Author: Felipe Bahiense

BPM and Workflow: Understand the Difference
Imagine you are in an airplane that is about to land. In your cockpit, the pilot just had to ask the control tower permission to do so. Permission granted, a team is put in place on the ground. As a passenger, you notice that there is a sequence of procedures that take place to get the plane back to the ground. For example, a warning is given for passengers to return their seats to the upright position. The flight attendant walks down the aisle checking seats and trays.

At the airport where the plane will land, there is also a sequence to be followed, and besides this specific landing, there are other procedures going on such as takeoffs, maintenances, and refueling. Data is needed to improve the operation for each of these procedures. For example: How long does it take for the passengers to disembark? What about boarding? What is the percentage of delay in take-offs? Is the delay caused by the high flow of passengers at the airport, or by each company’s procedures?

In our airplane example:
- The workflow is the sequential procedures that occurred for our plane to land (pilot notifies airport, captain notifies crew, stewardess checks seats and tray);
- The entire landing operation, however, was managed by processes at the airport, since for a landing to occur it’s necessary to check air traffic and if there is space on the runway. In other words, it’s something way more complex and requires a more structured approach.
We gave this example so that you can better understand a topic that has been causing a lot of confusion: what are the differences between BPM and Workflow? Or, again: aren’t BPM and Workflow the same thing after all?

What is Workflow?

Workflow is a sequence of activities with the goal of providing an overview of a process to reduce inefficiencies, monitor results, and incorporate automation. In addition, it serves to align processes with business objectives and systematize how documents and tasks are completed and executed for quality and/or compliance reasons.

Workflow transforms the way every company executes processes, activities, tasks, policies, and procedures. It happens this way because workflow management software allows you to set up and monitor a sequence of tasks, usually in the form of a diagram. Most of the time these diagrams are not detailed but provide enough information for instructions to be followed and tasks to be efficiently executed.

To make another analogy, a workflow would be like the steps to make a cake, but not the whole process of assembling it, packaging it, and so on. Thus, we say that workflow is the tip of the iceberg when compared to the BPM discipline.

What is BPM?

BPM stands for Business Process Management. It’s a methodology that constantly evaluates changes and improvements in various aspects of a process.

As we mentioned in the article What is Process Management (BPM) and what are its benefits?, BPM aims to achieve the objectives of organizations through improvements in management and control methods, techniques, and tools for analyzing, modeling, publishing, improving, and controlling processes.

Similarities between BPM and Workflow

To understand the relationship between BPM and Workflow, we have to address the similarities between them. By the definitions we just gave, both are used to improve company processes, because both see value in the process as a whole. In addition, BPM and Workflow are about tasks, automation, and data transfer.

Notice that the BPM methodology is similar to workflow. But, as they say: one thing is one thing, another thing is another thing.

Ok, so what are the differences between BPM and Workflow?

We understand the concepts of BPM and Workflow. So, for starters, we can say that workflow is an essential cog, but it is only one of the many components that make up a process.

A workflow is related to a sequence of activities that can be manual or automated (software-based) procedures. On the other hand, Business Process Management is related to the execution and management of business processes.

BPM incorporates multiple workflows, automation tools, and human capital. A BPM software makes all the cogs work together – and in harmony – to create an optimal, efficient, and more agile end result. Unlike Workflow, Business Process Management has the ability to coordinate multiple activities and processes in an integrated way.

Workflow is a simple automation tool for directing tasks to the responsible users. A BPM solution takes a more structured approach, while workflow automation is just one piece of the whole puzzle.

If you need to automate or organize a simple process in your department, workflow is the way to go. However, if your department has several interconnected processes, you will need to manage multiple workflows, forms, notifications, reports, and more, the answer, in this case, will be a BPM.

Does this mean we have to choose between BPM and Workflow?

The answer is no. Understanding the differences between BPM and Workflow is essential so that you don’t get confused and end up thinking that both terms are the same. However, instead of thinking of BPM vs. Workflow, think of both operating together.

The most indicated is to bet on a BPM platform, such as Fusion, which will provide all the functionalities of a workflow system added to the additional features that manage all the company’s processes, improving the organizational level.

