interesting activities and projects. They feelmore empowered and engaged. Return On

Investmentismaximized,leveragingallthreedimensionsofcost,revenueandmotivation.

2. The company ERP cant cover everything!Today,yourcompanymayhaveanERP(EnterpriseResourcePlanningsystem),aCRM(Customer

Relationship Management system), a CMS (Content Management System), an HRIS (Human

Resources InformationSystem)andothersometimesmanyothersoftwareapplications that

supportits

business.

Some of these are complex software systems that require expertise, time and money to be

deployedandadditionaltimeandmoneytobefinetunedafterfirstrelease.Mostofthem,when

not from the same software vendor, dont even communicate together without a lot of

adjustmentsandmodifications,ifatall.

Large,globallydeployedsystemscanalsoencounterchallengesaddressingspecificorlocalneeds

thatarenotwidelysharedintheindustryorworldwide.Forexample,locallyrelevantinformation

missingfromthecompanyworkflowmayresultinholesthatpeoplehavetofillwithotherlocally

createdorpurchasedsystems,orwithhomemadespreadsheets.

ROIismaximized,

leveraging

3dimensions:

cost,revenue

andmotivation


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While it isnot an issue to haveboth ERP and standalone systems coexisting, getting them to

communicate isoftenchallenging. Implementing yetanothermoduleordeveloping customized

changes in your companys ERP would probably be costly and timeconsuming; standalone

systemsareoftensinglepurposeandmaynotbeeasilyleveragedtosupportothertasks.

Afterafewyears,thecompanyisdependentonmany

differentapplicationsanddatabases.Employeesstart

complaining that the various systems do not

communicate smoothly and they need to complete

more andmoremanual steps and data extracts and

compilation.Yourcompanyendsupwithasystemlike

aRubeGoldbergcontraption!

This is where Business Process Management comes into play

BPM isabusinessmanagementapproach thathelpsyourcompanygainvisibility intohowyour

companytrulyoperatesinthefield.Youcanquicklysee:

whatscoveredbycurrentsystemsliketheERPandCRM, whatisaddressedthroughstandalonesystems,and wheretheholesare.

Thisoverallknowledgeofoperatingprocessesallowstop

managementto

make

shrewd,

prudent

decisions

more

quickly, increasing business efficiency and operational

results.

What ifyoudonthaveanERP?Thisdoesntmean that

BPMisntusefultoyou.SeeSection10,WhatifyoudonthaveanERP?

3. BPM helps fill gapsThrough

BPM,

all

stakeholders

work

together

at

mapping

processes.

Some

tasks

will

be

handled

withinexisting tools like ERP,CRM, and soon. Some tasks canbe automated. Some taskswill

continuetobedonemanuallybecauseyourdifferentiation,where itdependsonunstructured

processes,isalsokeytoimprovingbusinessresults.

Buttheywillallbelinkedandwillstartcommunicatingtogether,enablingendtoendtraceability

andcontinuity. Clevelmanagementkeepscontrolofwhatishappeninginthecompany.

Afterafewyears

youendupwithasystem

likeaRubeGoldberg

contraption!

With

increased

visibility,

managementhas

bettercontrol,and

canmakegooddecisions

morequickly.


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4. When operational excellence helps your company differentiateWhenanorganization isachievingresultsgoodorbadyoucanretracehowthoseresultsare

obtainedby

using

BPM.

You

can

easily

replicate

successful

processes

in

other

organizations

or

subsidiaries.Wherethereareissues,youcanquicklyidentifybottlenecks,understandrootcauses

andapplyfixes.

Thankstothiscontinuousimprovementloop,yourcompanysprocessescanbeoptimizedtobest

serve yourmarkets at any time, leading to great operational efficiency and higher customer

satisfaction.

CMOandCOOteamscanreview,simplifyandstructureprocesses,focusingonvaluedeliveryand

removingeverythingelse.Atthesametime,theycanidentifytheprocessesthatleadtobusiness

differentiationand

increase

customer

knowledge.

Replicating the companys best practices ensures internal

coherence and consistent delivery to the customer,

whenever and wherever it happens. This is the path to

operationalexcellence.

Inaddition,yourcompanybecomesalearningandagileorganization,abletoquicklyadapttothe

changingenvironmentweallliveintoday.

5. When agility is a key success factor for developmentIn our global economy, new competitors are popping up

everywherewithnewbusinessmodels.Thiscanhappenseemingly

overnight, breaking former rules and habits and changing the

paradigm.Toremaincompetitiveandsurvive,yourcompanyneeds

tobeabletoanticipatethesechangesandactbeforecompetitors.

