BPM provider Staffware claism that independent research counters the Butler Group’s statement that BPM failed to deliver any return on investment. A poll of users by Intercai Mondiale found every company reported improved productivity due to the use of this technology, 95% of those polled reporting an improved quality of service and 82% reduced operating costs. Moreover, every organisation polled said they planned to expand their BPM deployments within the year.
The new research, conducted by independent consultancy Intercai Mondiale, polled organisations using BPM solutions from Staffware, including Barclays, BT Wholesale, Nedbank, PPS Insurance Ltd, Thames Valley Police, Vital Insurance, and Carolinas Healthcare.
Estimated benefits to the organisation from BPM deployments were exceeded in 69 per cent of cases. 80 per cent of respondent organisations said operating cost reductions were better than expected, 89 per cent said productivity improvements exceeded expectations, 82 per cent cited better-than-expected IT ownership cost reductions, and 88 per cent said their company’s service quality had been improved more than anticipated.
On the back of the return on investment already achieved, every organisation polled said they were planning to expand their BPM deployments in the next 12 months. BPM was currently used by 26 per cent of business units within the organisations and for 15 per cent of key business processes; however, within the next 12 months, the research found these figures will grow to 40 per cent of business units and 30 per cent of key processes respectively.
As a result, the average number of active users per company – currently 560 – will explode to 1,399 users per company within 12 months, a growth rate of 150 per cent. The finance and telecommunications industries will grow even faster, at more than 300 per scent.
“The research shows that the move to process-centric management approaches is well and truly underway. Organisations are increasingly linking performance measures to business strategy and are more conscious of documenting, managing and improving processes,” Intercai Mondiale research director, Jeremy Povey, says.
Respondents agreed that the two main reasons for implementing BPM were to enable operational process improvement (68 per cent) and to deliver strategic competitive advantage (59 per cent).
The main business objectives which the respondents said their company was looking to achieve with BPM were being able to adapt quickly to changing market needs, to increase visibility of processes across the organisation, increase process control and improve co-ordination across locations and departments. Regulatory compliance was seen only as a secondary driver.
“It is clear from the customer research that BPM is viewed as a strategic purchase which is a business-led decision, not IT-led. It shows that BPM will be increasingly applied to support strategic business objectives and to support end-to-end processes rather than individual departmental processes. It is clear that the process-centric enterprise is now becoming a reality very fast,” Staffware chairman and CEO, John O’Connell, adds.