In many companies, processes exist only in employees’ heads. No one has documented the journey from order to invoice or defined who approves a leave request, so everyone follows their own approach.
Business Process Management, or BPM, organises, measures and systematically improves the way a company actually operates. What is BPM? This question usually arises when chaos begins to generate real costs, such as slow invoice processing, missed approvals and a lack of clarity about responsibilities.
It is important to emphasise that Business Process Management is primarily a management methodology, while software is only a tool that supports it. In this article, we explain what business processes are, what their lifecycle looks like, what benefits process optimisation provides, how BPM differs from workflow automation and how to choose the right software.
What Is Business Process Management (BPM)?
Before discussing the benefits and available tools, let us establish a shared understanding of what a business process is and how its lifecycle is managed within the BPM approach.
A Simple Definition of BPM
BPM can be defined as a systematic approach to designing, executing, monitoring and improving business processes. It is not a one-off project, but an ongoing practice of reviewing how work is actually carried out within an organisation.
What is a business process? It is a repeatable sequence of activities that leads to a specific outcome. For example, the journey from receiving a customer order to issuing an invoice and shipping the goods is a business process.
The definition of process management can be summarised in one sentence: BPM is a management discipline, while specific software, such as a workflow system, low-code platform or ERP module, is only a tool rather than an end in itself.
The Process Lifecycle in the BPM Approach
The process lifecycle consists of several stages: process identification and mapping, designing improvements, implementation, performance monitoring and data-driven optimisation.
The first stage involves documenting how a process actually works, rather than how it is supposed to work. The key point is that the cycle never truly ends. Business process modelling quickly becomes outdated because teams, customers and IT systems change over time. Processes therefore require regular review rather than a one-off exercise that can simply be marked as completed.
Categories of Business Processes
Not all processes serve the same purpose. Some create value directly for customers, others support value creation, while another group is responsible for managing the organisation as a whole.
Core, Supporting and Management Processes
Business processes can be divided into three main categories. Core processes create value that is directly experienced by the customer, such as sales, production or service delivery. Supporting processes are not usually visible to the customer, but the company could not operate without them. These include HR, IT and accounting.
Core and supporting processes are complemented by a third category: management processes, such as planning, budgeting and performance control.
In a trading and service company, order fulfilment may be a core process, business travel expense settlement a supporting process and budget planning a management process. It is important to understand these categories before attempting to organise or improve business processes.
Which Processes Should Be Improved First?
Process prioritisation should be based on several criteria: frequency, the cost of errors, the impact on customers and the number of people involved.
A process that occurs only once a year is rarely the best place to start, even when it is highly disorganised.
A practical recommendation is to begin with repetitive and time-consuming processes. When deciding which processes to automate first, these areas usually deliver the fastest and most visible results.
Benefits of Business Process Management
Implementing BPM generates two types of benefits: those that can be measured immediately and those that become more apparent as the company grows.
Lower Costs, Shorter Lead Times and Fewer Errors
The most measurable benefits of BPM include eliminating unnecessary steps, reducing processing times and limiting manual work. This also decreases the number of errors caused by repeatedly entering the same data into different systems.
A good example of process cost optimisation is the handling of supplier invoices. In many companies, an invoice circulates for several days in paper form or by email before reaching all the required decision-makers.
An electronic workflow with automated approvals can reduce this time to just a few hours. This is a clear reduction in processing time that can be easily demonstrated to management.
Transparency, Compliance and Easier Business Scaling
Documented and transparent processes make it easier to onboard new employees and reduce the company’s dependence on the knowledge of individual team members.
Process transparency is also important for compliance with audits, ISO standards and GDPR requirements, as every step leaves a record of who performed a particular action and when.
Standardised work is also essential for sustainable growth. Scaling a business and implementing ERP or CRM systems is much easier when processes have already been documented instead of being discovered during the implementation itself.
What Is the Difference Between BPM and Workflow?
These terms are often used interchangeably, although they refer to different levels of process management. Let us examine how they differ and how they complement each other.
Workflow – Automating a Single Process
What is workflow in practice? It is an automated flow of tasks and documents within a single process.