To learn more about BPM, we invite you to read our articles:
- What is Process Management (BPM) and what are its benefits?
- How BPM leverages your management systems (ERPs)
If you would like to know more about BPM and Workflow, please contact us. It will be a pleasure to help you! Feel free to share this article with your colleagues. Until next time!
22/03/2022
Digital processes automation (DPA): definition and benefits.

Innovations in technology are getting more frequent and quick, creating several competitive advantages in an increasingly contentious environment such as the corporate one.

Today, a company’s most important resources are the data and information generated by its processes, so it’s essential to use technology to automate them, generating greater security, ease, and access speed.

Digital processes automation is the perfect choice for enterprises that seek agility, efficiency, and effectiveness. It brings costs down, increases productivity, and makes employees work more strategically and less mechanistically in repetitive activities.

What is digital processes automation?

First, we define as automation the use of technological resources in order to improve management, control, and processes on companies’ daily routines. When manual activities are replaced with systems, software, or other technologies, we have digital processes automation.

Digital Processes Automation – DPA, brings several of those technologies together, enabling a holistic approach, based on business processes management (BPM), and it’s capable of automating the steps, activities, and tasks of a company from the start to finish.

In order for automation to happen, it’s necessary to carry out a survey and map all the processes’ steps, understanding related activities and those responsible for them. With the description of everything involved in achieving an objective, it’s easier to observe eventual flaws and bottlenecks. To optimize and simplify a company’s processes, the mapping must be aligned to design thinking methodologies.

How digital processes automation works

Before acquiring a tool capable of digitalizing your company’s processes, you need to understand what’s the best type of automation, and just then seek an alternative that meets the identified demand in an assertive, personalized, and friendly way to employees and teams.

Depending on your company’s structure, processes may be defined by areas or sectors. For instance, a company that issues a lot of invoices may proceed to automate tasks, while a food manufacturer may seek an end to end automation, from request to inventory management.

Applying BPMN principles, DPA is able to map, simplify and automate processes from start to finish. When activities are standardized, they are executed in a collaborative, logical way. Even if there are several interactions, it’s possible to set up the tasks so they run sequentially or side by side, as well as the specific decision rules for each step. Besides, there is the recording and traceability of information, which makes bottleneck visualization more accessible, helps reducing cycle durations, e more importantly facilitates processes management and monitoring.

The definition of which processes will be automated will depend on a company’s goals and priorities. It’s necessary to rely on a provider that has both the tool itself and the know-how needed to ensure the implementation is carried out correctly, with results that generate a return over its investment.

Does my company need DPA? What are its benefits?

If you’d like to see your employees dedicating and using their expertise in a more strategic way, without wasting time with robotic, repetitive activities, then your company surely needs DPA!

It’s a mistake to believe that digital processes automation is not necessary if a company is already doing fine. No matter its size or growth stage, adopting an automation system not only contributes to productivity but also creates an innovative culture capable of strengthening your brand and widening your operation area/market.

Benefits and advantages brought by DPA are several, like reduced flaws, less spending, and repetitive manual work, and increase in productivity and performance, since a holistic view favors the replacement of bureaucratic, low-efficiency methods by innovative alternatives, improving routine processes and reducing the time it takes to accomplish established tasks.

With a focus on strategic vision, digital processes automation manages large quantities of information in a quick and organized way, accelerating decision making and ensuring it is more assertive. DPA also brings benefits to the customers, with faster production and delivery and the creation of personalized products, services, and experiences that have greater added value.

As you can see, DPA offers improvements for all terms: in the short term with improved daily routines, in the medium term in relation to the systemic vision of the company, and in the long term, offering study alternatives for strategic plans. In the big picture, the whole benefits with an increase of company’s profitability

Fusion Platform: digital transformation for your company

Did you notice your company needs to go through a digital transformation?

Fusion Platform includes all the tools for business, documents, and indicators management. Besides being easy to use, there is flexibility to adapt it to the needs of process automation, regardless of the complexity of your situation. It has an integrative platform with other systems, collaborative in relation to the teams and business areas, and mobility: the processes can be executed and consulted from any time or place, so you don’t waste your time anymore!

As you can see, Fusion Platform has everything we listed as important factors when choosing your digital processes automation provider.

And there’s more: you may test the tool for 15 days to check how it’s able to meet your needs and contribute to your company’s productivity and management. Start testing right now, or talk to one of our consultants to clarify any doubts you still have.

