Doing More With Less

CIO Insight released its latest Business Process Improvement (BPI) Survey since 2003. According to the survey, BPI ranks as the "top business priority for IT organizations." This is an increase from their April CIO role survey, where it was the #2 priority.

Since I have been engaged for years in the Business Process Management (BPM) market and directly seen interest rise, I am not surprised by such a high priority designation. What is noteworthy is that for $1b+ organizations, one of the most significant drivers for process improvement is "ensuring compliance with regulations." This is only 2 percentage points behind the #1 driver, "improving productiviey." For smaller organizations, compliance ranks low on the list.

I suspect for larger companies, high-profile legislation and increasingly complex industry rules and regulations, coupled with large distributed workforces, the constant threat of litigation, and personal accountability (courtesy of Senators Sarbanes and Oxley) makes ensuring compliance a top priority. According to the survey, the holy grail is an approach that improves productivity and ensures compliance, all while reducing cost (priorities 1, 2, and 3 respectively). It harkens back to the old addage of "do more with less" with the addendum "...but make sure it's legal."

Hasn't this always been the case? Is any legitimate corporation interested in inefficient processes that waste money and break the law (set aside the Enron's of the world for a moment). It is encouraging to see that IT organizations, long criticized for being a cost-center, are increasingly focusing on technology to help directly improve business processes. In fact, I often encourage customers to use their BPM systems to demonstrate the explicit value of their contribution to their organization.