One example is the approval of a leave request, where the system automatically forwards the request to the next person responsible for reviewing it. A classic application of workflow is document circulation, including invoices, contracts and purchase orders.
Workflow answers a relatively narrow question: who performs which task and at what stage of the process? Workflow automation eliminates uncertainty about who currently has a document or task, but it does not determine whether the process itself has been designed effectively.
BPM – A Broader Management Perspective
The relationship between BPM and workflow is the relationship between a broader management approach and one of the tools used within it.
BPM includes the analysis, design and continuous improvement of multiple processes, while workflow automates a single, already designed flow.
The difference between BPM and workflow can also be seen in their time horizon. Workflow supports the process as it operates today, while BPM considers how processes should develop over the next one or two years.
Process management and process automation therefore operate at different levels of the same activity. A well-designed workflow is the result of a thoughtful BPM approach, not a substitute for it.
Improving Business Processes with BPM
Simply drawing a process map does not change anything. The real value of BPM begins when the organisation starts measuring and automating what has already been designed.
How Can Business Processes Be Measured and Analysed?
The basic process performance indicators include cycle time, unit cost and error rate. Business process analysis combines process maps, interviews with employees involved in the process and data from IT systems.
Process bottlenecks usually become visible where the process map shows one thing, while employees carry out the work differently in practice.
Automation and Digitalisation as Drivers of Improvement
Typical business process automation includes electronic document workflows, automatic notifications, system integrations and robotic process automation, or RPA, for repetitive activities.
One important principle should always be followed: simplify the process first and automate it afterwards. Digitalising a disorganised process only reinforces the existing disorder.
What exactly is RPA? It is a tool for simple, repetitive activities, not a way to repair a poorly designed process. Artificial intelligence is also playing an increasingly important role, for example through process mining, which reconstructs the actual process flow from data and identifies deviations.
Business Process Management Software
The market offers a wide range of tools supporting BPM, from simple process-mapping applications to enterprise-class platforms. Let us look at the main categories and how to choose a solution suited to the scale of the organisation.
Types of Tools: From Process Modelling to Low-Code Platforms
BPM software can be divided into several categories: process modelling tools, workflow engines, comprehensive business process management systems covering the entire lifecycle and low-code platforms, such as Microsoft Power Automate within Power Platform, which make it possible to build workflows without writing code.
Modern ERP and CRM systems now include built-in process mechanisms, including approvals, notifications and automated task flows. This reduces the number of separate tools that need to be maintained.
A low-code platform is particularly useful when a company needs to automate something quickly that is not yet available in its core business system.
How to Choose a BPM System for Your Company
The question of how to choose a BPM system should be broken down into several criteria: ease of process modelling for non-technical users, integration with existing systems, reporting capabilities, cloud availability and the actual cost of licences and maintenance.
A BPM implementation should ideally begin with a pilot focused on one process. The software selection criteria should also include cooperation with an experienced implementation partner who can carry out a pre-implementation analysis in a realistic and objective way, without promising the complete elimination of errors, because BPM cannot guarantee that.
Frequently Asked Questions About Business Process Management (BPM)
What Is BPM in Simple Terms?
BPM is an approach to organising, measuring and improving the way a company performs its work, from processing customer orders to handling internal approvals.
What Are Some Examples of Business Processes?
Examples include supplier invoice processing, approving leave requests, fulfilling customer orders and onboarding new employees.
What Is the Difference Between BPM and Workflow?
Workflow automates a single flow of tasks, while BPM includes the analysis, design and continuous improvement of multiple processes across the entire organisation.
Does BPM Require Specialised Software?
Not always. BPM is primarily a management methodology, although software makes process automation and performance measurement easier.
How Should a Small or Medium-Sized Business Start Managing Processes?
The best approach is to begin with one repetitive process, such as invoice processing, map it, simplify it and only then automate it.
What Are the Benefits of Business Process Automation?
The main benefits include shorter processing times, fewer errors caused by manual work, greater transparency for audits and easier business scaling.
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General Manager at IT Vision with over 20 years of experience in the ERP industry. She has completed more than 65 projects based on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, combining the expertise of an analyst, leader, and project manager. She specializes in ERP and B2B implementations for manufacturing, service, and distribution companies.
