One of the best options is to pay attention to business process management (BPM) systems. As its name implies, the BPM system is a tool your business definitely needs. Besides, according to Orbis Research, BPM global market stood at $6.96 billion in 2016, while by 2021 it is expected to reach $14,89 billion. It shows that various companies actively integrate BPM solutions to boost their business. However, first things first.
What is the BPM system and how does it work?
BPM systems represent the class of corporate information systems that make it possible to automate a company’s management process as well as business efficiency. BPM systems monitor, search for inconsistencies and opportunities to improve business processes. Using a BPM system, the IT department of your company may model existing business processes and put in place new ones.
A business process management system allows a company to be agile and adapt to changes in a business environment. Therefore all big players in different markets started integrating BPMs. This system helps create graphic schemes, analyze a situation and refine/optimize the activity of an enterprise.
How BPM Works
A BPM system is a software used for process management of any company. A business process is any process that takes place in an enterprise to achieve a specific goal. For instance, it can be a customer service process, starting from application receipt to product delivery or any other service.
Usually, each business process is cross-cutting, it engages a few departments of a company. For example, a manager receives a call, a technical specialist may consult on a product, then a product is taken from the warehouse (or manufactured from scratch), the logistics department sends it to the customer, and the accounting department receives a payment.
The process may be different and depends on a company and its field of activity. But the point is clear. A quick and productive work of a company depends on how competently the logic of business processes is built. A BPM system helps make all business process transparent, eliminate delays and ensure optimal control.
Benefits Of BPM System To Make Use Of
When you strive to understand how to optimize business processes, you should have clear facts that will spell everything out for you. That is why you have to spend some time to figure out all the benefits of BPMs in detail to use them in your business successfully.
Costs Reduction
First, a BPM system helps map each business process. You can see in detail how much time each process takes, the necessary resources to perform this process, and the costs required. Once this process is complete, you can easily identify at what stage more costs are spent. BPM helps you reduce costs when it is applicable, or even remove some processes that are not worth investments.
Response To Customer Demands
Customer needs cannot be ignored, otherwise, you lose your business. It is an essential truth. And BPM helps you not only retain customers but also quickly respond to their needs. A BPM tool makes it possible to model new ideas and offers for a hypothetical customer, and see their potential impact. So you can test any customer-centric innovations to choose the most profitable one.
Keeping Up With Up-To-Date Business Models
Using a BPM system, you can analyze your business and optimize business performance keeping up with modern business models. It will help you stand out among your competitors. A BPM software helps identify weak sides of your business, and you may take early action to fix it. Thus, you will know what processes you should focus on to get a higher outcome.
Increased Performance
The world market is big, and it is unlikely that your business is a monopolist. So it is important to do your best to stay competitive and meet all business demands. Objective analysis, conducted with the help of a BPM system, allows you to optimize the working conditions of your employees, and let them contribute to their maximum potential with a lower workload.
Customer Retention
Gaining a customer is only half the battle. You need also to retain them and it may be even more complicated. Your main goal is to provide customers with a proper quality of service. BPM will be your assistant in distinguishing valuable processes that have an impact on customers’ interests. Simply put, customers get exactly what they want.
Earn With Your Custom BPM
Building a custom BPM system for your business means you can also benefit from it. How? Commercialize your system and sell it to other companies. Your BPM may turn into SaaS (or on-premise) system that you may offer other companies and pay off the development process. However, remember to perform thorough testing to make sure everything runs like a clockwork.
This article may be interesting for you: How to Build a SaaS Product
Legal Compliance
Of course, when you own a business, you must make sure that everything is legal-compliant. It is required for all business processes to be transparent. And the goal of a BPM system is to help you comply with all government standards during working processes. Besides, security compliance also matters, and BPM enables to follow security standards properly as well.
MVP Features Of BPM Software
Available off-the-shelf BPM systems may provide you with basic features required for a productive workflow. But ready-made software often lacks some additional features your business type requires. Therefore, you should think about custom BPM system development that contains well-thought-out UX to meet all your preferences.
To make it real, hire a dedicated development team. It will help you build a custom product including all specific features and UI elements. But now let’s review MVP features that your BPM tool should include undoubtedly.
Drag and drop form builder. It is a helpful feature that allows you to move columns and fields according to your needs, and customize the product;
Data management and analysis. BPM should make it possible to capture data, manage it easily, and analyze it. The software simplifies these processes, and make them faster;
PM integration. The project management feature allows users to manage their projects, share files with colleagues, and work on each separate project efficiently;
Social collaboration. It means not social media activity but collaboration with colleagues in one environment. Employees may interact on project tasks, share files and documents, add comments, create discussions, etc.;
KPI measurement. Any company needs to measure key performance indicators of its employees and business itself. A BPM tool should have a feature to monitor the performance and see detailed data spelled out.
Reporting. Another must-have feature is reporting. The generation of reports helps you get project reports, performance reports, etc. Everything depends on your specific requirements.
User profile. Each user should have its profile to deal with daily tasks methodically. That is why your custom BPM software should have a clear and easy-to-understand UX and UI to let employees work efficiently.
These features are enough to work in a BPM system, however, it may be not enough for your business. Also, mind that having only a BPM desktop version is a bad solution if you want to make a system that functions well on mobile devices as well. It can be either a responsive design or even a separate native app.
5 Mythical Challenges Of BPM And Their Debunking
Certain myths are surrounding BPM systems, and we want to debunk them to show you that BPM integration into your business is a smooth process.
It is difficult to work in the BPM system
Working in BPM is almost as easy as surfing a Facebook app. The objective of the BPM tool is to improve and optimize your business, not the other way around. The BPM software is structured, it has tabs and sections, and each feature can be found quickly. Moreover, if you want to build your BPM tool from scratch, it will be created considering your expectations and plans.
BPM system is for large enterprises only
Well, large companies have more business processes, and they have to improve service quality permanently. However, a BPM system is what small and mid-sized businesses should use to grow and prosper. So it doesn’t matter how big a company is, BPM plays a critical role in a company’s promotion. Just never forget that a BPM system is not a magic wand, and you need to use it wisely.
BPM requires the engagement of experts
This myth is similar to the first one above. You need experts by your side that will explain to you how a BPM system and all its features work. It is a misconception. All integrated tools are clear, but if you have any questions – all BPM solutions have how-to manuals to let you figure out how one or the other feature works.
BPM means a total “redesign” of your business
Some entrepreneurs think that a BPM system will require them to change their business drastically and rebuild everything. But in fact, you will change only specific business processes that are to be changed to improve business and gain profit. Besides, BPM doesn’t require you to stop doing business while using BPM — the management process is smooth and it is performed gradually.
Competent staff is better than a BPM system
Nobody argues that skilled specialists are valuable. BPM will not help you solve all business problems in case you don’t have experienced staff. But employees cannot help if the direction of development is set out incorrectly. A BPM system helps optimize business solutions and move the right way. And staff will use these tips to take your business to a new level.
We hope the article was interesting and useful for you. If you are a business novice and have plans to create a digital business, then this detailed guide will help you make the first steps. And properly developed custom BPM software will be a tool to let your business grow.
