Social BPM Engaging People in Value-driven BPM

Social BPM Engaging People in Value-driven BPM

Introduction What Is Social BPM? Social business process management (social BPM) is an emerging concept that marries the flexibility and pervasiveness of social media with the management discipline of BPM. Accenture believes that social BPM has huge potential. We encourage a comprehensive view, and a broad, systematic use of social media to support BPM. We believe social BPM is closely tied with value-driven BPM, the subject of our book Value-Driven Business Process Management: The Value-Switch for Lasting Competitive Advantage. Value-driven BPM uses process as the critical link to translate business strategy into execution. It sets the right focus for initiatives based on the strategic imperatives of an organization and converts business processes into real assets that provide competitive advantage. Value-driven BPM makes business processes adaptable and provides agility to adjust strategy in response to a dynamic business environment. Considering BPM as a holistic lifecycle and management discipline that helps transfer strategy into people- and IT-based execution, value-driven BPM delivers immediate benefits centered on outcomes of value while at the same time building lasting BPM capabilities. Social BPM has two facets. First, it uses social media to support the process of process management. Second, it uses social media as a tool to deliver process improvements for operational processes like order-to-delivery and purchase requisition-to-goods received. In this paper, we explore social BPM and examine some of the exciting possibilities it offers. 1

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Value-Driven BPM and Social BPM Social BPM supports valuedriven BPM by gathering and broadcasting the stakeholder input that drives the improvement of existing processes and the design of new ones. Although social BPM certainly leverages technology, its main value lies in people s interactions. The people side of BPM can be supported through tools such as community pages, blogs, or social networks. As described in more detail in the book Value-Driven Business Process Management, the value of BPM (as shown in Figure 1 below) is based on transparency and the three other value pairs it enables. Social media can help drive all of the values of BPM for the Process of Process Management and operational processes to be improved: Blogs and other online communities support transparency, the central ingredient of the success of any process-driven organization, by extracting informal discussions that may be highly pertinent to a process, but would not normally be captured by other systems or technology. Ideally, these would be free and open forums, but process leaders would frequently post and visit, so that managers can more readily identify pain points and clear up any confusion with a voice of authority. Social BPM can support efficiency by facilitating quick stakeholder conversations, allowing participants to communicate cost-effectively, through blogs or through sharable, real-time platforms, replacing some travel and face-to-face meetings, in a contextrich, engaging, and recordable fashion. By scanning data from public social media, customer conversations about a product on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter can drive quality improvement, allowing organizations to target high-value customers who post Figure 1: The Values of BPM External Focus frequently about a product with special offers. An internal Twitter feed could alert quality-control officers to a problem on a production line. Social media s feedback immediacy drives agility. People working in a free and open forum for exchanging ideas, and making those ideas immediately transparent to others, can help an organization become much more responsive to change. Social media offers a much more dynamic and open environment that is more difficult to control, which could be seen as a problem from a compliance standpoint. On the other hand, with proper input from executive stakeholders, the increased transparency of corporate social media can provide a public forum for clarifying and reinforcing initiatives, helping drive change. The openness of social media can also be a boon to those monitoring compliance and enable faster proactive action regarding any violations or potential problems. Social media is an excellent tool for bridging the gap between external networking and internal integration. For example, an IT department could use social media to communicate with the engineering department working on new products, creating a tighter feedback loop than existed before. The R&D department of a life science company could collaborate with academic research institutions using a joint community page to share research findings and ideas. Quality Networking Agility Transparency Compliance Integration Efficiency 3 Internal Focus

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How Social BPM Supports the Process of Process Management Social BPM can be an integral part of the process of process management. Fundamentally, social BPM is a tool that accelerates a company s practice of value-driven BPM, which offers a value lens, so to speak, to see what changes can provide the most value. Social BPM then percolates those changes through the organization using social media as an agent of change. Achieving Alignment Social media can be very effective at achieving alignment among practitioners when it comes to assessing the strength and maturity of current BPM capabilities, and in identifying relatively immature processes that could have the highest impact on a value outcome all in a timelier and more dynamic fashion than traditional surveying techniques. Social media allows a conversation to continue beyond predetermined survey questions. Two tools are highly applicable to this form of analysis: Survey Monkey, an online survey tool, can be used to let stakeholders answer an interactive questionnaire, rapidly in a live session, or asynchronously, at their convenience. Its blogging facility can field additional questions or comments. Yawn is online real-time polling software. During a conference call, the question Should this process be targeted for an intervention? could be posed via Yawn, with participants weighing in from around the globe via desktops, laptops, and mobile devices, vastly accelerating the feedback gathering process. Monitoring and Altering Processes Social media is an excellent tool for capturing the feedback needed to design, implement, monitor, and analyze processes, and ensuring that input is shared among the appropriate parties, first among internal process designers, and then among customers. Social BPM can capture feedback by creating new vectors for input, such as a page asking customers whether they like a new design or a proposed policy change. Alternatively, social BPM can proactively drive new process interventions by actively monitoring customer activity on social media. A financial institution recently changed its debit card policy, denying the transaction instead of charging an overdraft fee. Customers objected via social media, and the bank responded by changing its policy. 1 KLM Royal Dutch Airlines identified frequent flyers who were using Twitter at the airport and surprised them with a small, personalized gift based on information gleaned from their use of social media. 5

