Jim Sinur

The longevity and impact of your process efforts can make a difference on where you aim to link up with desired business outcomes. While the ROI for BPM can be high and the benefits are quite proven in the case studies that I have observed, it’s not always apparent to business leaders that focusing on process gets them to their important goals. There seems to me to be three levels of goals that organizations are pursuing that yield compounding results.

Measurements for Survival:

The measurements here are pretty operational and show savings in terms of money, time, quality and satisfaction, but they are focused on local processes. This is a good way to wring costs out of organizations and is very popular with the organizations I talk to on a day to day basis

Measurements for Thriving:

These measurements usually go beyond a local benefit area and start to look at overall goals as opposed to functional excellence goals. These kinds of processes generally go beyond one functional area, but are not truly end to end processes that would be recognized as such

Measurements for Capitalizing:

The measurements here are directly linked to organizational outcomes and goals and encourage end to end and large scoped processes. It is usually very clear to top organizational leaders that these are true organizational outcomes. Measurements aimed at corporate performance, indeed.

The hard part of process is to learn how to ratchet up from a lower level of impact to a higher level and maintain that level of focus. This requires a great deal of communication and education of the organization. It is the secret sauce of successful process improvement efforts. Few organizations have attained this level and fewer yet stay consistently on the right track.