14/10/2021
What to consider when choosing electronic document management software?
The Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) defines Electronic Document Management (EDM) as the use of a computer system and software to store, manage, and track electronic documents and electronic images of paper-based information captured through the use of a document scanner.

We can say that today, in this age of information in which we live, and in which data is essential for agile and accurate decision-making, documents and data are a duo of extreme importance for all organizations.

For this reason, many companies have already understood the need to automate document management through EDM software. However, what many do not know, is that not every EDM system is developed in the same way.

This means that when choosing an electronic document management software, it is always a good idea to evaluate the objectives of your business and align them with the features presented by the system.

With that in mind, we have listed in this article the most important features to help with your assessment.

Why invest in an EDM software?

Before choosing an electronic document management software it is imperative that you know why to invest in it. The first point is that, when well endowed with the essential features, the EDM solution allows employees to simplify the receipt, storage, archiving, sharing, validation and search of documents.

Another important issue: when adapted to the needs of the company, an EDM software should be able to increase its productivity and optimize the workflow, and all stakeholders and their actions are clearly identified.

With electronic management, companies gain in optimizing the daily use of documents. In addition, all industries optimize performance, cut costs, save physical space, and improve security.

The reasons for investing in an EDM solution don’t stop there. But to feel all these benefits, your company needs to know how to choose an electronic document management software.

Points to consider when choosing an electronic document management software

Among the various criteria that should be verified when evaluating investment in EDM, those that we consider as essential are:

Ease of use

Good EDM systems have attractive advanced options and features that make the eyes light up. However, when choosing an electronic document management software, ease of use should be paramount.

Look for a system that has a user-friendly interface, which is, one that is easy to use and understand. Otherwise, employees will waste time deciphering the path they should follow (in this case, rather than making the job easier, the EDM solution will eventually turn into a headache).

Also about ease of use, when choosing an electronic document management software, make sure that it has search tools that allow the location of documents by type, date of preparation, editing, metadata, etc.

Workflow automation

Making an investment in EDM will only make sense if your company has time savings and increased productivity. Think of the manual handling routine of a document.

Imagine, for example, a business document that needs signing. The path it travels (from table to table), in addition to taking time, includes the risk of losses.

Therefore, an important point when choosing an electronic document management software is to understand that the system should allow workflows that do all the management in an automated way. This management must be independent for each document type.

In addition, all those involved with the document must have an intuitive view of its history, such as: versions, revisions, approvals, issuing of copies and others.

Total information security (with flexible security)

There is no doubt that one of the most important aspects of document management is security. When we talk about flexible security, we mean that the EDM solution should keep your documents stored securely, but that the security to access each type of document should be flexible.

Explaining: when choosing an electronic document management software, keep in mind that it should allow the user to specify, according to the type of document, items such as: access to reading, editing, deletion, printing, screenshots, recording, among others.

Well, but if on the one hand an EDM solution should allow access to the document to be shaped according to the needs of the company, on the other the system cannot allow loopholes for data breaches. So when you choose an electronic document management software, check what its security protocols are.

Meeting your company needs

There are several business processes that benefit from an EDM solution. Processing product change orders, purchase orders, proposals of all types, document signing, and HR processes are just some of the examples that require a lot of paper and that electronic document management can improve.

Each company has its own private business processes. When choosing an electronic document management software, ask the vendor to show how the solution being evaluated can improve your organization processes.

Also be sure to check if the solution is flexible. Rigid and complex systems will not allow your company to adapt to the process changes that arise (and we know that changes are natural). With flexible software, your organization is sure to have at hand a tool that will always meet your needs.

Other points

In addition to what has been mentioned here, it is important that an EDM software:
- Allows storage of various types of documents, including word processing files, emails, PDFs, and spreadsheets;
- Has monitoring tools to see which users are accessing which documents;
- Has features that ensure that the user is working with the latest version of a document;
- Has the digital signature function with certificates in the ICP-BRAZIL standard, releasing the documents in PDF/A format;
- Has check-in/check-out and lock functions to coordinate the simultaneous editing of a document and ensure that one person’s changes do not replace another person’s;
- Enables keyword search; and
- Has version tools that track edits to documents and retrieve older versions.
In closing

There are several EDM systems available on the market. That’s exactly why it’s so easy to be carried away enthusiasm and allow emotions to influence choice. To prevent this from happening to you – and that the investment doesn’t become a detriment – do your homework before you even start talking to suppliers.

