Empowering Business Teams with Interactive BPM
Interactive BPM is a powerful and flexible capability that enables business professionals to view real-time performance metrics and to make changes to business processes dynamically. The first component of interactive BPM is business activity monitoring (BAM) which provides visibility into key performance indicators (KPIs). However, providing a "warning" when KPIs fall outside targeted levels is not enough. Business results are only improved when "action" is taken. The power of interactive BPM is linking BAM directly to a BPM execution engine. In this way, when a KPI threshold is reached, the business team can optimize the process by using an interactive control to change business rules or adjust process flows.
The need for interactive BPM is apparent in almost any business situation, from loan scoring to online shopping cart analysis, or supply chain logistics to customer support operations. To illustrate the value of interactive BPM, let's consider the need to optimize the flow of a lead generation process. Leads are directed to inside sales or field sales based on their qualification level, where:
Level 1 = Valid email;
Level 2 = Has project;
Level 3 = Has budget; and
Level 4 = Has RFP.
Typically, level 1 and 2 leads are sent to inside sales for telesales follow-up, while level 3 and 4 leads are sent directly to field sales. The team is experiencing an unexpectedly high response rate and needs to make a temporary change in the process to offload some of the call volume to field sales. In our first scenario, let's take a look at how the marketing and IT teams might interact when they do not have interactive BPM:
Marketing (to IT): I just emailed 55,000 prospects through KMWorld, and more than 400 people have already clicked on the link and registered for a white paper and Web-based seminar. I need to know how many leads are in the queue with inside sales and if field sales has any excess capacity.
IT: Since this is not a standard report, I would have to run a special report for you. Since it is a relatively straightforward query, I could probably turn this around in two to three days.
Marketing: Unfortunately, I need it today. I may need to adjust the process immediately to reroute level 2 leads to field sales so they can act as an overflow. IT: Even if I run the report today, you won't be able to change your process right away. That will take several days because we will need to identify the new rules and have them developed and tested before taking the new process live. To update the process, we need to document the requirements in order to add them to the requirements list for new features to be added next year.
Now, let's revisit the same scenario to see how interactive BPM can empower the business team to optimize the process dynamically, right from their desktop, and without requiring IT resources.
Marketing (thinking): According to my KPI gauges, my inside sales team is "red-lined" with 250 outbound calls, while outside sales has available bandwidth. If I dial down qualification threshold from 3 to 2, I can temporarily offload some of the call volume until the incoming leads stabilize. (Switch dial to lower threshold.)
After adjusting the process and comparing the two sets of gauges, the lower set of gauges indicates the process has been dynamically optimized. The inside sales gauge has moved below 200 and out of the red zone as lead volume has shifted to the field sales team.
To learn more about iBAM, the Ultimus iBAM Suite, and the Ultimus BPM Suite, visit
www.ultimus.com/iBAM.htm, call 919-678-0900, or email
info@ultimus.com.
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