Ifyourprocessesareclear,robustandefficient,yourcompanywill

bebetterpreparedtotackletomorrowsmarketchallenges.

Withits

solid

framework

and

clearly

defined

steps,

owners

and

interactions,

BPM

puts

you

in

an

idealpositiontocatchnewbusinessopportunities.

BPMisthepathto

CustomerValueDelivery

&OperationalExcellence

BPMimprovesyour

SpeedtoMarket.


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Business Example

Imagine your company is the leader in high-end cars.

Yourcompanysvisionistoprovideelegant,safe,highqualitycarstoourcustomersandtoprovideexcellentcustomerassistanceincaseofanyproblem.

Intheeventofabreakdown,customerscallyourhelpline.Youhavemanagementdirective

toactquickly;forexample,tofigureoutthatatowtruckisneededandtogetitouttothecustomerasfastaspossible.

However,despiteconsistentlyfastservice,topmanagementhaslearnedthatcustomersare

notfinding

the

after

sales

service

for

problems

to

be

very

satisfactory

at

all.

This

is

now

drivingdownsales.Ashiftinvisionisneeded.

Thecompanysnewvisionistomakethecustomerslifeeasierwhiletakingcareoftheircarifsomethinghappens.Younowhave

toalignthehelplinecallcentersprocessestomatchthenew

strategicvisionforyourcompany.

Youproposetoshiftfocustomakinghelplinecallsthebestinteractionpossiblewithyour

brand,whatevertheduration.Beforesendingassistance,theservicerepcanfindoutmore

aboutthe

specific

situation,

which

better

pinpoint

abetter

solution

than

an

automatic

call

toamechanicperhapstherepcanexplainsomeactionthatthecustomercantaketoget

drivingagain,withouttheneedtowaitforatow.

Therepcanempathizewithstrandedcustomersplight,givethemrealtimestatusonwhat

helpiscomingandwhenitwillarrive,andofferadditionalservicesandperhapsagiftto

compensatefortheunpleasantexperience.

How easy will it be to implement these changes?

Mappinginter

related

processes

internally

with

sales,

after

sales,

the

call

center,

and

with

externalpartnerssuchastowservicesandmechanicsallowsyoutocollaborativelydesign

aprocessthatthecompanycanexecutequickly.Forexample,afterthetowservicehas

electronicallyacceptedtheservicecall,theycanalsoconfirmthedispatchandarrivalofthe

towtruck.BPMwillallowyoutoimplementtheprocesseswithallinvolvedstakeholders,to

collectdatafromtrackingeachcustomereventandsuppliercommitment,andtoreport

results.Allthiscanbedoneinincrementalsteps,toaidadoptionbybuildingonsuccess.

Changeismadeeasier.

BPM provides a good way to make the companys vision clear and understood. It makes strategicdecisions meaningful and concrete to employees and partners who then feel involved and

committed.

BPMis

achangeenabler


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6. Boosting employee motivationStudy after study

1 around the world has shown that motivation has a positive influence on

financialresults.

However,

companies

encounter

more

and

more

difficulties

to

maintain

ahigh

levelofemployeeengagement,atatimetheymostneedtodrivestrongperformance inamore

andmorevolatile,complexandglobalenvironment.

When engagement starts to decline, company

performanceandcustomersatisfaction inevitablydrop.

Most of the time, things are going wrong inside the

organization.Peoplemaybelessconfidentbecausethey

dontperceiveenough interest coming from above;or

they

may

think

management

does

not

provide

them

with the right support and structure, clear roles and

responsibilities, processes and tools. At first, people

tend to compensate for the organizations lack, but beyond a certain level, they oftenjust

disengage.When theydont feel theircompany (ordepartment) is thebestplace towork, they

startlookingaroundforotherjobopportunities

BPM is a motivation enabler

BPMaddressesorganizationalgaps,makingoperatingprocessesclear,simplerandautomated.It

makeswork

easier

and

saves

time,

for

employees

and

for

their

line

of

management.

And

with

moreefficientprocessesandhighercustomersatisfaction,managerswillhavefewerproblemsto

dealwith.

Time freed up from meaningless tasks performed in an

informationvacuumcanbeusedwiselytocreatetheenergizing

and caring environment employees expect from their

management.

WithBPM,peopleknowclearlywhatsexpected from themandunderstandhowwhat theydo

impactscompany

goals

and

performance.

It

gives

their

job

more

meaning,

while

also

helping

them

tomanagetheirtimeandtheirdailytasks.

1

Towers

Watson

2012

Global

Workforce

Study;

Motivation:TheNotSoSecretIngredientofHighPerformance

MotivationIsAllAbouttheManagers...Duh!

