Bussiness Process Management - BPM

Once you´ve decided on the products and services your company will offer, your success is defined by one factor − how you execute your core business processes. Your enterprise's competitiveness is a measure of how you satisfy your customer´s needs and how much it costs you to do so. We are convinced that a structured approach to improving and managing business processes is the only effective way to implement and maintain competitive enterprise. Transforming an enterprise needs significant investment in time and resources. Nevertheless, we believe that implementing a business process management strategy should involve minimal risk and can be self−financing.

What is the Problem BPM Solves

All large enterprises have evolved a hierarchical structure Ð each department charged with the different responsibilities needed to make the whole company function. Hierarchies manage large numbers of people very effectively. Since computers have started supporting office work, applications have been built to support the many departments: an accounting application for the financial department, an underwriting application for the underwriters. But, as Rummler and Brache[1] point out, business processes cut across the organization. Errors, delays and expense enter occur at these handoffs between the different roles. Hierarchical structures are rigid − they resist change. Architectures populated with classical enterprise applications doubly so. But, because of factors like changes of strategy, competitor´s acts or new legislation business processes have to be kept constantly up−to−date. Changes to processes can be painful and expensive so enterprises tend to improve processes only when they have to, not when they ought to. At a higher level, complexity compounds these structural problems. Nevertheless enterprises are ″systems″ and ignoring that fact inevitably leads to inefficiency. The basis to understand and steer the enterprise system it is necessary to have a consistent and accurate enterprise−wide information model. Yet very few, if any, enterprises can claim to have one.

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Financial services companies are what they do. Services are products plus business processes, and that's what makes them difficult. Financial products are relatively easy to copy so the processes that deliver them to the customer become the key differentiator in a competitive market. How well a company manages its core processes ultimately defines its profitability.