In this video interview, Tom Holmberg, senior business process analyst for Allergan, provides insight into how business process initiatives have become powerful investments for Allergan’s long-term organizational goals.  Holmberg explains how Metastorm’s combined platform of enterprise architecture, business process analysis, and business process management became a priority within their organization.  Using these combined strategies, they enhanced their organizational structure and identified opportunities to deliver more optimal business results. Implementing business process initiatives helps users see into their current organizational structure and ensure that they are deploying the most efficient time-to-market processes—thus, optimizing their organizational structure and producing a competitive market advantage.  

Check out the complete season of Metastorm Customers Speak Out on our Metastorm Media YouTube channel, subscribe to the Metastorm iTunes Podcast, or visit the Metastorm customer testimonial page.

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In order to achieve the most success with a Lean BPM initiative, Chaney recommended that teams be small and agile. He said that it is important to ensure that a team has the right combination of skill sets, and that all members have a well-defined role. Make sure that the team has the correct mindset to work well with the business analysts and developers, and that everyone is brought into an executable environment. As usual, communication is a key factor in making a team successful, as is supporting the team and development cycles with the right tool sets and skills so that the project can move quickly and effectively.

Chaney also recommended that project managers time box the analysis phase so that the project doesn’t fall into analysis paralysis, because this will diminish its overall value. Setting a limit to the amount of time spent on analysis will help everybody on the team focus on what’s important for the project. With an end goal and a specific date, everyone can be better focused. BPM by nature should be  flexible and agile, so it is important to ensure that the team doesn’t get so caught up in analysis that they lose sight of that fact.

Prioritization of requirements is also critical. Make sure the team works on the most important things first. Chaney commented that 20% of processes are used 80% of the time, so if a team can get that core 20% “Leaned,” then they’ve addressed 80% of inefficiencies. He suggested prototyping the top 5 processes to show significant improvement early on, and to get everyone on board to expand the project across the enterprise.

Finally, Chaney encouraged rewarding the team if they have done a good job and are tracking ahead of schedule. Morale is very important to any process improvement initiative. If the team is not productively moving, they’re not really adding value.  So, if they’ve achieved their goal for a particular day, tell them to take the rest of the day off, and they will ultimately be more productive in the future.

Want to watch this webinar? Check it out as an onDemand webcast .

And don’t forget to sign up for the final webinar in Metastorm’s Lean Webinar Series, Lean to the Power of Three, which will run twice on Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 9:00 AM EST and 1:00 PM EST.

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Once, while at the breakfast table in yet another hotel, in yet again another part of the world, I thought about reliability and the human factor:

My waiter was slow.

While sitting there, two words came to mind – dedication and commitment. How strange that two things so simple get to be so complex.

At the very moment my food arrived, a thought sprang to mind—the chicken and the pig. 

Staring at me trusty bacon and eggs I realized that this chicken and this pig are my dedication and my commitment.

You see, as it happens to be – the chicken was dedicated – it contributed to my breakfast.

Albeit, I certainly appreciated and enjoyed the fruits of her dedication, and she certainly has to endure the pressures of life to produce – she will still do so day for every single day of the rest of her life.

She, however, did not give her whole self – she didn’t make a commitment.

The pig on the other hand, is fully committed. He contributed to my breakfast every fiber in his body so to speak. He gave his all.

You see, dedication is only a half effort. Commitment is investing every fiber of yourself, and settling for nothing but one hundred percent.

In the business world this is the same.

Some companies and their people are dedicated and do well. They consistently maintain steady growth, explore other areas, and generally keep their shareholders and clients happy.

Then you have the few that stand out above the rest. Those fully committed companies. The ones that do not grow “on average” – they dominate the market. These are organizations that are committed. They give their all, and in return, their success is unmatched.

And strangely – a study published in last year’s Harvard Business Review examined these very same, top global companies – the clear differentiator to their success is the management of business processes. Almost 90% of all companies surveyed live and preach process management. They are dedicated to it.  They live by it!

So my message – Be the new normal.  Be processed.

As I run out of thought – I hear my neighbor’s cat. Since he is on holiday he asked me to feed the thing…

Here kitty, kitty, kitty. Nice kitty.

 – Francois Potgieter (Bytes Technology Group)

===========================
Francois Potgieter is the Business Unit Manager at Bytes Technology Group where he is responsible for the Enterprise Information Management solutions (EIM). The business unit focuses on business process management (BPM), document management and general EA consulting. Francois is based out of Johannesburg, South Africa.

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Prior to working with Metastorm, one NBA team’s manual scouting system required multiple scouts to watch potential players while completing paper forms to rate their skill set. Next the forms were aggregated for each player, reviewed and ultimately used to create a list of players to be targeted during the NBA draft.

Not only inefficient, this system often led to inaccurate player data, inconsistency in rating between scouts, incomplete reports and a lack of structure when comparing players.

To solve these problems, the team’s general manager enlisted Metastorm to automate the scouting process with Metastorm BPM®—creating online player profiles and enforcing a consistent ratings scheme. Scouts are now able to better collaborate and share evaluation data in near real-time and management can pool different player ratings from multiple scouts and make evaluations based on a single, standardized score.

Metastorm’s unique process client for Microsoft Outlook improved the team’s ability to prepare for the draft – allowing scouts to run reports on top picks and automatically generate a “Player Brochure” on every player. These Player Brochures could be downloaded to a laptop or printed, so that all information on a player is organized and at hand on draft day.

