It’s no secret that recessions can be a major hardship for businesses, particularly SMEs. But did you know there are strategies out there to help cushion the blow? One popular one is Business Process Management (BPM) which enables sustainable business models – so even during tough times, your bottom line won’t suffer. Want to make sure your business can weather any financial storm? Read this blog to learn how Business Process Management will arm you with the skills and strategies needed for recession-proofing.
What is Business Process Management?
Business Process Management (BPM) is an approach that focuses on optimizing business processes to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance customer satisfaction. BPM encompasses a set of activities, including analysis, design, modeling, execution, monitoring, and further analysis of business processes. BPM also involves identifying areas for improvement and implementing changes that enhance process performance. Read our Guide on BPM to learn everything you should know.
BPM and Recession-Proofing
Your business is recession-proof when it can withstand economic downturns and continue to operate successfully even during times of financial hardship. But it’s never automatic. Before it gets to that level, you’ll need to adopt various strategies such as diversifying products or services, maintaining a strong customer base, reducing expenses, and having a contingency plan in place for unexpected events. A recession-proof business is one that can remain profitable and competitive despite changes in market conditions and is less likely to experience significant losses or bankruptcy during economic recessions. Among others, BPM is one strategy that swiftly fortifies a business against harsh economic realities. Here are some of its benefits:
1. Cost Reduction
During a recession, businesses face cost pressures due to reduced demand, price competition, and other factors. But by actively using Business Process Management, you’re always looking at and implementing ways to reduce your overhead and costs By analyzing processes and identifying areas of inefficiency, BPM will help your business to reduce waste, lower operating costs, stay afloat during a recession, and remain competitive.
2. Improved Efficiency
Business Process Management can also improve the efficiency of business processes. By eliminating redundancies, streamlining workflows, and automating tasks, BPM helps businesses complete tasks faster and more accurately. You’ll be able to reduce lead times, improve customer satisfaction, and stay ahead of your competition.
3. Enhanced Agility
During a recession, your business will need to be agile and responsive to changing market conditions. Business Process Management helps to achieve this because bpm tools are built to help you quickly adapt to changes in the market. By analyzing processes and identifying bottlenecks, BPM will help you implement changes that improve process performance. BPM tools will also monitor processes in real time, providing the information you need to make informed decisions quickly.
4. Improved Customer Experience
Your customers will naturally become more demanding during a recession and this means one thing: You’ll need to pay more attention and provide excellent customer service to retain them. With Business Process Management, delivering exceptional customer experience requires less human effort. BPM tools will help you understand your customers better while also keeping them engaged. You’ll be able to analyze customer data, identify areas of improvement, and implement changes that enhance the customer experience where necessary. Business Process Management can also help businesses respond to customer queries and complaints quickly, ensuring that customers are satisfied with the service they receive.
5. Better Compliance
During a recession, businesses need to comply with regulations and standards to avoid fines and penalties. With the help of Business Process Management Consultants, BPM can help you achieve and stay compliant. A properly configured BPM tool will monitor and audit your processes, analyze these processes and identify areas of non-compliance.
Case Study
One company that successfully implemented BPM tools to recession-proof itself is IBM. IBM used BPM to transform its global supply chain and reduce costs. By analyzing its supply chain processes and identifying areas of inefficiency, IBM was able to reduce costs by $3 billion and improve its operational efficiency by 50%. IBM also used Business Process Management to improve customer satisfaction by providing customers with real-time information on their orders.
How To Implement Business Process Management in Your Business
Implementing Business Process Management (BPM) can be a complex process that requires careful planning and attention to detail. Hasty implementation can lead to low adoption rates, inefficiency, and resource wastage. To ensure the success of your BPM implementation, here is a 10-step checklist to guide you:
- Choose Your BPM Tool Wisely
- Select a Process to Test On
- Identify a Process Owner
- Set Benchmarks
- Diagram the Workflow
- Involve Everyone
- Pilot Your BPM Workflow
- Be Ready to Change
- Train Users
- Measure and Adjust
1. Choose Your BPM Tool Wisely
Building efficient processes require a rock-solid foundation, and that’s why selecting the right BPM tool is critical. Some BPM tools are tailored to provide application development capabilities, while others prioritize visibility and process tracking. It is essential to opt for a solution that everyone on your team can use, including non-technical business users. By selecting an easy-to-use BPM tool, you can cut down on the scale at which you need Business Process Consultants to address integration and operational issues.
