Every new wave of industrial and information technology has brought prognostications about what it would mean to the workplace. Usually, these predictions are either wildly utopian, claiming universal application, or dystopian, warning of dire consequences. Typically, neither extreme comes to pass.

What do GE, JetBlue Airways, Progressive Insurance, Amazon and the Virgin Group have in common? By making deep structural changes–made possible by business process innovation–these companies have transformed the very ways they operate their businesses, changing the game in their industries. Indeed, there’s a new breed of fierce competitors on the block ready to engage your company in extreme competition. Are you ready?

Why is it that, given two companies with approximately the same capital assets and same number of skilled employees, one struggles and the other grows profits?

The Goddard Space Flight Center at NASA uses more than $525 million of technical and administrative accountable government property in the performance of its mission.

Organizations typically undertake periodic process improvement that are focused on specific business processes and may or may not align with the business strategy. In order to realize all the benefits of sometimes disparate BPM efforts, there needs to be an ongoing, organization-wide effort to assess and measure the results and continue to use the successful implementations. A process portfolio is the answer.

Bob Curtice is Vice President of Performance Improvement Associates. He was previously Vice President of Arthur D. Little, Inc.

In the BPM world, like the world in general, standards are like motherhood and apple pie. Vendors and buyers alike are vociferous in their support. After all, standards reduce the costs of vendor lock-in, simplify training and support, reduce risk of vendor failure, facilitate component integration and reuse, support interoperability of systems and processes, expand the choice of compatible technology, and promote agility in a changing world.