What is Business Process Management? Quick Bites

Business Process Management (BPM)

Business Process Management (BPM) is a process-centric approach for improving business performance through a combination of 3 important pillars – People, Process, and Technology i.e. Information Technology with Governance Methodologies.

Simply speaking, in any business enterprise be it a small, medium, or large business enterprise, following important activities, are regularly done on daily basis.

  • Purchasing,
  • Inventory Management,
  • Supplier Management,
  • Logistics,
  • Supply Chain Management,
  • Customer Ordering,
  • Delivery processes,
  • Invoicing Processes,
  • Receivables & Collection Management,
  • Customer Service,
  • Accounting and Controlling,
  • Recording and Reporting all critical transactions
  • Financial statements preparation
  • Payment of taxes
  • All statutory compliances etc.

Business process management, if efficient, helps transformation of inputs to generate outputs at optimum time and cost which is key to success for any business enterprise

For the sake of simplicity, all such business activities are grouped under 3 major business process flows namely-

  1. PURCHASE TO PAY / SOURCE TO PAY (P2P/S2P)
  2. ORDER TO CASH / DEMAND TO CASH (O2C/D2C)
  3. RECORD TO REPORT (R2R)

The term “Business processes” is commonly used for the set of activities that are performed for transforming Input(s) into Output(s).

Example of Business Process Management from typical Import-Export or Trading Business
Example of Business Processes management from a typical “Software Development Business”

Business Process Management ensures that processes work seamlessly in a well-integrated manner and optimally. The what-if approach is used to define process modeling and simulation. The application of an efficient BPM is very much beneficial in the case of cross-functional processes.

Support from Senior Management is vital for the success of BPM and Continuous Improvement by effective Business Process Re-engineering guarantees the maximum benefits from this approach.

Reasons for Failure of Business Process Management –

No/ Inefficient training,

No/ Half-hearted commitment from Contributors and Senior Management,

Inflexible Business Processes Defined,

Inefficient Business Process Outsourcing (BPO),

No/Inefficient Business Process Re-engineering.

Watch out for our article on – BUSINESS PROCESS FLOWS