Honing Social Media Skills Skills around social media could become a new core capability within their Valuedriven BPM organization. Here s why. Social BPM is becoming an increasingly important component of the people-focused methods and tools used to achieve a process improvement. This includes internal social media tools, such as SalesForce Chatter, Yammer, Jive, and the social aspects of SharePoint and external social media, such as LinkedIn or Xing for recruiting and hiring, or Facebook as a basis for marketing campaigns. With the rise of YouTube, video has become a popular vector of usergenerated content in the commercial realm. It can also serve as a critical tool for change management and introducing new processes to the whole enterprise. Short instructional videos can be much more engaging than written documentation. With proper controls, video doesn t have to be limited to top-down communications end users can post their own videos on successful process interventions or to suggest new ideas. Skills in the effective use of social media can be a source of differentiation and help drive the spread of value-driven BPM across the organization. Creating Communities of Practice Social media reinforces communities of knowledge and action around BPM through smart search, crowdsourcing, and knowledge communities. Here are several examples of how social media can improve BPM communities. BPM automation is a rapidly developing field. But with social media that learns from user-supplied search terms, new analyst reports, news stories, and press releases can be delivered to practitioners, allowing them to more easily stay up to date on the latest trends and technology. The ARIS business process modeling software online community already numbers more than 100,000 and comprises heads of business architecture and repository management. Each day, there are thousands of posts in this community, each of which has the potential to become a new part of a company s process of process management. Accenture s own internal online BPM community, BPM Champions, has proven vastly more effective at communicating and exchanging best practices than the usual series of monthly meetings. The One Accenture portal focuses on increasing each employee s engagement with BPM. The portal has links to process best practices in a repository, major announcements, policy changes, recognition of process leadership, and other contextual view windows. The tool contains plenty of opportunities to contact other practitioners, collaborate with others, comment on blogs, and participate in feedback loops. 1 E. Olding, C. Rozwell, J. Sinur. Social BPM: Design by Doing, Gartner, 4 May 2010. 6

How Social Media Supports Operational Processes Social media offers tremendous opportunities to support operational processes such as orderto-delivery or purchase requisition-to-goods received Consider how social media can impact the following operational and management processes: Purchase requisition to goods received. Quality issues in goods received may immediately trigger a blog between customer and supplier to discuss how to best address the issues. Order-to-to delivery. Process communities can help to align all involved people and get the focus on customercentric metrics such as low delivery variance. Human resources. Recruitment processes can be enriched through social media. Consider the use of LinkedIn as part of the hiring processes. Companies that develop software might look to recruit those most involved in forums or developing apps based on the company s API. Blogs can highlight talent in particular areas as well. Marketing. By finding out what customers and prospects are saying about products like yours, you can enhance and target marketing efforts. Facebook, Pinterest, and other sites offer new ways to drive traffic and interest in products and services. Online focus groups can be conducted via online social media sites. Mini-surveys on a company s Facebook page often elicit responses that can close the feedback loop for effective marketing. Customer service. As never before, people are saying what they think in social media. Monitoring social media and engaging with customers can help drive customer centricity and customer loyalty. Engage your customers wherever they are speaking out, from Yelp to Tripadvisor to Facebook. Research and development. Instead of formulating product direction in a vacuum, one electronics company that produces accessories started listening to early ipad owners speaking out on social media and let that drive their product strategy, with very strong results. Operational processes can be enhanced and supported by strategic engagement with social media, both inside and outside of the company. 7

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Social BPM Integral to Value-Driven BPM Social BPM will not achieve its full potential in an organization unless it is integrated both with operational process improvement. A blog should be used to support process design, as well as to get stakeholder input about the maturity of BPM processes, which drives process improvement decisions. Social BPM can be used effectively internally and externally, to share solutions within a company and reach out to customers who talk about the company in their own social media interactions, facilitating new processes and process changes. It can help solve critical debates about whether to automate certain processes or keep them manual. It is both a standalone tool in the BPM toolbox and an asset for improving existing BPM technology. Fundamentally, social BPM is a powerful asset for a process-driven organization that will manifest itself in new and unforeseen ways. The organizations that embrace social BPM will have some of the most developed process capabilities in their fields, and will be the most resilient in the face of change. 9

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About the Authors Peter Franz is the Managing Director for Business Process Management (BPM) at Accenture, responsible for the global team that helps clients translate strategy into execution using process as the critical link. Through Value-Driven BPM, Accenture helps organizations realize immediate value, deliver measureable results, and establish a lasting BPM capability. With more than 28 years experience in the areas of technology and the use of process to solve business problems the two areas where BPM is converging today he maintains a focus on balancing theory with realistic goals and concerns, and directs high-quality, pragmatic programs that drive real value for a roster of global clients. In leading Accenture s BPM practice, he champions thinking that achieves a customer-centered, cost-effective outcome in an increasingly information-intensive environment. Dr. Mathias Kirchmer is Partner and Executive Director for Business Process Management (BPM) at Accenture. He leads the global BPM-Lifecycle Practice, as well as the program for the development of Accenture s BPM Reference Models. His special field of expertise is to establish BPM capabilities that deliver both immediate benefits as well as sustainable competitive advantages. Before joining Accenture, Dr. Kirchmer spent 18 years at IDS Scheer, a leading provider of business process excellence solutions, known for its BPM Software, the ARIS Platform. Dr. Kirchmer is an affiliated faculty member of the Program for Organizational Dynamics of the University of Pennsylvania, a faculty member of the Business School of Widener University, Philadelphia, and a guest professor at the Universidad de Chile, Santiago. He is the author of numerous articles, whitepapers, and six books. About Accenture Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 246,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011. Its home page is www.accenture.com. Copyright 2012 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture. 12-0800