innateaspectsofprocessmanagement

Innovative people-centric process management is about encouraging and influencing process innovation and optimization. 

The "Social BPM" is a concept that describes collaboratively designed and iterated processes. These processes mirror the way work is performed from a "doer" perspective and experienced from a "receiver" perspective to harness the power of continuous learning from "the collective" insight. In short, "Social BPM - Design by Doing."

1. A Series of Questions upon Social BPM 

As “Social BPM” is just a concept that describes collaboratively designed and iterated processes. The term is very synonymous with “socially enabled processes”.

• Fundamental FAQ about Social BPM: What actually is Social BPM, how does it differ from regular BPM - is it just an attempt to provide a communication platform for sharing while designing automation? Is it the inclusion of "listeners" so that you can capture where and when your customers are talking about your products or services on social networks and then have that captured information start off processes within your organization automatically? 

• Tactical Questions about Social BPM: Do you need social things in your modeling tools when you are modeling/ designing a process? Is social so important in the execution of processes nowadays that we cannot ignore it as another enabler for process performance? Social" BPM as the understanding of the informal processes that exist in any work place,  It is part of the value network movement. Most processes are linear and structured and social is chaotic and non-linear. Clearly there are some processes that lend themselves to a more collaborative approach in the creative aspects of businesses. Here is where social-BPM can augment the activity by giving just enough structure without limiting innovation. The other question has to be is the cost of doing this worth the potential benefit? Majority perhaps vote "yes" because social computing is here to stay and users are becoming used to working in this manner. Forward-thinking businesses must adapt and adopt the new paradigm faster than the users do. 

• More questions: When we're trying to solve a business problem or improve our customers' experience, does it really matter how we categorize the activity and whether or not it is technically feasible (work around have been a reality for decades)? What comes first? Process or Collaboration? Is collaboration grafted onto process only? Or is process discovered through collaboration? Can we use the concepts of social and the philosophies of BPM to build a better solution? How do we use technology to build shareholder value? How can technology improve our lives? Does it help grow revenue and market share, build shareholder value, improve customers' experiences and operate more efficiently and then, you can call it "success". 

2.  Social BPM Intersects of Process and Collaborative Activities 

BPM describes what needs to be done and the order in which it needs to be done - so the process defines the way we do things - how the actual work can be done, and is often, left to the "doer" - The other point seems to be saying that because there is a carbon (people) component to the process then it is automatically social, but how does that move the agenda? - Processes exits (and always have) at two levels (carbon and silicon) and they interact with systems and people all the time. Also there are many touch points in processes that will take us into the collaboration world - social BPM is simply putting a tag onto something that is well known and well researched - start by looking into the case management to see

• Social BPM resides at the intersection of process and collaborative activity. It is supported by BPM and social software that make process design more visible and holistic Social BPM is not helping move the agenda along since it's simply a new monica for extending well known problems - remember today’s requirement solution often turn into tomorrow's problem. The focus ought to be on how the work gets done - that's paramount - the process is simply a mechanism to define how it's distributed and how to know when it's done - Case Management for instance.  

• Social BPM supports more-effective process execution through the use of social software tools that augment human actions to better mirror the way work is performed, while also providing visibility to this work. This includes the ability to support all process activities, such as collaboration, social networking, collective activities and communications, that are a natural part of "work" to create a holistic process design that is open to influence and change from a variety of perspectives (for example, customers, partners, suppliers, employees and the collective). As such, social BPM moves BPI closer to design by doing.  

• Social in the enterprise or in BPM is just a helper, it helps adoption of change, it supports better, faster and more flexible work, anywhere you are at any moment of the day, it means you are connected not only to your department but to the Enterprise and to the outside world as well. What is new is the speed with which our marketplaces are changing. There can be no doubt that technological change, and as a result many other types of changes, are growing exponentially. We are at the elbow of that exponential curve now and the rate of change is only going to speed up. There are benefits to incorporating user feedback in processes. From collaboration to social, it's more related to scale & scope, social means the abundance of collaboration at broader environment (either work or life setting) with much faster speed.  

3. Social BPM Energizes and Super-charges BPM 

Social BPM not only focus on process, it's about understanding the nature correlation & connection between people and process, if traditional BPM is a bit artificial mechanism, then, social BPM seems more nature & artistic.

• Social BPM has to deliver "Business Value": All the latest technology trend may also need to get more connected with its business purpose, how to engage employees, how to delight customers, to welcome the era of participation.  Social BPM is just an enabler for faster processing and for a better visibility of the business process from an end-user/customer perspective. With the current trend where Social Media has gained so much momentum, it just provides the option to reduce the friction between the business and the end user by involving a wider audience in a short span of time. Moreover its not necessarily a mandate. Every enterprise must decide on whether to adopt Social BPM based on the business objectives it is trying to achieve. Social BPM becomes very handy in situations where the social data needs to be exploited to reap better benefits targeted towards customer centricity. 

• Where social BPM should have led was in evolving the way business structures are perceived to make them more networked rather than in silos. Coupled with evolving the BPM method to encompass this new way of thinking, it might have been an enterprise revolution. And the sets of enterprise 2.0 tools (collaboration platform, gamification, analytics,...etc) will enable business effectiveness (doing the right thing via collective wisdom) and efficiency (doing thing right), the goal is to make business more agile, purpose driven, with flexibility. The use cases include:
  1) Using social as part of the design (business of business improvement)
  2) Embedding social into the pattern of work (social changes how work can be delivered)                 3) Inclusive rather than exclusive, low barriers to entry                                                                     4) Nevertheless, associated clearly with identity, not anonymity                                                         5) Designed for sharing, for community 

• Social BPM is an important pillar to build up an untethered social enterprise, to enforce culture of innovation, enhance cross-functional communication & iteration, re-tool enterprise architecture, and improve customer experience management.

            1) Managing projects

2) Recruiting & managing talent

3) Providing customer service

4) Increasing sales

5) Driving brand affinity

BPM is about managing knowing from flowing, then, social BPM is about encouraging and influencing process innovation and optimization. A highly orchestrated workforce is necessary to keep pace. Social BPM is the next practice via taking advantage of collaborative platform and knowledge sharing tools to refine and optimize processes from end-to-end to promote efficiency and effectiveness, nurture innovation, amplify collective human capabilities, or optimize customer experience & increase customer value

Posted in: Business Process Management