Business Process Management

“I often talk about how the process is more important than the result, the result is just a by-product of the process. But in today’s world, we are so focussed on the by-product that we get away from the process. So, take care of the process, all the small things and you eventually you will get the desired result.” MS Dhoni

A Process is a series of actions/steps you do for a particular purpose. A Business Process is a collection of linked tasks that find their end in a delivery of a product or a service to the customer/client. There are 3 broad types of Business Processes:

1. Core Processes – Also called as Primary processes that play a direct role in producing business output (product or service) to the customers/clients.

2. Support Processes – They support the core processes by facilitating smooth flow in the business

3. Management Processes – Monitor and control the activities of the business

An ideal Business Process has the following attributes:

1. Finite – Every process has a clear start, end and a definite number of steps

2. Repeatable

3. Flexible – When a particular step is not required or suitable due to some change the process will change

Business Process Management (PBM) is a systematic approach to manage and improve the processes within the organisation. It has 4 broad steps:

1. Analyse

2. Design

3. Implement

4. Monitor

The objective of BPM is to create a culture of continuous improvement where the processes are regularly reviewed and refined to meet the changing needs of the business and customer expectations.

Effective implementation of BPM allows the organisation to:

1. Eliminate or limit the human error

2. No Short cuts

3. Role clarity where everyone knows the tasks to be performed

4. Accountability & Transparency

5. Track performance of employees

While the businesses focus on the results, having an effective BPM ensures an organisation has a well defined processes that takes care of the results.