How to improve

business process
management in
9 steps

www.softexpert.com
 Any attempt to become more competitive can
be fraught with risks and challenges, but it can
also pose opportunities.

To stay competitive, companies need to be fast.

They need flexibility and agility to rapidly change
their practices and mature their business
processes.

Innovative businesses are deploying new

business models, through processes which
deliver superior value for customers,
employees and shareholders.

Business processes allow companies to work

smarter, innovate faster and respond to new
market demands in a timely manner.

www.softexpert.com
 What is Business Process Management?
A process can be defined as a set of activities and transactions that an organization runs
day-to-day to reach an objective.

There is always a process being followed, even if it is not structured. Regardless of the
department you work in, the industry you work in, or whether your job is aimed at
generating profit or not, each activity follows a process.

They have different characteristics. They can be simple (answering a request) or

complicated (product development), short-term (review of a policy) or permanent (quality
assurance), function-specific (contract management) or industry-specific (healthcare
supply procurement). It can go through a single department (payables), be aimed at the
whole company (strategic planning) or even reach business partners (reseller
management).

Business process management (BPM) is the discipline of improving a business process

from end to end by analyzing it, modelling how it works in different scenarios, executing
improvements, monitoring the improved process and continually optimizing it.

In light of this, is there anything more important to companies than keeping their
processes running in the best possible way?

The answer is NO. Processes are what drives businesses every day. It is the work carried
out in all departments of the organization. It is the relationship with the customers. It is
what generates revenue and also what reduces costs. It is growth. It is everything.

www.softexpert.com
 Considering all of this, if processes are so relevant for the
business, why are they a source of problems, affecting
customers and the organization itself?

The answer lies along the paths that lead organizations to

business process management concepts. Oftentimes, they
can be long and tortuous, resulting in a fragmented
understanding of this discipline. Usually there is an intense
operational focus, resulting in organizations only using some
mechanisms and concepts for support. This means they do
not take full advantage of the benefits of BPM.

Improving business processes is therefore a crucial aspect

for creating value, allowing for cross-functional collaboration,
achieving better outcomes and delivering a high-quality
customer experience.

That's why we have prepared this eBook. It

introduces 9 steps that will help you implement
process improvements and get better results in
your business.

www.softexpert.com
 1 | Map your Business Process

CEOs and business executives now recognize

that conducting business without well-defined
processes is like an airline pilot flying in the
dark, without the support of the appropriate
flight instruments.

One of the initial steps to understand and

improve a Business Process is to therefore map
it. This is becoming a higher priority inside of
organizations, as there is an increasing
emphasis on optimization and achieving better
outcomes.

The clearer and simpler the process, the easier it

is for people to perform their activities. This also
ensures consistency and traceability, while
helping you achieve your goals.

You should not worry about embracing all of

your company’s processes and resolving every
problem at once.

To begin with, choose a process that has impact

and that will give you and your team an
opportunity to make significant progress in
climbing the learning curve. Then, when you are
ready, you can take on something with a bit
more complexity.

www.softexpert.com
 2 | Assess process Risk

All organizations face risks, which can affect their

operations and impact processes. When working
on process improvement initiatives, it is
important to also think about a risk management
plan.
This tool will help you prepare for unwanted
situations before they happen, minimizing risks
and possible costs and helping to protect the
processes and future of the organization.
A good risk plan should help organizations
identify which threats can impact and undermine
business processes. Basically, it can be built by
answering the following questions:
• What can go wrong? This is the Risk
identification step.
• How will it affect us? When analyzing a risk,
is it high or low?
• What should we do? You need to establish
risk control, both to prevent the loss from
occurring or to recover if the loss does occur.
• You need to think about Risk treatment.
Measures can include avoiding, optimizing,
transferring or retaining risk.

www.softexpert.com
 3 | Document your process

Can people in your company easily find and read

the documentation, and successfully execute an
instance of the process?

If so, congratulations. Your company is one step

ahead.

There are many situations where roles,

responsibilities or deadlines are not clear to the
people involved in a process.

As a result, they can not ensure business

processes run as efficiently as possible.

Having clear guidelines for staff allows tasks to be

performed in a standardized way across your
business to achieve consistency, improving
efficiency and boosting productivity.

By documenting a process using manuals,

procedures, forms or checklists, deviations can be
prevented. This translates into less waste and
eliminates unnecessary spending.

www.softexpert.com
 4 | Execute processes in a more efficient way with automation

Does your team spend countless hours filling

out forms and spreadsheets, or sending emails
to track process or request deadlines?
These kinds of tasks make processes slow and
costly. Worse, oftentimes no one realizes how
much revenue the business could have gained
if it had been more efficient.
Eliminating manual processes resolves these
situations and is one of the quickest ways to
reduce errors and inefficiencies.
With process automation, people can focus on
higher value-added tasks, improving
productivity.
Enterprise Business Process solutions enable
users across every department to work
together on the same process, in an agile and
efficient way.

www.softexpert.com
 5 | Don’t forget mobile

When choosing a business process management solution,

make sure it can be used on mobile devices such as
smartphones and tablets. Having the ability to manage your
business processes, no matter where you are, is an
important factor for success.
With mobile integration, you will have instant access to
process data, therefore increasing your ability to
communicate with team members involved in every aspect
of the workflow.
With information in the palm of your hand, you streamline
processes and accelerate decision-making.

