Perhaps it would be quicker to create a list of industries that don’t need business process management. After all, what business wouldn’t benefit from workflow software designed to cut out extraneous steps, automate manual processes, and track processes end to end?
Efficiency is absolutely essential to compete effectively in today’s marketplace.
There are industries, however, that can benefit substantially from better business process management, for any number of reasons. Perhaps they are heavily regulated or interact with the general public in large numbers. Or perhaps the right workflow software can help them serve clients better and develop a competitive edge. Here are 5 industries that can benefit tremendously from business process management. Maybe some of their circumstances are reflected in your industry.
1. Insurance
Insurance is heavily regulated and it involves massive amounts of paperwork (whether on actual paper or electronic). For insurers to function effectively, specific procedures must be followed, and there can be many steps between the time a claim is submitted and the time it is paid. Many insurers still use antiquated “legacy” software that doesn’t integrate with other software systems, and today’s claims specialists need to be able to record and submit data from the field so it can be processed in a timely manner. What’s more, today’s insurance customer demands communication throughout the claims process – something that can be a competitive advantage.
2. Finance
Finance is another heavily regulated industry, and many financial institutions deal with large numbers of ordinary people who need banking services. Moreover, the average banking customer demands online and mobile tools that allow him or her to check balances, receive alerts in certain situations (such as when a balance falls below a certain threshold), and apply for services online. These things make it a prime target for business process management. Again, the right workflow software can mean the difference between a financial services company that is efficient and customer-oriented and one that with outdated processes that will eventually put it at a competitive disadvantage.
3. Healthcare
The healthcare industry is not only subject to many regulations, it’s coping with an influx of newly insured patients, and it’s also adjusting to major changes like a shift to value-based reimbursement by private insurers and Medicare. There’s simply no room for inefficient processes in any healthcare business. Consequently, the healthcare industry can reap enormous benefits from using workflow software to automate and streamline processes, including lower labor costs, lower risk in the event of auditing, and more efficient billing and collections. Smart workflows plus workflow software are keys to succeeding in this rapidly changing marketplace.
4. Government
Government institutions have to complete processes in a uniform and consistent manner, and sometimes this leads to big inefficiencies. Yet working within government rules and policies often require that things be done a certain way, in a certain order. For these reasons, government and government-related organizations stand to benefit from outstanding workflow software. Processes may not be able to be modified to the extent that those in private businesses sometimes can be, but streamlining workflows within the boundaries of government policy is practical and advantageous – both for employees and for ordinary citizens interacting with government.
5. Information Technology
Anyone would think that the IT industry would naturally have the most efficient workflows, but that is not always the case. Sometimes IT professionals settle into habits of carrying out processes manually because they can do it quickly and don’t have time to automate it. But if they automated more processes, time savings would rapidly accumulate over the long term. Busy IT teams can benefit significantly from workflow software that lets them automatically trigger alerts when certain conditions are met because it can free up human resources used for monitoring, and send alerts to the proper recipients by email, text, or instant online messaging.
Business process management can improve any business. In fact, it can improve many organizations that aren’t businesses, because just about any organization can benefit from automated or streamlined processes. But business process management software has to be readily customizable to the particular user, even within the same industry. ProcessMaker is open source business process management software that comes with a range of powerful, built-in tools and allows further customization to tailor solutions to exact needs. Why not try out our Enterprise Edition for free? Or, you can download our Community Edition of ProcessMaker and see for yourself how you can help your organization become more efficient and competitive.
Photo by Richard Clyborne of Music Strive
