The Positive ROI Of the BPM Center Of Excellence

Forrester helps companies with the implementation of a Center Of Excellence (COE) for Business Process Management (BPM). Starting the COE is easy, but then comes inevitably the question: What exactly are we going to do first?

Forrester mentions 5 possibilities:

1. Tasks and responsibilities.
2. Primary tools and frameworks for business process transformation.
3. Tools, standards, and guidance for the team.
4. Demonstrate the value to the senior management.
5. Attack strategies for document intensive business processes.

This is an impressive list, and therefore worth some discussion. The first 3 points deal with embedding the COE. It is unlikely that the Return On Investment ROI of this part will be positive. It has to be done with some depth, as cheap as possible, and that is that.

Demonstration of the value of the COE to senior management is a question which should already have been addressed. Hopefully the company has Key Business Requirements (KBR)and translated those into Key Performance Indicators (KPI's). If this is the case, we have to perform a null-measurement, and create a starting point for improvements. In time, the COE will be able to demonstrate its use. This is sensible approach to linking strategy to performance. It could even result in a business meta model.

Point 5, the attack of document intensive business processes, is probably the best short term demonstration of the benefits of a BPM COE. You should use such a project as driver for the implementation of a COE. An example is the improvement of customer perceptions. That would drive you right through the whole improvement program!