Business process management is a data-heavy practice all about monitoring workflows and refining the rules and conditions to make them as efficient as possible. As such, it is a perfect task for intelligent technologies which can process large quantities of data and help human workers derive deeper insights. Intelligent business process management (iBPM) helps by identifying hard-to-find gaps in processes. Once the areas of improvement are unearthed, organizations can use various technologies to improve the process.

Consider that in any department of an organization there are at least ten processes essential to the basic functioning of that business. Strengthening those processes would have a huge impact on that department and likely improve some areas of the overall business. Optimizing similarly essential processes in departments throughout the organization would be transformative, reducing costs and driving efficiencies company-wide. iBPM makes it easier for businesses to monitor and refine processes throughout their entire organizations, unlocking the full benefits of digital transformation.

How the iBPM industry is evolving

While America is currently the largest geography for the iBPM Industry, the Asia-Pacific market is expected to grow the most in this fiscal year (April 2021 to March 2022). Based on various reports, the iBPM industry is currently valued around 3.75 billion with a CAGR of around 6.65%. Advancements in technologies like robotic process automation (RPA) and AI are encouraging widespread adoption and driving growth of the iBPM industry. Even small businesses are now adopting iBPM because of the tangible benefits it provides.

In mid-2018, iBPM companies started investing in cloud technologies, paving the way for new opportunities and offerings like as-a-service models. iBPM software providers have since started providing low-code and no-code software to meet new demands from non-traditional developers. With new ways of working emerging after the Covid-19, iBPM companies have started improving the collaboration aspects of BPM software solutions, as these are essential to stay productive going forward.

Figure 1: Market Growth for BPM Industry

iBPM in every sector

iBPM is both a solution and an enabler of solutions for any industry.

In human resources, for example, HR professionals often spend a lot of time onboarding new candidates. iBPM can transform the entire onboarding process, automating and streamlining exhaustive processes from end to end, saving time and resources. Wipro enterprise operation transformation (EOT) helps HR departments deliver more comprehensive hire-to-retire support, perfecting the employee experience from application to their last day on the job.

For sales departments, coordinating purchase orders (PO) and invoices can be cumbersome, requiring a lot of communication between teams. With manual processing, human errors in these tasks are inevitable and time-consuming. Again, iBPM can help here by automating activities throughout this entire process, improving productivity, saving time, and reducing manual errors during invoice and PO entry. These efficiencies also support a shorter sale cycle leading to less requirement of working capital.

Finance departments also handle a lot of paperwork. From internal expenses to external spending, every team comes to Finance for approval or to process a request. This relationship — a single finance department communicating with so many other departments — can make day-to-day operations complex and hard to manage. iBPM can help organizations move towards one-click approvals and create workflows to automate tasks based on specific needs.

The true value of iBPM

Refining business processes might not seem so complicated at first, but take a closer look at a process — even a small, very specific one — and you’ll quickly see how many other associate processes are running in the background, connected to an influencing this one seemingly simple action. Once we start digging , we tend to find simple actions creating bottlenecks that delay the whole process. Sometimes, the solution to these challenges can be just as simple, like putting a check at certain place to ensure that overall flow of the process is not disrupted. Often, though, addressing the entire issue is requires a comprehensive approach.

For one, it is very difficult to keep a track of individual tasks. It is easier for leaders to think of entire processes and manage holistically. iBPM tools can help with this by focusing on the individual tasks and providing leaders with the continuous monitoring they need to manage the entire process more effectively, delivering outcomes that generate value and have greater impact.

At Wipro, we work with Camunda to help organizations implement workflow automation without having to worry about IT resources. We also have our own IP solution known as BASE)))™, which is an end-to-end operations management platform driven by analytics and technology blocks. Base))) delivers targeted solutions which help organizations adapt and manage their business effectively.

Benefits of implementing iBPM

Reducing costs and increasing customer satisfaction can be hard to do simultaneously. How do you balance business costs and customer experience?

Technology can help. With iBPM, organization learn where and how they need to change and which technologies can help them do it. Businesses of all sizes, across all industries are now looking to iBPM for benefits that will help them pull ahead of the competition:

1. Visibility & Transparency
   Transparency is the top priority for most C-suite employees. In the logistics industry, it is often more important than operations because it helps track vehicles and meet demand with greater efficiency. Transparency helps all organizations monitor and control processes. iBPM software companies are modifying software to provide continuous monitoring and real-time insights. Based on these inputs, organizations can better prioritize the processes that they automate for greater success faster.
   
   
2. Safety & Compliance
   Government rules and regulations are often changing, especially for global organizations. iBPM ensures compliance by continuously monitoring regulations for all relevant processes, alerting organizations of any compliance issue, and investigating it before it becomes irreversible. iBPMs also help organizations monitor internal controls to protect employees and sensitive information.
3. Agility
   Technology is growing rapidly and roles are constantly changing. To keep pace, businesses and employees need to be agile. Businesses need to be able to implement changes quickly with minimal disruptions, and their workforce needs the capabilities to adapt to new work environments. iBPM offers organizations a holistic view so they are prepared to implement changes on the fly and adapt to any situation. Once there is a documentation of all processes, it is much easier to assess the impact of proposed changes, comparing various processes and changes linked to them.
4.  Digital Transformation
   Many companies today are going digital and embracing automation. Their digital transformations often start with a roadmap which takes three to four years to create and prioritizes processes to save time and money. iBPM can help safely expedite this process by laying the foundation, analyzing and shortlisting suitable processes for partial or end-to-end automation. No-code iBPM platforms are enabling more teams, not just developers, to analyze and prioritize activities that are best for them. This bottom-up approach will likely spark a culture of digital transformation throughout entire organizations, the benefits of which will be realized over the coming years.

Figure 2: Integration of BPM Platforms with other applications

How to select the right iBPM Tool

When selecting the right tool for iBPM for your business, the most important thing to understand is the organizational goal you are trying to achieve. Once you understand where you want to go, you can create knowledge maps that describe the current state of your business processes and possible paths of improvement.

Unfortunately, this entire process is more complex than it sounds. Each step involves many stakeholders and a lot of time. To achieve your transformation goals, your organization needs to take the time to document your business needs, devise strategies, and align on a path forward.

Base)))™is a business process platform driven by analytics that uses business and technology blocks to deliver targeted solutions. The platform helps align business operations with performance objectives, fast-track automation through Harmony, bridge strategy to execution, and acquire data from multiple sources for dynamic analytics. Base)))™ has four core components: Prism for root cause analysis, Harmony for managing business interactions and process harmonization, Core for effective operations management, and Govern for driving operational governance. The platform helps clients achieve substantial benefits in outsourced processes by improving process efficiency, effectiveness, governance, control, and compliance.

As a leader in iBPM support and digital business transformations, we know that it’s sometimes best to work with a business’ internal teams to truly understand their situation and that we compliment, rather than duplicate, their efforts. From implementation support to upskilling and technical assistance, our highly collaborative teams work with internal teams to meet business needs while providing them the autonomy to transform any current and future process.