| Business process re-engineering (BPR) sounds | | | | the next stage which calls for a plan of action that |
| esoteric at best, and maybe a little pretentious. | | | | allows us to measure the gap between our |
| Wouldn't it be simpler to say business process | | | | company's present state and where we want it to |
| change? | | | | go. |
| Most people understand what a business process is | | | | When we get to this stage, solutions logically follow. |
| but when you combine it with re-engineering, it | | | | |
| suddenly sounds vague. | | | | If you're still wondering what distinguishes business |
| The ProSci-sponsored BPR Online Learning Center | | | | process improvement from business process |
| calls a business process "a set of activities that | | | | re-engineering, think of the starting point: are you |
| transform a set of inputs into a set of outputs | | | | starting from an existing process and want to |
| (goods or services) for another person or process | | | | improve on it, or do you want to start from scratch? |
| using people and tools." | | | | Thanks to Information Technology |
| It is simple. The way we interpret that is: | | | | Jump to globalization. We're ushering in new |
| <li>there are many ways of doing business,< | | | | technologies and they're coming faster than we can |
| li><li>when one of those ways does not | | | | learn them. There's also this whole new talk about |
| work or is considered to be ineffective it has to be | | | | customer relationship management (CRM) strategies. |
| improved,</li><li>certain elements are | | | | We're huffing and puffing and bursting at the |
| introduced to make it better ("inputs"),< | | | | seams. Businesses that have not adapted to global |
| li><li>those elements translate into a better | | | | trends or introduced newer technologies into their |
| product or service,</li><li>that product or | | | | operations will be clobbered by the competition. |
| service is supposed to serve another person (a | | | | Today's companies cannot afford to sit back and |
| customer, a supplier, a partner)</li> | | | | watch while others struggle with changes in the |
| That's elementary enough, but why do business | | | | industry. |
| processes have to be re-engineered? | | | | Thanks to information technology and the creation of |
| It's All About the Customer (and Competition) | | | | new business models, the world of e-commerce has |
| The philosophy behind business process | | | | given new meaning to the way we do business. As |
| re-engineering is to please the customer. By | | | | Hui-Liang Tsai puts it, "e-commerce is no longer a |
| delighting him, we get to keep him, turning him into a | | | | way to gain competitive advantage, it is a |
| loyal disciple. | | | | competitive imperative." (Information Technology |
| Rivals have a sneaky way of snatching customers | | | | and Business Process Re-engineering: New |
| away from us. It's not because this world is full of | | | | Perspectives and Strategies, Praeger Publishers, |
| sly and evil people, it's because we tend to sit on our | | | | Connecticut, 2003). While companies are trying to |
| bottoms and think that we've finally got it made. | | | | keep up with technologies, customers are also |
| We've become lax. | | | | changing. They are more demanding and are never |
| Business process improvement, according to ProSci, is | | | | satisfied. They fall out of love, and don't necessarily |
| not be confused with business process re-engineering. | | | | have to explain why. |
| Instead of improving on current processes, the | | | | Picture the speed with which information is |
| re-engineering concept says that because the | | | | transmitted with just a click of the mouse. It used |
| technique is no longer viable, it has to be replaced, | | | | to be that urgent documents had to be couriered by |
| abandoned. There's a need to establish a clean | | | | special messenger or faxed immediately; today, |
| slate, as the BPR Online Learning Center teaches us. | | | | documents are electronically portable. Mr. Tsai says |
| Business process re-engineering, just like the DMAIC | | | | that this phenomenon alone is producing a new crop |
| in Six Sigma, presupposes a series of stages: stage | | | | of workers – he calls them knowledge workers. |
| 1 involves a definition of the project – its | | | | We are looking at the transformation of industrial |
| rationale, objectives and scope. Stage 2 covers the | | | | society into an information society. |
| entire learning process wherein we obtain as much | | | | Progress in information technology is only one of the |
| information as we can about our employees, | | | | many reasons why companies have embraced |
| customers, suppliers and competitors – including | | | | business process re-engineering. If organizations |
| non-competitors and align that new information with | | | | desperately want to succeed, first they need |
| technology. | | | | information – truckloads of it. Second, they |
| Armed with this knowledge, the next stage – | | | | need to know how to turn that information to their |
| stage 3 - is to set up our mission. Others call it a | | | | advantage. The practice of business process |
| vision of the future. This requires a new set of | | | | re-engineering can refine a lot of that information into |
| business processes. Once we've determined the | | | | digestible parts. |
| desired outcome of this transition, we move on to | | | | |