The Use of BPM Technology in Organizations - Coursework Example

The use of BPM technology in organizations al affiliation Table of contents ……………………………………………………………………………………… 3 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………….. 4 Literature review……………………………………………………………………………… 5 Discussion …………………………………………………………………………………… 6-8 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………… 9 Reference list …………………………………………………………………………………10 Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………………11 Abstract The current global market has become extremely competitive thus requiring organizations to increase efficiency in order to keep up with competitors. Ideally, organizations need to be able to grow and sustain their customer base by ensuring constant innovations in as far as the production and delivery of services and products is concerned, as well as making operations efficient. As such, in order to ensure organizational success, the management should be work towards ensuring that its work processes are well managed to accommodate change. The attainment of such success requires the integration of proper business process management and technology. The management of business processes using advancements in technology ensures that organizations are able to withstand turbulence and change, thus assuring success. The use of BPM technology in organizations Introduction Organizational success depends on how well the organization is managed. Essentially, management requires that all resources are organized, planned, lead and controlled with the view of achieving the strategic objectives of an organization. As such, organizational management requires that leaders focus on the business aspects and processes of the organization to ensure growth and sustainability. A process refers to the process by which orchestrated activities are organized to meet specific organizational goals and objectives, by use of detailed tasks. These processes need to be improved and reviewed constantly so as to ensure that organizations are up-to-date with changes happening in the business market and that these organizations are capable of dealing with such changes. Organizations use managerial, financial, administrative, operational, and technical processes among others in the course management. The idea of business process management is not new to the business world, considering that it has been used for several decades. According to Jeston & Nelis (2006, p. xiii), during the 20th century, Fredrick Taylor was among the first people to experiment with the improvement of manual labor and the production process. Information technology and the practice of BPM was first used in the 1990s when western firms were on the verge of an economic recession thus requiring new and efficient methods of working. During this time, business owners realized that if the business process was improved, they could use technology to provide speed, accuracy, and consistency to bring enormous benefits to their businesses. At first, the idea was to automate the business process but in recent times, BPM also focuses technology can be utilized to improve business processes. This report seeks to describe how the use of technology can improve the speed, accuracy, and consistency of work in an organization, by use of strategic processes. The report will focus on planning, analysis, design, implementation, monitoring, management, and automation processes. Literature review Processes are essential in determining how information systems are designed and realized. Organizations, according to Malik (2009, p.3), need to narrow the gap between their business aspects and information technology in order to guarantee operational consistency. Through the use of technological tools, companies are able to broadcast information in a judicious manner, thus enabling managers execute business processes promptly. According to Oracle (2009, p.3), investment in BPM technology is guaranteed to bring immense benefits to an organization. According to Malik (2009, p. 3), companies use BPM technology to create new products and introduce them to the market in a very short time, thus improving giving them an edge over competitors. In particular, technological processes are designed to ensure that an organization is best suited to withstand change, and become more efficient and effective. Processes need improvement so as to make them more efficient, effective, and transparent, to counter the inevitable degradation of processes. Ideally, technology can bring so much more benefits to an organization in comparison with other traditional BPM methods. According to Tanrikorur (2007, p.1), BPM technology serves to reduce manual errors and miscommunication, thereby allowing stakeholders to focus on their roles. However, Jeston & Nelis (2006, p. 10) argue that BPM requires that all business processes be defined before any technological advancement is undertaken. Technology in this case serves to redefine and optimize the identified processes. Discussion BPM requires the implementation of a number of business and technical activities aimed at keeping the company afloat in the competitive market and satisfying consumer needs. In order to achieve this success, several processes need to be undertaken by the BPM technology. Planning The first step towards ensuring BPM technology for an organization involves planning how processes will be redesigned using current technological innovations, so as to improve business. Ideally, the planning phase involves the definition of goals, the establishment of the project team, and information gathering. The business domain is integrated with the technical domain in order to establish the application domain that will be used in the process redesigning process (Malik, 2009, p. 