What is business process management?
Business process management refers to the process of adopting a structured approach to improving processes in an organization with the goal of generating business value.
It is an organizational discipline that uses different methods to create, model, measure, analyze, and optimize business processes. With the help of BPM, you can review the current state of business processes in your organization and identify bottlenecks or areas of improvement in order to create a more effective process.
BPM can be categorized into different types of processes including:
Human-centric BPM
This includes processes that need to be executed by humans, like performing complex tasks or approving submitted work.
Integration-centric BPM
These processes are used to integrate existing systems, apps, or other processes and require minimal human intervention.
Document-centric BPM
These processes are used for formatting, verifying, signing, and approving documents.
Why is BPM important for small businesses?
Without business process management, small businesses rely on a small team of employees to manage everything through documents, spreadsheets, and direct communication.
With no standardized way of following every process, every employee ends up going their own way every time, which can create more problems down the road.
- Employees communicate and follow up through emails, making it difficult to track down previous communication.
- Approvals need constant check-ins
- All the tasks have to be performed manually
- Bottlenecks are almost always there, but very difficult to identify
- Lack of streamlined communication in teams leads to more confusion
Business process management can help SMBs get rid of all of these problems affecting their efficiency and productivity.
While most SMBs are reluctant to adopt BPM solutions in their early days simply because they believe their organization isn’t big enough for it, early stage adoption can actually help build a strong foundation.
By incorporating BPM in your small business operations, you can:
- Avoid back and forth emails
- Avoid tracking processes through complicated document files
- Incorporate transparency in your business processes by allowing everyone involved to access and view the process
- Identify bottlenecks and fix them before they can cause any serious damage
- Automate repetitive tasks to improve efficiency and save time
- Make collaboration and communication easier among team members
- Scale up or scale down easily
Benefits of BPM for small businesses
Automate repetitive tasks
When you have a small team, burdening them with manual, repetitive tasks pulls them away from their core responsibilities. Not only does this waste valuable time, but it also increases the risk of human errors.
With Business Process Management (BPM), you can automate these routine tasks, freeing up your team to focus on more important and complex work. This ensures better use of their skills while reducing mistakes.
Eliminate Bottlenecks
Many decision-makers don’t realize that bottlenecks are silently creating inefficiencies and errors in their operations.
BPM helps identify and eliminate these bottlenecks by streamlining workflows, increasing overall efficiency, and preventing unnecessary delays or budget overruns. By smoothing out internal processes, your business runs more smoothly, and results improve.
Establish a Single Source of Truth
Streamlined business processes create a clear and consistent set of steps that guide how every task should be executed, ensuring consistency across your organization.
BPM establishes a single source of truth, making sure every process is followed the same way, every time. This boosts reliability and ensures that all team members are on the same page, regardless of the situation.
Improve Communication and Collaboration
One of the greatest advantages of BPM is how it enhances communication and collaboration across your organization.
Rather than relying on long email chains and constant follow-ups, team members can check the status of processes directly in the BPM platform. Comments can be added for more contextual discussions, improving transparency and ensuring everyone is aligned on their tasks. Collaboration becomes easier, and communication is clearer.
Scale your small business with BPM
When a small business implements business process management, everything begins to fall into place with a clearer understanding of tasks and responsibilities. Additionally, using technology effectively helps build systems that can scale and support your business as it grows.
