BPM software: 13 questions to ask yourself before investing

In a highly competitive environment where working from home is increasingly common, it is essential for any company that wants to grow and remain profitable to be as efficient as possible. So far, nothing now.

However, what many people have not yet realised is that in the midst of so much technology, a significant number of processes are still carried out manually, or at least in part. Many processes have not been digitised from end to end. As a result, the manual execution of traditional processes means that your teams are spending time and money on activities that have no added value for your company. This is where a BPM solution comes into play.

If you want to gain an in-depth understanding of how a BPM platform works, I invite you to read the corresponding article. In short, a BPM, or Business Process Management, is an approach that improves workflow and business processes within a company. In other words, it is a tool that automates processes.

In general, BPM software helps you map your day-to-day processes in order to:

• Make your day-to-day processes as efficient as possible;
• Guarantee the efficiency of the individuals involved in your processes.
• Reduce the risks and sources of error
• Identify and eliminate time-consuming tasks;
• Control your business costs thanks to efficient process management

Therefore, business process management (BPM) is a combination of practices that aim to create organisational value through a culture of continuous improvement of processes.

How do I know if my company should invest in BPM?

You’ve understood the concepts of BPM and the benefits of a process management solutions. However, you may be wondering if it’s the right time for your company to adopt such a solution. To put these doubts to rest, we’ve come up with a list of issues that our customers frequently come across. So, now it’s up to you to tick off the ones that apply to your day-to-day activities:

1- Difficult to finish processes on time.

How long does it take your company’s employees to complete an activity as part of a process? Do you have control over the progress of the process and/or what is being done?

2- Difficult to make decisions.

Does management have all the information required to make important decisions about the process? Is the information easy to find? Is it centralised?

3- Lots of money invested, little return.

Has your company invested in processes that are not profitable? Before launching a process, can you evaluate the time it would take to complete and the costs it would incur?

4- Loss of competitiveness due to delivery delays.

Does your company need to reduce the time it takes to sell its product due to increased competition? Do you need to improve the quality of your products/services?

5- Failure to achieve organisational targets.

Despite all the efforts of your teams, is your company unable to achieve its organisational targets?

6- Inconsistent delivery of products/services, causing customer dissatisfaction.

Do your customers complain about late deliveries or defective products, etc.?

7- Inefficient employees.

Has your employees’ productivity declined? Do your employees spend too much time performing repetitive manual tasks?

8- Lack of information about the stage of the process currently ongoing.

Within a process, do you have control over how activities are progressing? How difficult is it to obtain this information?

9- Identification of non-compliance with legal provisions.

Some high-risk processes are not covered by your information system. Are certain validation workflows that are binding on your company only carried out by email or by exchanging Excel files, for example?

10- Difficult to prioritise processes.

Your company has lots of things to do, but doesn’t know what is urgent and what is important. Do you know how to define the processes that must take priority over the others?

11- Inability to evaluate the efficiency of processes and to map them.

Do you know which processes really deliver results? Can you make a list of those that can be eliminated? Can you identify areas for improvement? (Understand process mapping)

12- Difficult to determine the stages of a process that do not bring any added value and where there is waste.

Are you sure that all the activities in a process are essential? Are they performed correctly? Are they completed on time and within budget constraints?

13- Inability to evaluate the results of a process.

Can managers measure processes from end to end and compare them with the expected results? Is it possible to quantify processes?

If you have ticked most of the points above, your company should ideally invest in a business process management solution in order to streamline and facilitate the management of these processes.

However, if you still have doubts about investing in BPM, we would like to offer you a bit more help, as we know very well that this type of solution will only be validated by your management if there is rapid return on investment.
This is why – and to give you an extra helping hand – we suggest that you create a mock-up based on the processes that are causing you problems.

With this approach, you can measure the relevance of our platform and its suitability to meet your expectations and our expertise.