“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein
In the 21st century, government transformation initiatives have become increasingly more common, rather than exceptional. Some ambitious public sector initiatives turn out to be at least partially successful, though many others do not. Even when transformation success is declared, the outcome is often plagued by significant limitations that must be dealt with for many years.
By William Ulrich & Jim Rhyne
A recently published article entitled “Business Capability Architecture Is the Tie that Binds All” discussed how to use business capabilities to tie business strategy, enterprise change, and project portfolio prioritization.[i] We concur that strategy, enterprise change, and portfolio management are managed more effectively using business architecture, and agree that capabilities are a component of business architecture However we view the article’s notion of “business capability architecture” as being incomplete. We will discuss why this concept is incomplete and how it can be extended through value mapping.
A recent article in HBR informed readers on the “truth” about customer experience[i]. The authors argued that it’s not enough for organizations to excel at key touch points with customers – instead organizations need to understand and skillfully manage the entire customer journey. While this is true – and might be a new revelation for some readers – it should come as no surprise to those of us who have practiced a customer focused, process based view of business.
A process based view of customer experience is much more than just creating a roadmap of a customer journey; it also involves shaping what the organization measures and manages. Let’s consider how a process based view of customer experience can benefit service providers such as phone, internet, cable, and utility companies. The customers of such service providers have a set of very simple needs; including,
“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein
In the 21st century, government transformation initiatives have become increasingly more common, rather than exceptional. Some ambitious public sector initiatives turn out to be at least partially successful, though many others do not. Even when transformation success is declared, the outcome is often plagued by significant limitations that must be dealt with for many years.
A famous quote, “Installing a Rolls Royce engine in a Hyundai can make it inoperable,” (Russell Ackoff, 1999) as used to explain why improving parts of a system can be detrimental as opposed to improving the entire system, could also be used to explain why you should consider improving Business Process Reengineering BPR project execution as part of an organisation in terms of how they operate and not just by focusing on the technical execution of a project in terms of the project lifecycle. In other words the “BPR Project System” is made up of the environment in which it is executed as well as the BPR project itself inclusive of its execution method, its team structure, its project objectives and execution deliverables.
In this world of “It’s not my job!” thinking, I look at the practice of business architecture and noticed that nowhere does anyone discuss business requirements as part of business architecture. “We are not IT, we are aligned to the business.” Yet, one of the values of business architecture is to create the bridge between business and IT which means at some point we need to be involved in translating business requirements or business needs.
This is the third in a series. The first installment, Building a Process Catalog – The Journey Begins, was published in the April BPM Institute’s online journal. The second installment, Building a Process Catalog, The Ongoing Journey, was featured in the August bulletin.
Recap
My first two features described how I use SIPOC (Supplier, Input, Process, Output, Customer) diagrams to capture some essential characteristics of major business functions.
I am not an enterprise architect. I’m a business architect. The difference lies in the customers we primarily serve. Historically, the business architecture perspective has been part of every enterprise architecture framework. Only recently has there been a clamor to treat business architecture as a separate profession and discipline with its own set of culture, adherents, and customers.
Every primary process in the Enterprise Architecture should have some bearing on how it affects the customer. The process, its activities and the resources to perform the activities should be geared towards achieving Successful Customer Outcomes. When we state the requirements for the services, the processes, the resources and the IT systems or when we design or develop the solution, the interaction with the customer and the goals of the customer should be stated and represented clearly.
I discussed the process centric approach to Enterprise Architecture in a previous article. In this article I will focus on the solutions from such architecture.
How do we change our solutions to achieve Successful Customer Outcomes?
We live in a fast paced world where consumers demand high quality and rapid services. When we buy an item on-line we expect a confirmation email in seconds or we start to be concerned that something has gone wrong.
The desire for rapid and meaningful response is also growing in more complex transactions such as a mortgage or insurance application, even though these often require documents to be supplied that contain the data needed to decide on the claim or application. Consumers can now take and send pictures on mobile devices or scan documents from home, and are attracted by the simplicity and availability of 24/7 e-business.
When transforming these types of business process a capture strategy is needed to enable documents to be delivered and processed in a fast and low cost means, with a consistent high level of quality.
Everyone starts here.
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The BPMS Certificate is the perfect way to show employers that you are serious about business process management. With in-depth knowledge of process improvement and management, you'll be able to take your business career to the next level.
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