An increasing number of companies rely on business process management (BPM) to help them stay competitive. BPM is designed to map out processes in order to streamline them, increasing both efficiency and productivity. Here are four common business pain points that can be fixed with BPM implementation:
No. 1 — Reducing Labor and Operational Costs
The mapping process that takes place when you are implementing a BPM solution helps you identify areas where costs can be reduced and repetitive tasks eliminated, which ends up saving your company money. Your team members also will be spending fewer hours on jobs that can be automated, and they will be able to redirect their efforts toward tasks that are more fulfilling and have a better ROI.
Before investing in new technology, call the company’s customer support to see if someone is available to answer your questions. Having proper support is essential to keep your business running in the event something goes wrong with your new software or cloud infrastructure.
No. 2 — Updating Your Old Business Model
If your business is stuck in the past, using the same old workflows and processes and not taking advantage of digital and IT solutions to render its operations more efficient, you will end up losing revenue and customers. So stay ahead of your competition by implementing a BPM solution that provides data mining, a process that also is known as knowledge discovery from data.
Analyzing data will help you identify customer needs and demands. Data mining will look at your customer information and spending habits, which will help you forecast consumer trends and allow you to adapt your offerings accordingly.
This also will help you gear your advertising and marketing efforts toward the right consumer segments.
No. 3 — Increasing Productivity
Thanks to process mapping and BPM, you can reduce and even eliminate inefficiencies and redundancies within your organization, as well as typos and other human errors that can lead to wasted time and resources. This leaves you more time for research and development as well as for better responding to the needs of your target market.
The standardization provided by BPM allows for better quality control of your products and a reduction of waste. It also can be used to reduce the time between the placement of an order by a customer and its actual delivery, leading to increased customer satisfaction. Additionally, you will be able to scale your business and focus on increasing your output and revenue.
No. 4 — Simplifying Your Onboarding Process
When your business is growing and you need to hire more employees, having a BPM solution in place will make their onboarding go faster and smoother: Since process mapping allows you to standardize your operating procedures, allows you to develop flowcharts and write down sets of instructions, your next hires will be able to get up to speed faster when it comes learning the ins and outs of their new duties.
BPM also helps teams work more effectively and efficiently by letting them share information and collaborate in real-time, and your new employees can benefit from always having access to the instructions they need to perform their tasks, or to a mentor or manager that can guide them through a specific process.
There really is no downside to implementing a BPM solution when you run a business, whatever its size. Besides helping you streamline your processes and work more efficiently, it will allow for future growth and will help you stay ahead of your competition.
So look for a product with great customer support and start moving your business forward.
Tina Martin is a contributor to ideaspired and author of "Ideaspired: Put Your Ideas, Your Inspiration, and Yourself First to Make Your Dreams Come True."
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