How BPM differs from an ERP

Here in this blog I would like to explain about BPM, Business Process Management and how it differs from an ERP. ERP is focused on integration of information across business functions (like HR, Procurement & Sales) by sharing a common database. Whereas BPM is a business practice focused on enterprise level workflows and aimed at optimizing, improving and automating business processes. We can describe BPM as a process-intelligent layer that may or may not integrate with ERP.

 

To explain about ERP, consider an example business activity – Sale of ‘n’ Qty of product ‘X’ to the customer ‘Y’.

A basic ERP is made up of 3 things:

1. a set of data capturing / representing facts about the company (stores data of sale – Qty n, Product X and Customer Y)

2. a set of rules governing what to do when the facts happen (inventory updates when sales like stock Qty reduces when sales)

3. a mechanism & medium to communicate with business users (such as an ipad to display an invoice)

 

Now to explain BPM, consider an example business process – Set of activities

A Purchase Order from customer receives by a Sales Dept; Preparing Delivery note from Store Dept; Sales invoice from Accounts Dept.

BPM is made up of 3 things:

1. a set of rules to govern activity in a business process (a flow sequence or specific rules, see the above example)

2. a place to store "state" -　that is　for every item in the process, where is currently is according to the rule described in point 1 (as per above example to know whether you are waiting for delivery note or finished it or on the invoice)

3. a mechanism to communicate state to the business user and provide instruction on what to do next. Also a place to intercept system activity and trigger a human response.　

 

So you can think of 2 options for your business:

1. Implement an ERP having BPR capabilities and customize to suite your business processes; develop embedded workflow to manage your business process – in this case, change management is costly and lack of BPM other functionalities & features

2. Implement ERP and BPM – here change management faster. Also BPM can integrate with ERP and having capabilities of DMS fully integrated with OCR and Barcode modules.

 

All reputed ERPs having embedded workflow and　the system has the facility to manage the business process to a certain extend. However, if you’re looking for the flexibility that comes with changing processes, this is very expensive and is faster in BPM, that is why SAP providing BPM adaptors to meet the customer expectations. BPM also covers processes that fall completely outside of ERP systems such as Correspondence Management, Project Management, and Action Tracking.　

 

In brief, BPM plays an important role in making an ERP system agile and adaptable to the dynamic needs of the business. Even though BPM is getting more popularity; still it is in the 'nice-to-have' zone.

Eid Mubarak from Argus Qatar

How to Promote or Improve your business using IT Soutions

When Qatar won the World cup 2022, every business owners may delighted with high confidence. Qatar promised to spend $50 billion on infrastructure upgrades and $4 billion to build nine stadiums and renovate three others. So construction activity in Qatar is expected to witness a significant surge. This will catalyse a lot of a lot of infrastructure projects and hope for business owners to do further investments. 

So what you think in relate with technology, no doubt, that is must for any business. Surely, business owners might be looking competitive advantage over others. My suggestion is to ask the following questions to self and find answers. How can you catch this opportunity to grow your business? How can you improve your business? How can you promote your business? Want a surefire way to increase your business this year? You should think of technologies that can help you to do business right way by competing others/ improving your performance.

Website

Your business simply has to have a website. These days, that's not a very expensive endeavor. A Web site has become nearly as essential as a telephone or fax machine or printed brochure. Increasingly, people search the Web rather than the Yellow Pages when looking for a service or product. Providing information to your customers takes time, whether it’s on the phone, face-to-face, in a brochure, or in emails. With an online catalogue you can provide lots of information about your products and services. Once your website is up and running, it is available to your customers indefinitely, saving you time.

Make use of email & online marketing

Email is one of the best methods of online marketing and it doesn't cost you much to use it. Marketing having to do with email includes:

·         Make use of the automatic signature. It should include your name, contact information and website. You can also highlight promotions that you're running or specific services in your signature.

·         Contact lists. Email is a terrific way of staying in touch with clients and potential clients. Make sure to include all new contacts in your email address book.

·         E-newsletters. You can create a brief newsletter which you email to everyone in your address book. This keeps your name on people's minds and gives them a reason to learn about what you're doing

Luckily, the Internet offers numerous methods of online marketing (SEO and SEM) that don't cost a lot of money.  You can find the methods helpful for gaining website traffic and increasing customer flow to the business.

Automation of business (ERP Software)

The business solution helps you to run your business smoothly and to promote growth in business. Look for software that can integrate all the key business operations, synchronizing all those, gives new planning and optimizing the resources available for the business. The automation of your business help significantly improve your business metrics by process optimization, better inventory control, better reporting to take decisions, integration across functionality and increasing transparency across the company. Purchase department can see the sales department data, Sales department can see inventory data, and top management can see any data on a click of single button.

Business applications and Web solutions