How BPM affords organizations the agility to compete with ‘digital native’ competitors

PEX Network caught up with Vikram Mehta, head of continuous improvement at transport and logistics company Maersk, who dives into the role of business process management (BPM) in adapting to hybrid work models, enabling continuous improvement and driving organizational agility.

PEX Network: Is BPM helping you adapt to a hybrid work model that includes both office and remote work?

VM: BPM is key in planning and adapting to a hybrid work model (HWM). It is becoming increasingly evident that HWM’s are here to stay, implementing and sustaining HWM’s has enabled organizations to continue business as usual. Some organizations have already announced that HWM is their ‘new normal’ as it has proven to provide flexibility and support to employees, leading to greater employee engagement.  

Having said that, for many organizations, 2020 was when they first experimented a HWM so it came with its fair share of challenges and learnings. It is very important to get your HWM model right to ensure higher productivity and efficiency, while continuing to offer flexibility to employees and customers, this is where BPM comes into play.

For me personally, a good understanding of BPM tools and practices such as RACI, a responsibility assignment matrix, has helped me ensure we have a HWM that works and meets our objectives. It has allowed me to clearly define and review responsibility, results and effective communication in my teams.

PEX Network: How can BPM help organizations become more agile and compete with ‘digital native’ competitors?

VM: 2020 was one of the most disruptive years in recent history, leading to a very competitive business world today. Products and technologies that are apposite today might not be tomorrow. Start-ups are receiving more investments than ever before, especially in the world of technology.

Businesses have already experienced tough competition from their digitally advanced competitors and it might only get fiercer in future.

An important aspect of the BPM cycle is design. It involves designing existing processes, systems and tools to meet and exceed business needs. This stage ends when the status-quo is at its optimum, however. It also includes attempting to predict the future. Successful organizations spend significant resources on research and development and BPM to identify, determine and cater to future needs of their existing customers as well as new opportunities. 

Continuous improvement teams use BPM and agile principles to plan sprints and squads toward the organization’s digital transformation strategy.

The challenge is not limited to digital native competitors, however. Organizations are also faced with the challenge of living up to the expectations of digital native staff. As the workforce lifecycle changes from Generation X to Generation Y and Z, organizations also need to ameliorate workforce policies to attract new talent. 

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PEX Network: Is BPM helping you drive innovation within business processes?

VM: BPM is an integral part of our way of working. It is actively practiced in some teams, such as continuous improvement or transformation teams, but in general it is relevant to, and followed in, all departments and teams.

Innovation is at the forefront of the decisions we make, as it is our endeavor to continuously improve our processes, systems and policies to match our customers’ expectations. BPM tools, machine learning and RPA linked to Salesforce helps us preempt customer sentiments in communications and channel them accordingly to deliver an excellent customer experience. 

Another example is the use of process mining to monitor the uptake of existing services and features on our website. It allows us to study customer needs and challenges through various stages of website activity and compare them with a ‘happy’ flow to determine bottlenecks and annual operating incomes to create a great online experience for our customers.

PEX Network: How can organizations constantly leverage the BPM methodology and solutions to ensure a continuous improvement mind-set across an organization?

VM: The first step for an organization to acknowledge BPM's potential to support its vision, especially around growth ambitions. The second step is to drive it as a culture across the organization, going beyond a team or a department, which is vital to the success of BPM strategies.

Most organizations today have a well-established continuous improvement team. They should be in the driver’s seat to spread awareness and gain a commitment from the organization to continuously improve.

We do believe that BPM and continuous improvement go together as there are some synergies between the two and we leverage that to drive a continuous improvement mind-set at Maersk.

The approach we follow is to conduct bite-size trainings and share case studies and best practices from within the organization and across the industry. My team’s aim is to demystify BPM for the organization to make it easy to understand and simple to implement. 

We lead very busy work lives today and most people and teams want to continuously improve their processes and outcomes. However, they need to weigh the benefits against the effort of investment in their endeavors and this is where my team plays an important role.

PEX Network: What does the future hold for BPM tech, software and solutions?

VM: Today, BPM goes beyond just the Fortune 500 companies, its solutions and offerings are not limited to a standard package and can be tailored according to the organization’s goals.

Organizations are investing more in IT and with artificial intelligence and machine learning becoming increasingly common, digital transformation is the new norm. As a result, there is an increased focus on PEX, BPM and continuous improvement.

The current tools will remain relevant for the next few years. However, in future the approach will change. I foresee BPM solutions to be based on and supporting an ‘outside-in’ view, helping organizations build products, services and offerings based on their customers’ needs. The solution design journey needs to go from the customer to the developer, and not the other way round.

BPM plays an important role in building business resilience, technical competency, business continuity and the success of a product or service through its life cycle. To encapsulate my conclusion in a quote: “The future of BPM and continuous improvement is bright as the Sirius star”

To hear more of Mehta’s insights and analysis into the role, advantages and challenges of BPM download PEX Network’s latest report on How BPM builds business resilience.