Processes are the foundation of almost every business and play a crucial role in its success or failure. The ability to efficiently manage customers and internal resources through various business processes such as sales, onboarding, billing, customer service and more is essential to building and maintaining profitable relationships.

To achieve true operational excellence, it is essential for a company to first understand the nature of the improvement program it is seeking to implement, define the goals of that program and determine the best way to incorporate technology into those processes.

Many companies are turning to Business Process Improvement (BPI) and Business Process Management (BPM) programs to increase operational efficiency and gain a competitive advantage.

In many companies, these terms are often used interchangeably or have different meanings depending on the context. However, it is important to recognize some key differences between these two concepts.

Both concepts deal with business processes or workflows. A business process can be described as a series of interrelated steps or activities that may span different people, roles or systems. A process is often represented by a flowchart.

Definition: What is BPM and BPI?

BPM (Business Process Management): BPM is a systematic approach to identifying, documenting, monitoring and continuously improving all business processes in an organization. It includes technologies, methods and techniques to control processes and ensure that they run efficiently and effectively.

BPI (Business Process Improvement): BPI is a project-oriented approach and focuses on rethinking existing individual business processes and making them more effective. The aim is not only to make processes faster and more cost-efficient, but also to improve the quality of the results.

Objective

BPM: The aim of BPM is to create a structured environment in which processes can be clearly defined, monitored and controlled. Business Process Management (BPM) represents a structured management approach and methodology that promotes a comprehensive understanding of processes, their transparency and control, while ensuring effective communication throughout the organization. BPM integrates business process improvement (BPI), performance management and change management (OCM) with technology solutions to ensure the success and sustainability of process optimization and establish a culture of process quality.

BPI: Business process optimization is an approach that aims to increase customer value by continuously improving quality, enhancing customer service, reducing costs and increasing efficiency in activities or business processes. Business Process Improvement (BPI) initiatives often rely on proven methodologies such as Lean, Six Sigma, or Total Quality Management.

These BPI initiatives can either aim for incremental improvement over time by focusing on individual end-to-end business processes, or aim for a radical, one-time improvement that represents an entirely new way of doing business. As a rule, BPI initiatives should precede all digitization and automation efforts, as this prevents inefficient analogue processes from being digitized.

Time horizon

BPM: As BPM takes a holistic and systemic approach, it is often an ongoing process that is re-evaluated at regular intervals. BPM therefore ties up a lot of human resources.

BPI: BPI projects usually have a clearly defined start and end. Once an improvement has been implemented, the process can be transferred to the regular BPM cycle.

Software solutions - for BPM and BPI
Although our main concern is to clarify the differences between BPI and BPM, this consideration would be incomplete without the inclusion of software-based solutions - Business Process Management Solutions (BPMS). Typically, these are business process management solutions that integrate technology into the process and provide a platform for modelling, managing, optimizing and rapidly adapting business processes. There are numerous BPMS on the market that specialize in different models, be it human-centric, document-centric or integration-centric.

When evaluating the various business process management tools available on the market, it is crucial to understand the specific functions of these tools. This will help you to ensure that you select the right tool for your organization's needs. The following points can be possible selection criteria:

• Modelling/process mapping

• Collaboration

• Process simulation

• Role-based access control

• Process analysis

• Process optimization/development of concrete measures

What happens if your company decides on a BPI (Business Process Improvement) program and wants to initiate a corresponding project? How can you accompany such a project technologically and support your team?

Despite the differences highlighted in this article (between BPM and BPI) and the importance of BPI, you will search in vain for a specialized software-based solution in the BPI segment. Until now!

We at Eptacon close this gap with our Process Improvement Suite.

In line with our claim "re:think process improvement", we have developed the world's only complexity-oriented, scalable and IT-supported framework for optimizing processes. It integrates the entire improvement cycle into a cloud-based application in which all modules & methods are coordinated and data transfer is automated.

Now organizations are able to capture, analyze and optimize their processes based on KPIs! ALL IN ONE TOOL - automated - consistent - precise!

Summary 

While BPM and BPI are both valuable tools in process management, they have different focuses. BPM focuses on the overall structure and control of processes, while BPI focuses specifically on the optimization and improvement of existing processes.

For companies that want to optimize their existing processes, it is important to understand both approaches and apply them as required. Often, a combination of BPM and BPI is the key to success.

In conclusion, both BPM and BPI are essential tools for organizations that want to remain competitive in today's dynamic business environment. By using these methods effectively, organizations can not only increase their efficiency, but also improve their adaptability and responsiveness. 

We would be happy to discuss with you the impact that Eptacon's Process Improvement solution can have on your transformation.