264). Analysis Not all processes within an organization need to be included in the BPM process. As such, Jeston & Nelis (2006, p. 111) write that organizations usually have a hard time selecting which processes to include, thus leading to the intuitive selection of problematic or possible beneficial processes to undergo redesign. Design & modeling The modeling phase involves the selection of tools that use visual design processes, which link tasks and cause the process to have a smooth flow. During this stage, documents, images, and other attachable data are prepared in order to be used in the next phase. The workflow of current BPM strategies involves the inclusion of person-to-person and system-to-system combinations to manage processes. For example, Front office BPM is a kind of workflow that is more human-centric in that it focuses on person-to-person processes which allow for work items to be routed with attached documents. This process permits the transition of processes from being business designed to being technically designed. Malik (2009, p. 224) writes that the information gathered in previous phases is analyzed, consolidated, represented, and communicated to business stakeholders so as to ensure the realization of laid out goals. Implementation and execution In this phase, process models are automatically transformed into executable and work-flow based models. The use of service-oriented architecture (SOA) allows the extension of the automation process, permitting the organization to collaborate with customers and suppliers, thus increasing speed and efficiency (Jeston & Nelis, 2006, p. 195). Since front office BPM systems are human-centric, they allow for the customization of templates which become specific to organizational goals. Back-office BPM solutions on the other hand deal with those tasks that do not require human input such as the creation of user interfaces to ease operations. Some organizations choose to use the business process automation (BPA) strategy which automatizes processes so as to reduce costs and improve the speed of delivery. Through the BPA method, organizations use software applications and restructure labor resources so as to meet the tactical goals set by the organization. Special BPA tools which make use of user interface layers allow even the staffs who are not technically qualified to operate the system and assure the consistency of operations. Monitoring BPM technology should be efficient in as far as reporting the performance of a business is concerned. The monitoring process, therefore, is meant to track the progress of any ongoing processes by for example, monitoring the execution time and predicting workloads. This phase is important considering that it allows the organization to track which processes are profitable and which ones are time-wasting, leading to better utilization of resources. The use of BPM technology allows for the management of activities to ensure smooth work-flow, meaning that BPM technology reduces the time taken to execute tasks. Most organization use internet-based communication to market new products to millions of potential consumers over a limited period of time. Automation The business environment is ever encountering complex challenges that require immediate solutions to enable an organization meet consumer needs and beat competition. As Jeston & Nelis (2006, p. 12) argue, humans have perfected the use of automated solutions to tackle such challenges in a short time. Automation, therefore, ensures that business processes such as marketing are speeded up. According to Oracle (2009, p.5), companies need to move with speed in the business market to ensure that they take advantage of new markets faster than their competitors. However, in as much as technology often leads to such promptness in problem solving, it only works in cases where organizational operations are efficient. The automation of business processes reduces the manual performance of tasks thus improving the accuracy of work results. The elimination of manual processes reduces the risk of errors, thus saving time and increasing productivity. Conclusion BPM technology is evidently a crucial factor in as far as ensuring the success of an organization is concerned. Such technology reduces the risks associate with human error thus increasing speed, accuracy, and consistency of business processes. The various technological tools used in the BPM serve to connect the business operations with the technical operations within an organization hence improving the efficiency of tasks. The planning, analyzing, designing, implementation, monitoring and automation of BPM technology require the collaboration of various stakeholders within the companies. As a result, organizations practicing BPM are better suited to withstand change and achieve organizational objectives even in the face of economic challenges. References Jeston, J., &Nelis, J., 2006. Business Process Management: Practical Guidelines to Successful Implementations. Mason, Ma: Elseiver Ltd. Malik, T., 2009. Process Management: Practical Guidelines to Successful Implementation. New Delhi: Global India Publications Ltd. Oracle., 2009. Building the Business Case for BPM. Oracle White Paper. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from www.oracle.com/us/corporate/insight/business-case-bpm-wp-171710.pdf. Tanrikorur, T., 2007. Business Process Management 101: The Basics Of BPM And How To Choose The Right Suite. Retrieved from www.informationweek.com. Bibliography Boots, J. 2012. BPM Organization and Personnel-Part2 …Bptrends. Retrieved from: www.bptrends,com. Cooper, M., & Patterson, P. 2007. Business Process Management (BPM) Topics covering Definition, Objectives, Systems, and Solutions. Retrieved from: www.cio.com. Read More