Whenengagement

startstodecline,

companyperformanceand

customersatisfaction

inevitablydrop.

BPMtranslates

yourvision

intoconcreteactions


9/13



Employees:

canservecustomersmoreefficientlywith lessstressandmoreownership,thankstoclearprocesses,

computer

aided

task

management

and

reminders,

havetimefreeduptodoproductiveactivitiessuchasleadingaprojectortaskforce,addingvalueandinteractingmorewiththeircoworkersandmanagers,and

havebettervisibilityonwhatothersaredoinginthecompany,improvingcollaboration.Managers:

understandand show interest inwhat theiremployeesaredoing,providemoreaccuratejobdescriptionsandfactbasedperformanceevaluationmetrics,

canbalanceworkloadintheirteam,and savetimethattheycanreallocatetospendmoretimewiththeiremployeesandmaketheircompanyabetterplacetowork.

7. If risk management, risk mitigation, and tracking/auditis at the top of the CFOs agenda

Depending on your industry, your companymay be subject to

more andmore complex regulations.Bybonding systemsmore

tightlytogether,BPMformalizesprocesses,allofthem,eventhe

onesbetween

two

existing

systems.

It

ensures

complete

traceability, hence better compliance with your industrys

standardsandregulations.

Butriskisnotonlyaboutlegalcompliance.Ifyourcompanysprocessesareclear,wellestablished,

automated and securedwith electronic signature for approval, it considerably reduces the risk

thatanyemployeemightnotfollowcorrectprocedure,orforgetstepslikeaskingforanapproval.

Companieshavegottenintotroublebecausetheyfailedtomonitorandcontroltheiractivitiesand

processes:materialsorderedwithoutproper authorization that are contractuallyobligated and

cantbereturned;accountspayablesurprisedbytheamountandnumberofpurchasesaffecting

cashflow,andothersuchfamiliarsituations.

Weallremember theDeepwaterHorizondisasterandoilspillon

theGulfCoast

Companieshavegoneunderbecauseofqualityandliabilityissues.

Others have been working very hard for years to rebuild their

brand after a bad experience, especially on the social or

environmentalside.

Reputationhasan

impactonsales.

BPMhelpsguard

againstmisconduct.

BPMis

insurancethat

yourecompliant.


10/13



Thecompanyisalsobetterprotectedagainstfraud,corruptionorethicsviolations.Whateveryone

does is recorded andelectronically signedwhen needed,making itmore difficult for someone

withbadintentionstobypassvalidationsandcontrols.

Another point to consider: when describing, formalizing and

automatingprocesses,thecompanyalsoultimatelydependsless

onindividualknowledge.

Ifkeyemployeeshappentoleave,generalexpertisestaysinthe

companyandyoudontneed to recreatewhat theyknew that

wasntcaptured.Newhirescanbuildonpastexperienceandmaketheircontributionfromthere.

Thissavestime,preservescorecompetenciesandenablesnewexpertiseacquisition.

8. Do employees collaborate or are they silo-ed?Maybeteamsusedtocollaboratewell,butafterseveralyearsofgrowthorchanges, it looks like

theircollaborationhasbeenreducedtothebareminimum.People

are working in silos, not seeing the big picture any more,

generatingduplication,rework,orbottlenecks.

Does IT need to be closer to your business challenges?

When

it

comes

to

IT,

the

gap

may

be

even

bigger,

with

misunderstanding

between

IT

and

business

functions.BusinessdevelopsrequirementsandhandsthemovertoIT,whothenbuysordevelops

anapplicationthatseemstofit.Whenitisreleasedandbusinessteamsstartusingit,theyreport

issuesnobodytalkedaboutbefore.ThusbeginsapingpongmatchbetweenbusinessandIT.

ThewayBPMsoftwarehasbeendesignedinvitesandreinforcesdirectcollaboration:businessand

ITteamsworkonthesametools,innearlyrealtime,withgraphicaltoolsthatmakeitmucheasier

for them to talk the same language and avoidmisunderstanding or

omissions.Feedbackisincorporatedastheygoalongtogether.

More feedback may arise at a later stage, once a specific case is

encountered.BPMsystemsare flexibleenough to letyou implement

changesafterwardswithoutmobilizingafullITprojectteam.

OntheITside,thereisacommonarchitectureforallthecompanysspecificapplications,instead

of many independent standalone systems. This homogeneity makes it possible to leverage

successful processes and applications consistently and across the entire organization, including

subsidiaries,locallyorabroad.

Relyingtoomuchon

peopledependent

processes

isarisktoo!

