A Facilitator helps participants in a group work together toward the meeting objective by providing a meeting structure, engaging the participants, keeping them focused on the content, and remaining neutral himself.  A BPM Facilitator is a person who guides a business process improvement (BPI) project, using the same group process skills and behaviors of a generic facilitator but in the context of BPM.  So the BPM facilitator needs to know the BPM Methodology, have a structured method of working with BPI teams, be able to coach a Process Owner, and be able to work with the BPI Project Leader toward the improvement targets of the Process Owner. And the Virtual BPM Facilitator needs to do it virtually – not face to face but using telecommunications by phone, by video conference, by Web Ex, or similar tools.  That makes the medium a bit more challenging but it’s the reality of today’s global world. 

This is the final article in my series on building a process catalog for the organization in which I work.  For reference and context, you can find the first three articles at these links:  Building a Process Catalog: The Journey Begins; Building a Process Catalog, The Ongoing Journey; and Building a Process Catalog: Moving Ahead.

As we have wrapped up the calendar year, the Process Catalog that we began last October finally can be completed.  Below is a brief recap of the stages we’ve gone through to get the catalog to the current state. 

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,