5. Failing to keep on top of mobile device management
The rapid development of tablet devices, smart phones and the subsequent growth in consumerisation of IT and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) strategies has given enterprises the opportunity to become more flexible than ever before.
Managers are able to use mobile devices to access information, perform tasks and monitor processes in real-time. However, there is a potentially serious issue beneath the surface. A significant role must be played by integration software to ensure that data is transferred efficiently between mobile devices and back-end systems. Missing out this aspect invites workarounds and bypasses of process constraints, ultimately resulting in loss of control, management visibility and reducing the ability to react to business conditions.
6. Misguided metrics
Good systems and processes are essential when gathering company data, extracting intelligence and using it to manage the business. Metrics must be consistently monitored to ensure that the business is continually improving and that targets and objectives are met. Intelligence, infrastructure and processes are all considerably less effective if the information that they generate is not then appropriately managed and acted upon.
Using process visibility to measure the right thing at the right time and delivering it to the right person is essential to avoid inappropriate metrics misguiding users. Rather than wading through log files or scrolling endless columns of Excel spread sheets, information should be simply presented via dashboards that are up-to-date and by raising issue alerts automatically on events of business significance. This visibility also helps ensure that problems are predicted, dealt with and avoided in the future.
7. Limiting continued process improvement
No matter how good the design of the IT application or business process management solution, it is unlikely to be effective if the staff members working with it are untrained. By identifying problems, process intelligence creates the foundation for identifying a solution, be that through process change, increased supporting context information to the users or with additional training. This is vital information that can be used to effectively run the organisation based on established, tangible results rather than trial and error.
Through the correct technology, systems and appropriate support, business process management becomes business process excellence and it's this advantage which will empower an organisation to really succeed in today's competitive marketplace.
