BPM NOW: Building a Case for BPM

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Case studies can be powerful tools for illustrating the potential benefits of a BPM initiative. A common problem, however, is the perception that stories must be about very similar companies who solved nearly identical problems. But even though they may not describe the exact situation you're facing, they frequently contain enough similarities for you to make adequate comparisons and draw relevant insights if you know what to look for.

It's therefore beneficial to be able to dissect a case study, identify important concepts and metrics within it, and apply those concepts to your own situation.

Understanding the real-world ROI that other companies have realized, whether revenue benefits such as increasing the number of orders processed or cost benefits such as reducing cycle times, can help make or strengthen the case for your own BPM initiative.

Below are excerpts from a case study about KPN, a leading Dutch Telecommunications company. Each excerpt represents a piece of information where one might expect a similar type of ROI from a variety of BPM projects. Look for language like that below when using a case study to back up your own case for BPM. (Case Study)

	“The existing system [for taking orders] was entirely manual.” This suggests that KPN was dealing with a straightforward and frequently repeated process that lends itself to automation—a scenario common to many organizations. According to the case study they were able to process 80% of orders automatically, which cut processing time from 2 days to 2 hours and resulted in a savings of almost 200,000 Euros a month. This demonstrates how an increase in processing speed can deliver ROI in the form of reduced costs.
	“KPN expected these figures [number of orders] to increase threefold [to 30,000/month] in the coming months.” This represents the expected revenue growth component of the ROI, as KPN intended to handle this increased volume (with the aid of BPM software) without increasing headcount.
	"In November and December, we saw orders of 100,000 a month [10 times manual capacity]” This represents the actual ROI they saw as a result of revenue growth. This also illustrates the importance of finding a scalable solution. If KPN had selected a solution addressed only their anticipated needs, they would have lost the revenue from 70,000 additional orders per month.

Benefits such as reduced costs and increased revenue, as well as issues such as scalability are common to many if not most BPM projects. A case study like this one can be applied to many processes where similar benefits and issues might be expected. Even if a case study is not from your industry, you may still be able to generalize the results to validate your expectations for where ROI might be generated or identify opportunities for ROI that you hadn’t considered. In fact, it is often more valuable to identify commonalities between process problems than to seek out case studies strictly by industry.


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	Realizing the Value of Knowledge in The Enterprise

	BPM For Your BPM

	IDC Forecasts Strong BPA Growth

	Best Practices for Your BPM and SOA Journey

	Calculating the Expected ROI of BPM

	Building a Case for BPM

	Choosing the Right BPM Partner

	The Real-World Value of BPM

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