BPM or Business Process Management initiative in any organization is an exercise in Organizational Change Management in addition to the technical work related to the application of elements like business work flow, process, IT, automation, etc.
Individuals resist change, and more so if it has an impact on them or perceived to have an impact. Hence managing the real and perceived fears of individuals and departments is important for the success and effectiveness of a BPM initiative.
The typical BPM professional may not be well-suited for this job. BPM professionals of both the types - those who have business/process expertise and those who have IT/process expertise - have technical way of dealing with BPM deployment. A BPM Program Manager with a general management profile will be a better role to handle BPM deployment. It may be preferable to have the person have his previous BPM experience in the business/process stream rather than the IT/process stream. This is so since business/process stream professionals generally have some understanding of and exposure to Organizational Change Management.
The involvement and commitment of the senior leadership is equally important. All business leaders and department/function heads should be visible supporters of the BPM initiative. This is important since BPM deployments are always cross-functional.
And finally, the way BPM deployment is carried out is crucial to make it successful. A staged approach is generally going to be more effective than a big bang approach. Any business process which is not on the critical path should be taken up first for BPMization. The technical elements can be stabilized using this opportunity. And then gradually all processes of all departments should be integrated with the organization's BPM platform. Awareness and training throughout is absolutely essential.
It's clear than BPM will not happen on it's own. And one must manage Business Process Management before it allows you to manage your business.
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