www.softexpert.com
 6 | Train your staff

A lack of adequate employee training or even poor

training may be the cause of process deviations.
It's like getting in a car and going down a hill before
you can drive. You get going fast, but it’s not long
before you crash.
Unprepared employees tend to produce subpar
results and poor quality products or services, in
addition to adversely affecting production time.
Companies need to invest in proper training from
the time a new employee is hired. This allows them
to prevent costly mistakes and ensure that tasks
are performed correctly the first time.
If any process deviation occurs, staff will be
prepared to react quicker to the problem and ensure
it doesn’t become bigger.
With trained employees, it is possible to reduce
risks and the amount of quality control procedures.
As a benefit, companies can also ensure regulatory
compliance and better serve their customers.

www.softexpert.com
 7 | Define KPIs and track process results

For some organizations, management and

control are synonymous with vast amounts of
indicators.
However, this usually leads to an uncontrollable
situation and ends up being inconvenient
because information is missing or the data is not
reliable.
It is necessary to focus on indicators that truly
demonstrate the results of your business
processes and objectives.
In addition, it is very common to use
spreadsheets and manually update information.
A history of what happened in the past is not as
valuable to leaders, since it does not reflect the
current situation.
Today's Business Process Management
software solutions deliver rich reports fed by
real-time information. This benefits managers,
who can act proactively.
With a precise understanding of what's
happening, they can make better decisions, as
expensive problems are prevented more quickly.

www.softexpert.com
 8 | Manage process deviations

Processes do not always happen as expected.

Success in business does not just depend on
meeting customer expectations, but also on
how the company positions itself when
expectations are not met.
Non-conformance is an important element in the
success of business process management.
However, many companies find it difficult to use
non-conformances to their own benefit.
There are many tools, such as Ishikawa, 5 Whys
or FTA, that help you quickly identify the root
cause. Deviations can therefore be corrected
and eliminated through a plan of action.
A standardized and automated process is
crucial to dealing with non-conformances. It
helps you resolve the problem faster and
minimizes the risk of customer dissatisfaction.

www.softexpert.com
 9 | Improve

In the last step, the cycle begins to repeat itself.

The objective is not to find a method that works and

follow it forever, but to look at where you are today,
where you want to be, and then define what needs to be
done to get there. Once you do, you start over again,
looking for ways to improve further. This is continuous
improvement. Whatever your company's industry, this is
the approach to keep on competing.

There is a large amount of information available on

continuous improvement, sometimes confusing people
and leaving them without knowing where to start.

It is crucial to begin analyzing your current situation. When

you have a complete understanding of your scenario, you
are ready to begin following the basics of PDCA.

PLAN: Plan your improvements, including setting goals.

DO: Put in place the actions required for improvement.

CHECK: Measure your success relative to your baseline.

ACT: Adjust or tweak your changes.

www.softexpert.com
 Now that you already know how to improve business process management, learn
more about SoftExpert BPM (Business Process Management), the most complete
and innovative solution on the market for process automation and improvement,
regulatory compliance and excellence in process management.

SoftExpert BPM improves the visibility and control of business processes with its human-centric and
user-friendly interface. The solution promotes continuous improvement of processes across the entire
organization. It manages every step of the lifecycle, from modeling and optimization to automation,
execution, and monitoring.

By delivering improved business understanding, faster processes, and greater business impact on
strategic planning, the SoftExpert solution allows people to work more efficiently while improving
orchestration of complex processes and supporting business goals with real-time business
information.

www.softexpert.com
 Optimizing processes on an
ongoing basis is a key
ingredient to boosting
performance and productivity
rates at your business and
avoiding mistakes and re-work.
SoftExpert BPM provides all of
the support needed to achieve
the results you are looking for.
Learn more about the solution

www.softexpert.com
 SoftExpert Excellence Suite About SoftExpert

SoftExpert is a market leader in software and

services for enterprise-wide business process
improvement and compliance management,
providing the most comprehensive application
suite to empower organizations to increase
business performance at all levels and to
maximize industry-mandated compliance and
corporate governance programs.

Founded in 1995 and currently with more than

2,000 customers and 300,000 users worldwide,
SoftExpert solutions are used by leading
corporations in all kinds of industries, including
manufacturing, automotive, life sciences, food
and beverage, mining and metals, oil and gas,
high-tech and IT, energy and utilities, government
and public sector, financial services,
transportation and logistics, healthcare, and many
SoftExpert Excellence Suite is the most comprehensive framework of independent yet others.
united solutions to achieve business performance excellence, streamline corporate
governance, risk and compliance programs, and ensure continuous business process SoftExpert, along with its extensive network of
improvement. international partners, provides hosting,
implementation, post-sales support and
Companies may not need all applications at once, or may want to deploy one application validation services for all solutions to ensure that
module at a time, growing gradually as the need arises. Whatever the strategy chosen, customers get the maximum value from their
only a fully shared environment allows its applications to fit together like puzzle pieces investments.
and work seamlessly.

www.softexpert.com
 Take your business to the next level

www.softexpert.com | sales@softexpert.com

Disclaimer: The content of this publication may not, in whole or in part, be copied or reproduced without prior authorization from SoftExpert Software. This publication is provided by SoftExpert and/or its network of affiliates strictly for informational purposes, without any guarantee
of any kind. The only guarantees related to SoftExpert products and services are those contained within a contract. Some product functionalities and characteristics presented herein may be optional or may depend on the makeup of the offer(s) acquired. The content of this material
is subject to change without prior notice.