Has your BPM project delivered – please lets open this debate up and comment below?

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We tend to over emphasise the roll of technology yet fail to fully appreciate the fundamentals that truly differentiates day to day operational excellence from “betting the bank” on the latest technological fad.

Too many project-based initiatives that focus on improving efficiency and effectiveness do not sustain long after the relevant project has completed – I have heard this time and time again.

How is one able to address the following in a single focused initiative with quantifiable results as rapidly as 2, 5 months after commencement:

• Internal and external service level compliance
• Risk based quality framework
• Transformation of management’s capability to run the day to day operations
• Improved productivity by between 20 and 50%
• Reduced costs

while focusing on real-time operational activity with the existing processes and technologies?

Please share your experience with me at tonycohn@egsa.co.za  as I hear more and more often that promises of such results often fail to deliver.  Even when we do know what we are looking for….

So what do all the above mean……why all the different angles?

Well the crux of things I feel is that we need to deliver to the customers’ expectations while minimising the costs of doing so.  If this is the case what is the best path to take…..getting people to do the correct thing at the correct time…not just for a project’s sake, not because a newer technology promises the world but takes too long or is too expensive to do so. Run your business properly.  Understand what you already have in place, use what you have coupled with real-time operational metrics and change operational management behaviours.

This brings sustainability, continuity and supports the proliferation of continuous improvement best practice. What do you think and which initiative has delivered the best benefits for you?

Given my previous blog entry around the problems with the “silver bullet” mentality to solve operational management issues, I wish to emphasise my belief that by getting the day-to-day running of an operational management area to be “optimised”, a minimum of 20 and up to 50% productivity gain is easily possible – while working with the existing operational parameters (the as is) before spending huge effort (time, money) on the move to a new future view (the to be).

This then underpins the understanding of the current situation, generates productivity gains and becomes the “measurement system” to understand what is required to migrate to the “to be” in a more controlled and structured manner.

Broadly speaking operational management should:

• Define what you have in terms of current processes
• Apply real-time operational metrics to unlock the understanding
• Gain control of the current operational space by applying a tried, tested and proven operational management methodology
• Deliver rapid productivity gains
• Understand the type and appropriateness of interventions (combinations of items mentioned under the “silver bullet” point above) and be able to measure their impact in transforming from the “as is” to the “to be” environment in a controlled fashion.

And yes, be able to do this before, during or after other initiatives….

Do you agree or can you share your experience of chicken or egg?  Please comment and we can get some debate going.

1. The infamous ’silver bullet’ – whether this be BPM, New System Replacement /System Enhancement, Lean Six Sigma or BAM is characterised by the incorrect belief that in focusing all efforts on one of these initiatives our operational world will be transferred into the infamous ‘greener pasture’.

2. You can’t focus on more than one thing at a time – in conjunction with the first misconception, there is the belief that, or rather lack of understanding of, what is actually required to support the ability to do ‘multiple things/projects’.

The reality is much of the above is premised on the fact that day-to-day operations are already being run optimally…….isn’t this where so much success or failure is pinned from the get go?

During our recent presentation at the IT Web BPM summit much support was expressed around the following for:

1. The inability for BPM on its own to transform operational management and guarantee results.

2. eg’s ability to either precede or implement concurrently with a BPM deployment to ensure managerial behaviour transformation.

I have the presentation slides from this event that cover how day–to-day operations are not being run optimally and what can be done to turn this around quickly, with some outstanding results.

For anyone who is interested in receiving the slides please email tonycohn@egsa.co.za