Are your processes helping or hindering your business?

Processes are naturally created in every business, however, when not designed, executed and reviewed with intentionality, these processes can be detrimental to the overall health and growth of any business. Therefore, it is critically important for business owners and key decision makers to be aware of the processes involved in their organization and to ensure they are working optimally.

Business Process Management (BPM) is the creation and management of effective and efficient processes implemented to promote transparency and optimize workflow for the benefit of the company. 

While there are many benefits of BPM, we have broken them up into 3 categories: productivity, organizational collaboration and communication, and financial impact. 

Please note that these lists are not exhaustive, but rather capture several critical areas that business owners should be aware of when considering BPM. 

1: The Impact of BPM on Productivity

When processes are outdated and unclear, it impacts the productivity of employees that are involved in that process. Business Process Management ensures that the processes in place allow employees to work efficiently to increase productivity.

Some examples of how BPM can improve productivity are:

• Reduced time training new people on processes
• Improved training of new and current staff
• Reduced backlog
  E.g. if an employee is responsible for a portion of a process and they are away, a clearly documented process allows for another team member to fill in and keep things moving
• Clarity on processes (i.e. what am I doing and why?)

2: BPM and Organizational Collaboration and Communication

As a business grows, it’s easy for employees or departments to become siloed. BPM encourages collaboration in and between departments to ensure the whole company is working together towards a common goal.

Some examples of organizational collaboration and communication are:

• Elimination of duplicate work
• Reduced unnecessary siloed work
• Viewing a process as a whole and understanding what’s happening before and after in a process

3. The Financial Impact of BPM

Whenever a process is not working efficiently or effectively, there is bound to be a negative financial impact on a business. Therefore, it is important to be reviewing processes regularly to ensure that the processes in place are working for you, not against you.

While the lists mentioned above have a financial impact, proper BPM implementation can also help improve financials through:

• Elimination of time-based redundancies
• Reduced error rate
• Improved retention of customers 

Proper implementation of Business Project Management has the ability to improve financial health, workplace efficiency and employee satisfaction, departmental collaboration and communication, and customer satisfaction and retention. With an impact on every facet of a business, it is important that Business Process Management is given the proper attention to help a company thrive.