In this article, we have listed the points considered by us as fundamental. If you want to understand this universe better, we suggest that you watch the recording of the webinar The Benefits of Electronic Document Management (EDM).

Did you like this article? Leave a comment telling me what you think. We hope it’s been useful to you. If so, share it with your colleagues. Also, don’t forget: keep an eye on Neomind’s blog and follow our contents.

Try it for 15 days free right now! Or, if you prefer, request a demonstration from our consultants. Count on us to answer all your doubts and help your company!
21/09/2021
Why does your company need performance indicators?

Increasingly present in companies, performance indicators – also known as KPIs or Key Performance Indicators – reflect the desire to manage and control the progress of one or more processes. The objective is to verify whether the goals determined in the organizational planning are being duly met.

In this context, we can say that the indicators form a series of references that enable a continuous evaluation of the position and evolution of an activity or process in a company. Through them it is possible to obtain strategic information that assists in continuous improvement and proactive performance, in addition to providing transparency to the company, usually being expressed clearly by percentages and probabilities.

In this article, you will better understand what performance indicators are, and will learn about the most commonly used ones. Read on and check it out!

Why is it important to define indicators?

“What cannot be measured cannot be managed. This old saying always remains current, because constantly checking the results obtained is essential for good management.

This way, it becomes easier to detect threats and opportunities, measure the relevance of each action, identify the need for specific adjustments, compare information, and analyze the possible effects of a strategy, among other aspects. Even the use of indicators in projects allows to prove the efficiency of a planning and generates valuable insights.

In addition, KPIs are fundamental to the work of people management and employee engagement within the team. With well-defined metrics, it is easier to understand what the responsibilities of each one are and also the impact that each professional brings to the company, benefiting the organizational climate.

What are the types of indicators?

Currently, there are several types of performance indicators available to directors and managers of the company. Thus, it is up to each one to choose which ones best fit the organization objectives, according to the demands and planning of the business.

To simplify the choice process, one of the most used methods is that of Performance Indicators, which when put into practice allow the integration of Strategic, Operational, and Organizational elements of the company.

Therefore, to define the performance indicators that best fit the company strategy, it is important to consider the main types of indicators, divided into four categories.

Quality indicators

Everything related to the efficiency, efficacy, and effectiveness of the company processes and services offered to the client are part of the quality indicators. The indicators in this category are parameters that, within management, allow for precise and objective measurement of the progress of the business in terms of the quality of its results.

Productivity indicators

Unlike quality indicators, which are presented with percentage numbers, productivity indicators measure the results of the relationship between what was produced and the resources invested for this. These indicators are responsible for keeping managers aware of how the performance of their business is and provide the basis for knowing what can be optimized and what improvements can be made in a process.

Capacity indicators

It is very common for professionals to perform their activities without knowing exactly how much time they spend on each one. For this reason, there are capacity indicators, which measure the capacity to produce in a certain period of time. They are essential to understand when it is necessary to increase the team or even invest in new equipment.

Strategic indicators

Finally, we have indicators that analyze and monitor the company performance over time, showing the panorama in which the organization currently finds itself, such as time, resources, and energy employed in the development of its processes. The application of this indicator brings to light the fulfillment of the objectives and goals set by management, assisting in decision making.

The tip is: a KPI must be more than just numbers. They need to express something strategic about what your company is trying to achieve. In other words, a KPI must clearly reflect your business model.

What are the advantages of performance indicators?

Once you know the key performance indicators, you will know that working with them generates important competitive advantages for your organization to focus its efforts. Those who measure the activities and are concerned about optimizing processes have benefits that go from the company management to its operations.

Finally, it is worth emphasizing that it is of utmost importance to monitor the indicators periodically. Through continuous analysis it is possible to measure – like a thermometer – whether your organization is on the right track or not. Remember that the information that comes from the evaluation of the indicators is fundamental to guide planning and areas, promoting increasingly clear and precise results.

Now that you know everything about management by indicators, how about starting to apply it in your business and leverage your results? Fusion Platform offers an Analytics tool that allows the monitoring of KPIs in an agile, intuitive and fast way. So don’t waste any time and try the tool for free right now!

