Business process quality management is often shortened to BPQM and can also go by the terms process management or reengineering.
Overview: What is business process quality management?
It is defined as a variety of different methods utilized by an organization in order to bring into alignment the various components of a business with the needs of its customer base.
6 benefits of business process quality management
Here are several benefits of business process quality management:
1. Increased business agility
Companies need to be able to react to change. Whatever the source of the changes, companies need to be able to react swiftly in order to maintain their relevance. Adopting business process quality management allows companies the ability and speed to meet demands at the first sign of an issue.
2. Maximizing efficiency
Business process quality management practices are designed to spot inefficiencies and eliminate the waste that they create, thereby maximizing the efficiency of an organization.
3. Increased visibility
By studying performance at each step in the process, a more well-rounded picture emerges of the overall business, allowing for further improvements wherever they are needed.
4. Greater compliance and security
With each step of the process mapped out, an organization can ensure that compliance standards are being met. A fully mapped-out workflow can also provide greater security.
5. Optimized transferability of business knowledge
Since business process quality management encourages a documented process map of workflow, knowledge can be recorded, shared, and archived. This knowledge can then be passed down to successive employees, minimizing the disruption that comes with a change in personnel.
6. Continuous improvement opportunities
With the information given to a company in regards to its business processes through business process quality management, there is a greater chance for constant refinement.
Why is business process quality management important to understand?
Business process quality management is important to understand for the following reasons:
Greater consistency
If you have an understanding of business process quality management, you have possession of a tool that can lead your organization to achieve greater consistency in its processes.
Waste reduction
By having a working knowledge of this concept and implementing it in your business, you could significantly reduce waste and improve the use of your resources.
Customer satisfaction
If you understand business process quality management, you can drastically improve your processes in order to better satisfy the needs of your customers.
An industry example of business process quality management
A business is beginning to find that many of the processes that were developed by its managers and employees worked well for the first few years of operation, but are no longer meshing with the larger framework of the company. In order to align the business processes with the overall company goals, it is decided to start utilizing BPQM software. With the software, the hope is to identify the appropriate steps needed to complete the business tasks and then have those steps mapped into the existing processes. With this strategy, the processes can be streamlined to create overall greater efficiency.
3 best practices when thinking about business process quality management
Here are some practices to keep in mind when thinking about business process quality management:
1. Improvement culture
For this concept to work best in an organization, company culture should be developed where quality improvement is an emphasis.
2. Quality and process are inextricably linked
You cannot expect high-quality results without grasping what needs to be done with various inputs to get the desired output.
3. Supportive management
Support of management is absolutely vital for the successful implementation of any BPQM method.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about business process quality management
What are the three key activities of quality management?
Product improvement, process improvement, and people-based improvement are the three key components.
What are the four types of business processes?
The four core processes are concept-to-product, market-to-customer, order-to-cash, and demand-to-supply.
If your business is already successful, is this concept useful?
BPQM helps you to ensure that your business has the resources and expertise to deliver your product or service consistently. Just because a business is successful does not mean that it cannot improve.
Stepping up to business process quality management
If you are finding in your business that strategies that had worked previously are no longer working and continual improvement efforts are not doing enough, perhaps it is time to take quality improvement a step further and try business process quality management.
