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Top 5 Myths about Business Process Management in 2024

With every business looking at doing more with less and improving efficiency and customer service, Business Process Management (BPM) is becoming more important than ever. BPM is a holistic approach that empowers organisations to enhance overall performance by optimising critical business processes.

When done right, BPM offers many benefits:

  • Eliminating waste and bottlenecks
  • Optimising the process effectiveness and efficiency
  • Reducing process cost
  • Optimal resource utilisation
  • Enhancing customer service and experience by reducing cycle time.

These benefits are essential for organisations to gain agility and flexibility and stay ahead of the competition in today’s challenging business environment. However, common BPM myths about BPM prevent these organisations from taking advantage of BPM.

We dispel the top 5 myths about BPM in 2023:

Myth 1: BPM is just process mapping

Many organisations assume that BPM is all about mapping processes and documenting workflows. While mapping is definitely a critical component of BPM, it is only a small part of the entire BPM lifecycle, which also consists of process analysis, improvement and monitoring. The ultimate goal of BPM is process improvement. Hence, once the process maps are created, they are used to analyse processes for redundant tasks, duplicate efforts, automation opportunities, etc. Actionable insights gained from analysing current processes are then used for identifying improvement opportunities and creating optimised future state processes.

Myth 2: BPM is only suited for complex operations in big businesses

This is the most common misconception about BPM that it is only meant for large-scale organisations. Regardless of the size and vertical, every organisation has processes. To ensure these processes are performing optimally and to prevent inefficiencies and bottlenecks from creeping in, they need to be managed. Hence, BPM is applicable to every business, whether it is small-scale or startup. BPM enables business transparency and empowers decision-makers to access process-related insights and drive fact-based decision-making to achieve various goals, from cost reduction to productivity enhancement and customer satisfaction.

Myth 3: BPM is expensive and complex 

Conventional BPM solutions were complicated and designed only for process experts. However, with business users also taking an interest in the discipline, BPM tools have evolved too. Today’s advanced BPM tools are low-code, no-code with drag-and-drop features so they can be used by professionals with no specialised skills. Further, with cloud-based tools, BPM is no longer expensive and can be expensed under the operational budget with a low monthly fee.

Summary

This is a common belief among organisations that BPM success depends on the tool’s functionalities. While BPM tool features are important, project success is not solely dependent on that.

Myth 4: BPM success depends on tool functionalities

This is a common belief among organisations that BPM success depends on the tool’s functionalities. While BPM tool features are important, project success is not solely dependent on that. Your BPM project success requires four key elements: robust methodology and framework, executive commitment for the upcoming change, powerful change management and people engagement strategies and well setup capacity and capability to implement the BPM project. These elements need to come together for the success of your project.

Myth 5: BPM is a one-time project

Another common misconception about BPM is that it’s a one-time project, and processes will continue to perform optimally once improved. However, setting and forgetting processes is the biggest mistake. BPM is an ongoing project wherein processes must be continually monitored, analysed and enhanced to ensure they perform optimally.

Ensuring success with Business Process Management in 2023

Most of these assumptions and misconceptions have been because of the experiences of early BPM users. With the advent of sophisticated and advanced BPM tools, BPM is neither complex nor expensive.

One of the tools that is cloud-based and easy to use is PRIME BPM. The tool allows process maps to be created in minutes, has in-built methodology, advanced in-built analytics and simulation capabilities to simplify BPM for the organisation of any size.

Want to try out these capabilities and see PRIME BPM in action? Access our free license.