Collaborationleads

toefficiency

BPMbrings

homogeneity

andscalability


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9. When your business demands flexibilityBPMallowstopmanagementtoimplementchangequicklyandsmoothly.

RadicalchangesandbigITprojectstaketimeandalwayscarrysomerisks.WithBPM,youcanstart

from currentprocesses, improve, implementandautomate

toachievefirstoutcomes.Thisallowsaquickwin,evenwhile

preparing thenextsteps.You see resultsearlyandvalidate

thatthingsaregoingintherightdirection.

You can then iterate as much as needed. Those multiple

iterationsarenotdisruptiveasBPMsoftware ishighly flexibleand

candeliverfastandfrequentchanges.

10.What if your company doesnt have an ERP?Depending on many criteria, among them size, complexity or

volume, your companymay not need to invest in such a large and expensive system.Not all

businessesneedasophisticatedERP,especially ifthecompany issmallanddoesntmanufacture

products.

Butthisdoesntmeanyoudonthavetoformalizeandstructure

thewayyouoperateanddelivertoyourcustomers.

Yourcompanyjustneedsamoresimple,yetexpandable,tool.A

BPM suitecanbe that tool.You firstdescribeand refine your

processeswithallstakeholderscollaborating.Then,youdefinewhatneedsautomation,validation

andtracking.Thisappliestomanyprocesses,suchas:

Quotation to a customer that need to be validated by technical staff for feasibility andmanagementforpricing.Itmayalsoinvolveseveralversionsbeforereachinganagreement

andtheseversionsneedtobetrackedandarchived

Employeesvacation,withmanagementvalidation,systemrecordingandlinkedtopayroll Invoicingautomation,validation,recordingandarchive

WithouthavingtoinvestinanexpensiveandheavyERP,yourcompanystillgetswhatsneededto

structureandmonitorthebusiness:

Operationalperformanceandcostreduction Qualityofserviceandcustomersatisfaction Visibility,Controlandreporting AgilityandAdaptability Teamandindividualproductivity TraceabilityandCompliance

Radicalchangesandbig

ITprojectstaketimeand

alwayscarrysomerisks

Incremental

implementation

islowrisk

Ourcompany

justneedsasimple,

yetexpandable,

tool.


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Conclusion

BPM improves the companys overall efficiency today, so executive management can focus onthe future.

Asweveseen,BPMcanhaveapositive impactonmanyaspectofacompany,fromgovernance

and sustainability to motivation and change management, to agility and collaboration, to

complianceandriskmanagement.

AlltheseaspectshaveaninfluenceonbusinessperformanceandcontributeincreasingReturnon

Investment. Its notjust about cost savings.With BPM theentirecompanygetsmuchmore.It

gets

happy

employees,

happy

customers,

and

awell

oiled

operationalmachine, optimized for the best outcomes, not

the lowest costs. This is a positive feedback loop where

satisfaction leads to more success, which leads to more

profits that can fuel company expansion and stakeholders

satisfaction,andsoon.

Isthissomethingthatcanbequantified?Definitely.

ClassicROIcalculationbuildsupon:

efficiencymodelsmeasuringcostsavings,lostproductivity,reworkandduplication,and statisticalandprobabilisticmodelforriskevaluation.

Thegoodnews is theresa verygood chance yourcompanywillgetahigher return than your

calculationswillanticipate.Andyouwillbeabletoshowthiswithprocessmeasurements.

When done properly, with all stakeholders involvement and empowerment, and strong

managementsupport,aBPMprojectwhethercompanywideoratdepartmentlevelwillhelp

peopleunderstandbusinessgoalsandstrategiesandmobilizeenergiestowardsacommonproject

serving common purposes. Engagement and motivation will naturally get boosted, and by

rebound,

customer

satisfaction

will

increase.

This is thehuman factoreffect.Peopleengagementandmotivationarecomplexanddifficult to

link directly to a saving or performance increase, as arewordofmouth and referrals among

customers.

Butweallknowitworksandcanproducerealresults.

Once the companys processes are structured, optimized

and automated,management can focusmore on defining

andimplementingstrategyandlessonlogistics.Teamshave

timeto

get

customer

insights,

and

to

anticipate

and

get

ready

for

the

next

challenges.

TheCsuiteandtheBoardofDirectorsarebetterpreparedtoworkontheirvisionofthefuture.

Theresaverygood

chanceyour

company

willgetahigherROI

thanyourcalculations

willanticipate.

Executivescanfocus

moreonstrategy

andlessonlogistics


13/13



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Speaking to the C-Suite About BPM_130313