Key Takeaways
- BPM helps organizations connect people, processes, and technology so work runs more efficiently and consistently.
- There are different BPM approaches, including human-centric, document-centric, and integration-centric, and the best fit depends on what you’re improving.
- The hardest part is often getting started, but process mapping and benchmarking create the foundation for real performance improvement.
Business process management (BPM) is one key strategy to creating efficiency for your business. And while it can be costly and time-intensive, this undertaking helps align your critical processes to ensure your people and technology are being deployed most effectively.
Gartner defines business process management as “a discipline that uses various methods to discover, model, analyze, measure, improve and optimize business processes.”
As an expert in the global supply chain, Daniels College of Business professor Jack Buffington has spent a career working on business process management efforts.
Jack Buffington
For Buffington, this process is primarily about understanding the details of a business and ensuring they run in harmony together.
“Business process management enables us to connect people, process and technology so everything works most efficiently,” he said.
The different types of business process management
IBM splits business process management into three distinct buckets: human-centric BPM, document-centric BPM and integration-centric BPM. The difference in each is the general focus of the process and how involved, or not, humans are in them.
- Human-centric BPM explores what can be done to optimize human-led tasks and how employees can be held accountable.
- Document-centric BPM looks at things like contracts, setting up new structure and processes around drafting, editing, sending and approving documents.
- Integration-centric BPM focuses on things that don’t require much human involvement and instead rely more on technological systems.
In each of these types of BPM, Buffington highlights the importance of keeping both employee needs and business details at the center of your focus.
“It’s crucial to understand when you do a process map that technology and humans need to interface effectively with each other,” he said. “It’s important to understand the details.”
What is a business process management system (BPMS)?
When undergoing a business process management effort, most companies use BPM software to stay organized.
Some of the most popular include Appian, Kissflow and Monday, as well as offerings from Microsoft, Oracle and IBM.
Regardless of which you choose, Buffington said these business process management tools are key to visualizing a business and setting a path forward. He undergoes this exercise with many of his external clients, walking through their processes as he maps them in a BPM tool. In most cases, these maps lead to further questions about why a business does something one way or how departments work with each other.
The challenge Buffington most often sees is that companies are hesitant to commit to a large undertaking like this. They don’t want to spend the time or money working with business process management software. He pushes back on that.
“It takes a lot of work, which is the reason why companies don’t want to do it,” he said of BPM. “Often, they’re too busy chasing problems and they don’t feel like they have time for this. But you can’t empower your people if you don’t have good processes.”
What are the benefits of implementing BPM?
If done right, business process management can help companies become more organized and operate more efficiently. This could lead to a better bottom line and increased return for investors. It could also mean a higher satisfaction level for employees, as they’ve been put in the best position to do their jobs.
“If you understand the details, you can make things simple,” Buffington said. “And in business, the complexity are the people. People are complex, but processes should be simple and understandable.”
BPM can also help companies get the most out of their capital investments, Buffington said.
“Companies spend a lot of money on new technologies and new systems, and without understanding their business processes, they often don’t get the return on investment they’re expecting,” he said. “So, process maps and BPM are really good for project work in order to realize the capital investment.”
What are challenges to implementing BPM?
Strong business process management often results in a more simplified structure that runs more efficiently. Easy enough, right?
Buffington said many businesses struggle to even begin a process management effort, primarily due to their lack of understanding of their own business.
“In order to measure performance, you have to have a benchmark of where you are and where you need to be,” he said. “The problem with most companies is they either don’t know where they are, or they don’t know where they want to go.”
And when you don’t have control over your processes, the potential for disaster is high, Buffington said. He’s paid extremely close attention to the recent bird flu outbreak and said it’s a primary example of this.
“I’m spending a lot of time talking about the food industry. The problem with bird flu has to do with the meat system not having proper process controls. And that’s what this is all about,” he said. “It’s about process engineering and process controls.”
What future managers need to know
Buffington has seen the hesitancy to engage in BPM efforts across various stops in his career. Despite the benefits it can create for businesses, many managers are hesitant to embark on this set of activities. He implores future leaders to embrace business process management.
“It takes a lot of courage. It takes strong leadership. Because you can always find a reason for why not to do something. It’s a lot harder to figure out a reason to do it,” he said.
One of the reasons businesses avoid business process management is it requires leaders to understand the intricate details of what makes their business run. Buffington shares a key lesson around this with his classes.
“What we do is we confuse complexity with details. And what I tell students is, if you try to make something complex, it’s because you don’t understand the details,” he said.
How to learn more about business process management
Business process management requires practice and time to master. At Daniels, faculty members teach students how to solve problems, preparing them to lead BPM in the future.
“Our focus is structured problem solving and critical thinking. Teaching people how to think instead of what to think,” Buffington said. “If you know how to do that, you can work in any field.”
To learn more about management master’s programs at the Daniels College of Business that explore business process management, visit our website or connect with a member of our graduate admissions team.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does business process management help a company improve?
Business process management helps organizations look at how work gets done and find ways to make it clearer, more consistent and more effective. It can support better communication, stronger use of technology and smoother collaboration across teams.
How do you know which BPM approach fits a process?
It depends on what the process needs most. Some processes rely heavily on people and decision-making, while others involve documents, approvals or technology systems. Understanding the challenge first helps leaders choose a practical approach instead of forcing one solution onto every workflow.
Why do teams sometimes put off process improvement?
Process improvement can feel time consuming, especially when teams are already busy solving daily problems. But taking time to map and improve a process can reduce confusion, prevent repeated issues and give people a clearer path forward.
What’s a practical first step for improving a business process?
Start with one process that affects people often or creates repeated friction. Map the steps, identify where work slows down and agree on what success should look like. Small improvements can build momentum for larger operational changes.