2. Select a Process to Test On
Although you may be tempted to automate the most complicated process causing the most chaos, the first process you automate during the implementation of a BPM solution should be simpler to manage and have lower risks. Avoid applying BPM solutions to mission-critical processes until your team is comfortable using them. Instead, start by testing it on minor processes such as purchase orders, travel reimbursements, or other easily manageable projects. Once the process owners are confident in their ability to use and manage the BPM tool, gradually scale up the workflow to include significant projects.
3. Identify a Process Owner
Integrating new software into your enterprise can quickly become a battleground for all teams involved. Without a designated leader to manage the implementation process and BPM operations, finger-pointing can easily ensue. To ensure a successful BPM implementation, designate a process owner, typically the business lead responsible for the process. This person will be accountable for the process’s smooth operation and organization of data. This further necessitates the need for a BPM tool that prioritizes a human-centric approach, that all business leads can comfortably work with.
4. Set Benchmarks
Identify the most important priority in a workflow and tie it to a specific objective you plan to accomplish within a specific timeframe. Make sure to keep the ‘why’ of automating a process in mind before triggering any workflow.
5. Diagram the Workflow
Sit down and diagram the workflow on a simple piece of paper rather than with software. Start by describing the ideal way the process should run and draw a representation of it. Converse with other people that are close to the process and understand its history and any significant changes they have gone through.
6. Involve Everyone
A BPM tool is usually managed by two groups: technical administrators (sometimes business process management consultants) who are familiar with the BPM system, and functional or business owners who understand how the process should operate. To promote teamwork and cooperation with the new BPM tool, work with all stakeholders from the outset. Meet with each task owner and determine their data requirements. Solicit feedback from end-users to identify problem areas.
7. Pilot Your BPM Workflow
Run the Business Process Automation system on a pilot test to understand its impact on your business process without interfering with ongoing processes. Use this opportunity to train people or fiddle with the BPM tool’s features without risking anything.
8. Be Ready to Change
In the past, Business Process Management methodologies relied on inflexible structures and systems that only a select group of IT professionals could modify. However, with the rise of cloud computing and Software as a Service (SaaS), you’ll find a BPM tool that can seamlessly integrate with your current systems and are customizable for optimal performance. So, instead of using BPM tools that require a complete overhaul of your existing processes and IT architecture, choose a flexible and resource-efficient solution that further enhances your ongoing operations.
9. Train Users
The success of your Business Process Management strategy depends on how the users interact with the system. Conduct a workshop about the basics of your BPM tool or better still, hire a business process management consultant to set up and train your employees on the best ways to use the new tool, the rationale behind its implementation, and the results expected.
10. Measure and Adjust
To determine the success of your Business Process Management (BPM) tool and strategy, you need to measure its return on investment (ROI). Although the responsibility for measuring and improving processes falls on the Process Owner, as the system administrator, you should provide as much support as possible.
It is always challenging to evaluate Business Process Automation due to its vague data compared to other enterprise resources. However, by identifying specific data types to analyze, you can use your initial Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to break things down and make necessary improvements/recommendations.
Conclusion
BPM tools can help businesses recession-proof themselves by reducing costs, improving efficiency, enhancing agility, improving customer experience, and ensuring compliance. Business Process Management can help businesses stay afloat during a recession and remain competitive with the help of Business Process Management Consultants and tools that optimize processes and respond to changing market conditions.
Lastly, businesses that implement BPM usually achieve significant cost savings, improve their operational efficiency, and provide better service to their customers. So, if you’d like to recession-proof your business, consider implementing BPM. Start by talking to us.