31/08/2021
Ever heard of “intelligent” BPM? Meet iBPM

It is never too much to remember that processes are part of any business. After all, they work as a checklist of steps to be followed by the right people at the right time. Once implemented, they provide consistency, control, and efficiency to the organization.

To meet the challenge of organizing and facilitating low or high complexity organizational processes, internal or external, in corporations, the methodology known as BPM (Business Process Management) was born.

Aiming to add more resources for greater intelligence in processes, BPM has evolved and, thus, iBPM was born.

What does iBPM mean?

To understand what iBPM is we just need to analyze one detail: the letter “i” before the acronym comes from the word “intelligent”. Therefore, iBPM stands for Intelligent Business Process Management. This new direction in BPM integrates cutting-edge technology, such as RPA (Robotic Process Automation), machine learning, big data, and artificial intelligence into daily processes.

Contrary to what you might think, the term is not that new. It was in 2012, during the Gartner Business Process Management Summit, that it was first bandied about. According to the Gartner Group, iBPM would be the “next generation of BPM”.

Also in Gartner’s own definitions, “capabilities such as validation (process simulation, including ‘what if’) and verification (logical compliance), optimization, and the ability to gain insight into process performance have been included in many BPMS offerings for several years. iBPMSs have added enhanced support for human collaboration such as integration with social media, mobile-enabled process tasks, streaming analytics and real-time decision management”.

Simply put, intelligent BPM takes all the advantages of Business Process Management and adds technology such as artificial intelligence to improve efficiency. As such, the tool helps companies dynamically automate more types of experiences and produce automated data analysis.

Therefore, experts consider that while BPM helps organizations plan and automate their complex processes, iBPM goes a step further because it builds a dynamic technology environment

What’s so special about iBPM?

When the term emerged in 2012, it was already clear that optimizing processes to achieve greater efficiency and reduce costs was no longer enough. Since that time, it was already known that companies needed to be more flexible to market changes and agile in deciding their next steps.

Digital transformation and new technologies have shown the importance of real-time data analysis for more accurate decision-making. Thus, the focus of iBPM is not on processes, but on information. We can then say that what makes Intelligent Business Process Management special is that it turns data into information.

With information in hand, the company knowledge expands, and as a consequence it gets much more insights to act on process improvement. The result of this is the continuous improvement in business processes that translates into improved service to the end customer.

By using technologies such as big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, iBPM systems improve the process experience, scalability, flexibility, and automation.

As Jim Sinur, author of the book “Intelligent BPM Systems: Impact and Opportunity,” notes: “intelligent business process management is the next generation of enterprise BPM, leveraging recent technological advances to attain a degree of operational responsiveness not possible with yesterday’s business process platform.”

In short, iBPM enriches BPM by expanding its scope.

Main features of iBPM

Among the key attributes of iBPM, the most expressive is real-time business analysis. By enabling the identification of significant correlations in structured or unstructured data, it improves process visibility and, therefore, decision-making capacity.

On data analytics, by using external context data and social data (such as expert opinion and customer feedback), iBPM empowers users to anticipate customer demands and determine the next action. Once again, decision-making accuracy is the focus.

Another feature of Intelligent Business Process Management is expanded technologies to support mobility. Mobile platforms enable employees to have instant access to business processes, regardless of where they are. Thus, they improve efficiency and the whole process becomes more agile.

All of these already show important advantages of iBPM, but there is one attribute that can bring even more value in the long run. It is the introduction of deep complex-event processing (CEP). CEP analyzes large volumes of data to monitor unexpected patterns and respond to evolving opportunities and risks.

Precisely because it improves decision-making capabilities, iBPM can provide multiple benefits across a variety of industries.

What kind of organization is iBPM suitable for?

Any organization or system can benefit from the advanced technology and analytics of an iBPM. For example, for product development, thanks to the data collected from user feedback, iBPM enables a company to meet the needs of its customers. Benefits include reduced costs in product development and increased market acceptance.

In technology, Intelligent Business Process Management, using real-time data analysis, detects customer problems before they occur, providing the organization with the data it needs to act proactively and avoid a negative customer experience. For finance, users can assess in real time the impact of a potential threat or opportunity in order to develop a contingency plan.