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Green BPM: The Best Kept Secret for Meeting Your Company’s Green Mandate: Learn the best practices for making your organization greener with BPM. This eBook explains 3 key benefits of “Green BPM”— reducing paper usage, lowering fuel and transport costs, and creating more efficient manufacturing and supply chain processes. It also features a case study that highlights a real life example of these benefits in action.

BPM & EA: Two Smart Investments in a Recession: Released earlier this year, this eBook explains how a relatively small investment in BPM and/or EA solutions now can help your organization realize rapid cost savings, make the right restructuring decisions and increase the productivity of the people and systems you already own. Learn how BPM and EA can help your organization do more with less.

Oil & Gas Challenges: How to Prepare for the Next Generation of Business: This eBook examines how BPM, BPA & EA can help oil and gas firms address several major risk factors—uncertain energy policy, price volatility, failed cost containment, human capital deficit and the aging oil & gas infrastructure to survive in today’s turbulent marketplace.

Visit the Metastorm Library and explore its many resources related to the disciplines of Business Process Management, Enterprise Architecture and Business Process Analysis.

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Some states, however, are proactively turning toward innovative IT initiatives to achieve greater efficiency in their tax collection process– with the goal of extracting the greatest value possible from their underfunded budgets.

For example, one of Metastorm’s state government customers used Metastorm BPM® as a foundation for developing a streamlined, simplified and centralized system for managing liens and tax information within its Department of Revenue—the department that is responsible for collecting personal income tax, sales and use tax, all corporate taxes, inheritance tax and all other state taxes. The department used BPM to develop a single system that houses all tax data—allowing employees to easily access taxpayer information in real-time, and more accurately enforce the collection of delinquent accounts. Prior to implementation, it took the department up to 4 weeks to research and gather information on particular tax liens. Now it takes less than a day.

The reality is that states will continue to struggle with budget deficits as the country weathers the current economic storm. Fortunately, however, as governments reevaluate their IT spending to best utilize their resources through business process management and enterprise architecture initiatives, their overall efficiency will be greatly strengthened today and in years to come.

Because states cannot best utilize funds without perfecting their collecting process, a great starting point for these initiatives is leveraging BPM to create efficiencies in the area of tax revenue collection.

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July webinars include:

Achieving Total Governance through Continuous HR Processes
Thursday, July 9, 2009
11:00am EDT/ 8:00am PDT / 4:00pm BST

In today’s economic landscape, organizations are being pressured to reduce costs, while continuing to maintain intra and cross functional operability. This includes corporate Human Resources (HR) which is being challenged to streamline personnel management and development practices, while aligning human capital with business goals. Come learn how an organization can optimize its HR processes and instill total HR governance through the implementation of an end-to-end HR process management solution.

To register, click here.

When Data, Process, and Legacy Systems Collide: Real BPM
Thursday, July 23, 2009
11:00am EDT/ 8:00am PDT / 4:00pm BST

Many IT solutions have been developed to address demand for unobstructed access to information collaboration that also enables speed and malleability. This webinar will show the collaborative power of enterprise process modeling including ways it repurposes business rules and shares information across vast data sizes and technology platforms. Learn how the visual workspace of modeling has become the killer application to marry the interests of business and IT.

To register, click here.

If you are looking for more information, Metastorm also offers an extensive library of onDemand Webcasts. Please let us know if you have any feedback or questions.

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Upcoming webinars include:

Federal Law Enforcement Fusion Centers Improved Information Sharing with Business Process Management
Thursday, June 25, 2009
12:00 pm EDT/ 9:00 am PDT

Currently there are 58 Fusion centers and counting, established to increase the strength of The Department of Homeland Security and law enforcement agencies across the country. These centers necessitate process efficiency with innovative tools, superior methodologies and cutting-edge architectures. Learn how Metastorm can enable these centers to better manage people, processes, policies, data and existing systems— rapidly and cost-effectively synergizing agencies.

To register, visit here.

Achieving Superior Process Intelligence to Optimize Study Start-Up—Surviving and Thriving in the Down Economy
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
11:00 am EDT/ 8:00 am PDT

Research & Development is the lifeblood of every Life Sciences organization. Bringing new products to market is a lengthy, highly regulated and a costly undertaking. Strategically utilizing the R&D budget is vital to a corporation’s survival and success. Learn how process transformation can enable research organizations to streamline, control, and improve Study Start Up—ensuring better clinical results, minimizing cost leakage and supporting global studies most effectively.

To register, visit here.

Metastorm also offers an extensive library of onDemand Webcasts. View the complete list here.

Please let us know your feedback if you attend either of these webinars.

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Metastorm continues to thrive along with the market, posting record revenues in each subsequent quarter. In just five years, Bob Farrell, Metastorm CEO, grew the company’s customer base to over 1300+ organizations in 50+ countries – a testament to keen executive foresight and a recession-proof product portfolio. As we mentioned in a previous post, the majority of Metastorm customers agree that Metastorm software is helping them survive the recession for reasons of increased employee productivity, greater control and visibility, lower costs and reduced risk.

The industry is certainly buzzing about the role technology will have in helping companies achieve business value in a volatile economy. From organizational efficiency to a significant impact on ROI, process management software has certainly proven to be a valuable investment.

The number of corporate successes Metastorm has achieved in just five years is an example of strategic decision making and the ubiquitous demand that companies have and will continue to have for BPM and EA technology to run their business operations.

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Over 400 end users from both business and IT responded to the survey, which was distributed to Metastorm’s global customer base.

On the morning of April 28th (EDT), we’ll post an exclusive sneak preview of the survey results on the Because Process Matters blog! Be sure to subscribe to the blog via email or check back on Tuesday to review the results before they are announced via press release to the rest of the world on Wednesday.

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