By Liam O’Neill, Director, bpmd
When establishing a BPM practice, it’s vital to ensure that all your hard work translates into lasting value for your organisation. Too often, I’ve seen companies lose momentum, turning their processes into little more than static models that serve audits but fail to drive meaningful change. Here is how you can make sure that doesn’t happen to you.
Be clear on the purpose of the processes created
This can vary from area to area, but could be:
- Providing the wider Group / Company with instruction to make peoples lives easier
- Support peoples onboarding & training
- Improvement
- Compliance
- Support System Transformation (e.g. Finance & S/4HANA or Product Development & the SAP PLM upgrade)
The audience matters too. Are you creating processes for everyday users or experts? Simplify processes for broader audiences and save complex details for specialised teams like system transformation or improvement experts. Clear communication ensures that processes are both accessible and effective.
Don’t compete… enable!
In many organisations, multiple teams are tasked with improving ways of working: transformation, lean initiatives, automation, and continuous improvement, to name a few. BPM can act as a unifying thread, coordinating efforts from planning through delivery. By routing ideas through process reviews, aligning stakeholders, and facilitating execution, BPM removes silos and ensures impactful, well-coordinated improvements with strong business buy-in.
Focus on one area at a time
There are lots of ways that Signavio can support your company and lots of different stakeholders to play with. Start delivering value in a few ways at one time – don’t try to model every process at once!
- meeting the most critical compliance requirement (ISO)
- facilitate the improvement of a process (Idea to Market) – focus on the handover between teams, that is where the issues are most likely to sit.
- manage risks in Finance
- enable a system implementation (S/4)
- Focusing on high-impact areas helps build momentum and demonstrates value early in the process.
Owners should own the process and not the just model
True ownership goes beyond managing models. Process owners must have the authority to make meaningful changes. Senior sponsorship is often key to enabling this. Start with areas where you already have both business need and strong sponsorship to ensure early wins.
Stay relevant Internally and Externally
The BPM landscape is constantly evolving with new tools and technologies. While foundational tools like modelling software remain essential, consider emerging innovations such as digital interaction intelligence or digital adoption platforms. For example, AI-powered tools can proactively deliver the right resources to the right people at the right time, enhancing efficiency and reducing friction.
Decentralise in a controlled way
When expanding modelling efforts across the organisation, it’s easy to lose control of quality. To prevent this:
- Establish clear guidelines and a strong taxonomy
- Provide training and feedback to modellers
- Maintain some level of central oversight to manage requests, avoid duplication, and promote cross-functional collaboration
This balance ensures that your models remain robust and actionable without creating unnecessary bottlenecks.
Keep Moving Forward
BPM has the potential to drive transformative change, but only if it’s actively nurtured and aligned with your organisation’s broader goals. Whether you take these steps independently or seek external support, staying focused and adaptable will help ensure that your BPM efforts deliver real, lasting value.