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Business
Process Management (BPM) without Technology
To many the idea
of Business process Management (BPM) without technology
is considered heresy, after all most of the marketing
dollars that are spent promoting BPM are spent by the
software vendors themselves. It is however something
that I believe in passionately, the mantra upon which
my work is based is that "People performing processes
produce profit" - I am sorry but I do not subscribe
to the school of thought that suggests that IT is the
business or that IT should be driving the business.
Unlike many who
preach or teach in the area of BPM, I have held executive
positions in the areas of sales, marketing and product
development, as well as sitting in the CEO chair, and
I can tell you that in every one of those roles it was
people and process that made the difference. Sure, technology
was helpful, but it was not the business. In every one
of those roles I was interested in how technology could
assist people or help with process, but I was never
willing to accede the way my business was to run to
a computer. Fundamentally I believe that as a business
owner it is my business and therefore any technology
should be seen as a supporting infrastructure, albeit
one that might enable me to do things I had never previously
thought possible or that could help me enter new markets
and serve new types of customers.
It is worth reminding
people that me "BPM is a management philosophy for doing
business differently, for producing extraordinary results,
through innovation and creativity, aimed at serving
the customer better and empowering people - this may
then be supported by appropriate technology.". So when
I hear people discussing how to use technology to get
rid of people, or talking of Human Interaction Management
(HIM) when they actually mean Human to Computer System
Interaction, it actually makes my blood boil - who are
these technologists to tell me how to run my business
or to twist every business concept into an IT one?
One only has to
look at organizations such as FedEx, SouthWest Airlines,
General Electric and Wal-Mart to see that the very essence
of their success has come through people and process,
sure technology has helped, but it was not the essence.
So when considering BPM, why focus on the detail of
technology, when instead you can focus on the essence.
In doing so you can create increased value for the business,
ensure your customers are happier, and that staff morale
is boosted - all of which seem, to my mind, to be the
things that executives really do care about. Then when
these things are taken care of, you can see what technology
can do to help support the processes and people and
make them even better.
So how to actually
realize some of these benefits using BPM without technology.
The approach used in my classes makes use of good old
fashioned brown paper and post it notes, the approach
that is taught is how to run a two or three day workshop
where the users of the process map it for themselves
and then analyze the process and present the actions
they would like to carry out to improve the process.
The role of the process or business analyst is merely
that of a facilitator. When using these techniques with
technology people you can imagine the resistance one
gets from them. But for the most part they all list
two particular obstacles they find in their daily work
a) that they find people resistant to change and b)
that people won't do as they are told. Funny that those
same people who raise this also agree that they don't
like being told what to do and they are resisting the
very change we are working with : So the smart ones
have an aha moment when they realize that if they don't
like it then they can't expect others too.
It is an approach
I have been using and teaching for some time now, but
it was only last year after conversations with my good
friend Dick Hilbert that I came to understand that the
approach is very similar to the GE Work-Out approach.
Something which Dick tells me is probably responsible
for more savings and improvements at GE than any of
the other fashion approaches which we all come to talk
about when discussing GE, e.g. Six Sigma. Dick suggests
that is the simplicity of having people at the sharp
end focus on eliminating waste in a process that allows
those doing things like Six Sigma to really hold on
to the gains.
Indeed from my
own perspective I have seen clients saving millions
of pounds as a result of running these three day workshops,
and they are just so easy to do. The benefits are nicely
summed up by perhaps one of the techiest in the world,
Bill Gates, when he said "a lousy process will consume
10 times as much work as the work itself." - So why
wouldn't one want to make sure that the process was
effective and remove waste before one even considers
technology? Especially when the process itself leverages
one of our key assets, our people.
So back to my original
premise, if Business Process management is all about
Managing our Business better and if we believe that
processes are the key to how we actually do what we
do, then technology is not a pre-requisite. It is merely
a supporting act. Yes, we can document processes with
it, best done after the initial improvement, it is far
cheaper to capture what you will be doing than what
you were doing. Yes, we can automate the process, but
again let's automate the value, not the waste and finally
the workshop approach links purpose, strategy, people
and processes together to produce a more effective system
- as opposed to focusing down at too lower level of
detail.
I am certain that
if more people approached the problem this way then
they would find it much easier to engage with and become
the credible partners for change of the business owners
themselves.
Copyright Mark
McGregor 2007
www.markmcgregor.com
Mark's
Biography
Send Feedback to:
process@itsmpa.org
ITSM Professional (ITSMP) ™ and
ITSM Certified Professional (ITSMCP) ™ are Registered
Trademarkes (2008)
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