You want to take advantage of digital transformation and implement new technologies to make your processes efficient under one umbrella. These advances can increase profit for your digital business. But is important that you know how to effectively apply them toward specific goals such as reducing back-and-forth communications between departments or automating inefficient processes. Business Process Management (BPM) is one way to get ahead of the curve and minimize human involvement with digital technology.
How does the Digital Transformation affect Business Processes?
Digital transformation can improve business processes dramatically, but only when done properly with careful planning, leadership, and specific goals in mind. Ideally, you want internal users to have a better handle on your business processes, but it is very easy to go in the other direction. When overhauling your business inside and out, you want to introduce new technologies and focus on tangible results in the long term.
You also need to ensure the digital transformation is spread across the entire business rather than limited to one department or team. The impact of a successful initiative is not just limited to managers, employees, and other internal users. Efficiency exponentially grows and touches every part of your business. Customers expect businesses to have efficient processes in place, including the ones that are not directly related to the sale of goods and services. When you improve internal processes, you also improve their experience.
Consider online banking as an example. Online banking for consumers means that they don’t have to wait in line at a brick-and-mortar institution and ask for answers from a human being while depositing a check or making a withdrawal. They can conduct transactions remotely or make inquiries of a different nature. A bank enacting this transformation improves the life and work of both customers and internal users by simplifying and expediting the processes around those transactions.
One way to ensure that you have a successful digital transformation initiative is to define your goals and workflows. A workflow is the set of activities required to complete a task or process. Usually, business rules determine the order in which these activities take place. If you have a workflow in place then you also reduce the risk of human error as well as identifying the goals you want to achieve.
For example, consider when you hire a new employee. The onboarding includes ensuring they turn in their paperwork and financial information on time, setting up necessary business accounts for them, training them during their first week, and preparing a workstation. The process runs the risk of becoming inefficient if you don’t have standards set for the workflow. If you have a plan, however, then you can reduce the time spent on individual tasks.
Undefined workflows will become the bane of your existence as they grow beyond established budgets and refuse to budge when you aim to remove them. Business process management can help you focus on and provide solutions for process improvement. It relies on workflows to ensure you succeed in improving your operational efficiency. Getting rid of workflows or activities that don’t work and replacing them with better ones can make the difference.
Business Process Management (BPM)
Business process management is the oldest form of digital automation. Per the name, this management wants to organize the systems and tasks that a business uses for transactions, customer management, and other relevant activities for regular operations. The software helps with this by providing data related to these processes and creating a universal standard.
BPM is both analysis and action, putting all of a business’s processes under one umbrella. A human operator or manager is usually involved and needs to provide leadership. This means adopting new policies and ensuring that internal users understand and can implement them effectively.
What is the BPM Systems role in a Digital Transformation Strategy
BPM is the base for digital transformation, even if you go into more advanced fields such as Digital Process Automation (DPA). What’s more, BPM allows for looking at these processes inward. It could be very hard for a human operator to look at a process such as an employee onboarding, and simply point out the flaws they see. Not all process flaws are tangible in such a way, therefore it can be tedious to try and find every error.
Managers and internal users would prefer to delegate the process. BPM solutions reduce the human element while striving for perfection. They can generate models that optimize efficiency and productivity, then focusing on reducing costs. In addition, BPM platforms can track your transactions and activities, to see which strategies work in real-time. Then managers can make constant changes to these strategies, or ask the software to ease the transitions automatically.
Use BPM tools in all business areas, including customer service, user onboarding, back-office automation, accounting and invoicing, and more. Consumers want products and services fast, and they want to be able to access the business fast. You can deliver products faster to them, reduce the need for lengthy phone calls or chats about inquiries, and ensure they won’t have to wait long for a response or a delivery.
What does BPM success look like in Digital Transformation
Managers need to know the tangible costs and goals when evaluating a digital transformation. Sometimes, it takes a few months or even a year to achieve the results, which is why having some long-term benchmarks help. Managers can set BPM software to have these parameters and review accordingly.
The simplest benchmark is customer or user satisfaction. As mentioned, your audience is vocal and will express their responses to the changes you make accordingly. When customers are happy, they will respond accordingly with increased sales and positive feedback. You want to encourage that with changed processes that focus on them and guarantee their satisfaction. This can include product quality, as well as ensuring they receive them on time.
A second benchmark is improving your products or services. This seems straightforward; when you create a good product, then people are more likely to extoll its extrinsic benefits. People want savings accounts with fair interest rates, as one example; deliver that and a higher return on their investment, and they will stay.
The third benchmark is reducing your operating costs. This is standard for most businesses that want to increase their profits. BPM can pinpoint areas that aren’t obvious to a manager and make suggestions for reduction accordingly.
Succeed in the digital era with Virtus Flow
Virtus Flow wants to help you achieve your goals and survive any technological disruptions. Our Digital Workflows ensure you can organize your business processes in an efficient and timely manner while identifying areas for improvement. We reduce the amount of human involvement and time spent on repetitive tasks.
Reach out to us today to schedule your first demo. When it comes to enacting a successful digital transformation, you want a solution that has your back. Let your business operations thrive with our assistance and expertise on internal and external processes automation.
