Organizations of all sizes are turning to business process management (BPM) software to boost efficiency, reduce costs, and meet rapidly evolving external challenges. The global BPM market is expected to grow to between $13 billion and $14 billion by next year. This rapidly growing market has led to a proliferation of choices when it comes to choosing the best enterprise BPM software for your organization.
In this article we will briefly discuss what BPM software is and some of its many benefits. We conclude by looking at 6 top enterprise BPM software solutions and important considerations when choosing the best option for you.
What is BPM software?
Enterprise BPM software is an automation tool that allows organizations to design, implement, analyze, and improve their business processes. Organizations engage in business process management to increase productivity and efficiency at both the process and organizational levels.
An effective enterprise business process management solution encompasses several core methodologies and features. First, BPM software makes it simple to create visual depictions of processes through business process mapping. Process maps provide stakeholders with an easy to follow overview of a process allowing them to identify inefficiencies and identify areas for improvement.
Second, BPM software helps organizations to manage and optimize their processes. This includes analyzing and improving existing processes, as well as designing and implementing new ones. And lastly, BPM software makes it easy to replace manual process through automation.
Benefits of BPM software
Enterprise BPM software solutions offer a broad range of benefits that can transform an organization’s business processes as well as gain a significant edge over competitors. Some benefits include:
- Reduced costs. Organizations typically experience large cost reductions by eliminating repetitive manual tasks and/or eliminating processes that are not worth the investment.
- Increased productivity. Examining existing processes helps to identify inefficiencies. Removing bottlenecks and using automation allows employees to do more with less.
- Better customer experiences. Automation makes it easy to offer customers more personalized experiences and superior customer service, which improves customer retention.
- Standardized processes. Standardizing processes ensures consistent performance and quality across an organization while improving compliance and employee accountability.
- Strategic pivots. Enterprise BPM software provides many powerful insights. Sometimes organizations are faced with the harsh reality that their business models are antiquated. BPM software helps them to plan and pivot to more sustainable models.
- Improved employee satisfaction. No one enjoys menial and repetitive tasks. Eliminating them through automation allows employees to focus on more fulfilling and higher-value tasks.
Enterprise BPM software comparisons
When it comes to enterprise BPM software solutions there are many options. It is important to carefully consider each option to identify the best fit for your organization. The following are brief reviews of some of the top enterprise BPM software tools on the market.
ProcessMaker
ProcessMaker is a low-code, cloud-based intelligent BPM software used by millions of users located all over the world. The intuitive and intelligent platform helps break down operational silos, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. ProcessMaker features process modeler and form builder capabilities, intuitive dashboards, advanced reporting, and user-friendly scripting engine.
The process modeler helps users design innovative business processes in a matter of hours or days as opposed to months. Users simply drag and drop tasks and decision points onto the modeling canvas, and can incorporate forms, users, data connectors, and more. The form builder allows users to design high-quality forms to capture and display data as well as streamline approval processes.
Pegasystems
Pegasystems is a Massachusetts-based provider of enterprise BPM software. Pega’s cloud-based solution unifies customer engagement, automation, and AI capabilities. The platform offers an innovative case management solution, combining the decision-making capabilities of business rules and AI. The software offers both no-code and low-code development environments.
Pega is a member of the public sector, non-profit, government, and education programs offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), but cannot be deployed on AWS GovCloud. While Pega is a great fit for many organizations, some users find that the configuration is too technical and that they experienced difficulties when transitioning from other BPM software platforms.
K2
K2 offers both cloud-based and on-premises BPM software and serves a variety of industries, including finance, human resources, and sales and marketing. The software offers intuitive features like form inclusion, performance assessment, activity control, and reporting. K2 allows management to carefully track task progress and review data in real-time. The software also integrates with many different third-party platforms like Salesforce, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Some K2 users report a steep learning curve and occasional errors when integrating workflows with third-party applications.
Decisions
Decisions BPM software is used by medium and enterprise-sized organizations in industries like healthcare, finance, and education. The software offers some user-friendly features like process modeling and mapping, visual workflow management, forms, and process change tracking. Decisions offers both cloud-based and on-premises deployment options. The software also comes with a custom reporting feature that can send reports through email or post onto an external website.
One major concern is affordability. At a starting price of $4,399 per month, it is one of the pricier BPM software solutions on the market.
FlowWright
FlowWright’s BPM software can be deployed as a cloud solution, on-premises, or .NET hosted environment. The software offers graphical workflow, forms, a rules engine, process mapping and modeling, and enhanced collaboration features. It is simple to create custom forms using the intuitively designed drag-and-drop interface. FlowWright is used by organizations in large industries like life sciences, automotive, and petrochemical.
Some users complain of lengthy support ticket resolutions and difficulties configuring the software.
Appian
Appian is one of the original BPM software platforms. One of its best features is a built-in web portal environment that improves team collaboration. Appian is a true cloud-based provider that offers a free trial on the AWS Marketplace so users can deploy and test Appian before making any decisions.
Appian is used by many of the world’s largest organizations to improve customer experiences and simplify global risk management. Several of Appian’s downsides include large upfront fees and requiring a higher degree of technical knowhow for some of its applications.
Selecting an enterprise BPM software solution
There are many things to consider when selecting the best enterprise BPM software solution for your organization. Some of the questions that you should consider include:
- Features. What features are important to your team? Common features include things like drag-and-drop form builders, cloud bpm technology, process monitoring, and automation capabilities.
- Business goals. What are you hoping to achieve? How will a particular BPM software solution help you to get there?
- Budget. What is your budget? What does the software cost? Are there any upfront fees? What is the billing model (i.e., subscription-based)?
- Implementation. How much time does it take to get the BPM software up and running? Is training provided?
- Technical knowhow. What level of knowhow or expertise is required to use the software? Does this coincide with the skillset of those using the software?
See how organizations are using ProcessMaker’s intelligent business process management system to transform their workflows.