In short, the examples are many and varied. What we want to show is that all companies, and all their sectors, can gain a lot by adopting iBPM.

How to adopt an iBPM software?

This “new” BPM approach is not so new, because, as we showed, the term popped up in 2012. As it is a more advanced Business Process Management vision, there are systems on the market that meet some of the attributes of an iBPM.

Fusion Platform is one of them, and before ending this post, we explain why. One of the benefits of iBPM is the agility in executing processes, right? Well, thanks to Fusion Mobile, requests, pending activities, and tasks can be executed anytime and anywhere.

In addition, the agility in decision making process is promoted through the creation of quick actions in processes, with actions such as Approval, Disapproval, among others. As for analysis and information extraction, with the Analytics solution users create data warehouses and connect various types of databases or webservices.

In other words, Fusion Platform has the tools your company needs for much more agile and accurate decision making.

Try it for 15 days free right now! Or, if you prefer, request a demonstration from our consultants. Count on us to answer all your doubts and help your company!

30/08/2021
What does your company have to gain with Cloud Computing?

The concept of working from home is gaining more and more strength and, along with it, comes the need for companies and employees to adapt. With the advance of new technologies and changes in the corporate environment, remote work has gained a new dimension, especially in the area of Information Technology.

Among these technologies is Cloud Computing. Solutions based on Cloud services offer companies a very flexible type of operation, with online servers in different equipment, in a virtual, transparent and automatic way, and with the option of reducing or expanding its size.

Thanks to its resources, companies from the most varied industries are able to create a customized environment to process large volumes of data, access applications, and manage collaborative activities. This way it is possible to guarantee that everyone keeps producing, sharing and accessing information in a practical and safe way.

Check out the benefits of the Cloud and see how it can be a great ally for companies that bet on corporate mobility:

Flexibility

Unlike the traditional infrastructure model, there is no need to manage and maintain a physical structure of servers and data centers. Being able to change the server infrastructure with ease is an advantage, because, since it is scalable and easily managed by a simple control panel, it can have its capacity expanded according to demand.

Additionally, all the updating and maintenance is the Cloud provider responsibility. Thus, the company will have a specialized team that will manage and take care of all the necessary configurations.

Efficiency

Cloud computing collaboration tools can boost productivity by supporting employees to maintain performance levels even when working from home. For example, there are SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions, a model that spares licenses and can be made available on any computer or device with internet access. Shared drivers, video-conferencing software, and project management are some examples of SaaS applications that are widely adopted.

Through these solutions, companies can integrate their teams and projects, having a panoramic view of the progress of each task, improving the management of the remote work environment. The choice of one of them depends, however, on the needs of each business and the activities performed by it.

Strategy

It is essential that companies have a comprehensive and not limited vision about the potential for optimization and integration that Cloud enables. Besides being a great opportunity to create synergy between the company strategic management and technology, the adoption of Cloud Computing is also crucial to drive innovation in all areas.

However, transformation does not happen only with technology. It needs adjustments in routines and, especially, in the organization culture. The companies that know how to manage this change, accelerating digital transformation, will be one step ahead of the competition and will consequently gain competitive advantages in the market.

To know more…

Adopting cloud computing services in the business environment is following the evolution of today’s technology. All its flexibility and variety still allow any type of company, regardless of segment or size, to take advantage of these benefits and turn them into a real tool to maximize operations.

If the subject interests you, get to know Fusion Platform, a robust platform that integrates processes, documents, and indicators to facilitate decision-making in organizations. All this, of course, adopting the benefits of Cloud Computing. Visit our website and get in touch. Still don’t know Fusion Platform? Try it out for free for 15 days.

23/07/2021
7 tips for CIOs: how to support the company towards growth?
A reesearch conducted by Forbes Insights, in conjunction with Intel and VMware, has found that the role of the CIO is changing and growing in importance. More than 400 CIOs around the world were interviewed, resulting in two reports: “Ascent of the CIO” and “The Challenges for Tomorrow’s CIO“. As Forbes points out, the reports also provide recommendations to CIOs on how they can succeed in this new world of digital transformation.

We have decided to jump into the discussion and bring you tips for CIOs (Chief Information Officers) who want to succeed in technology innovation (especially in the age of cloud computing, big data, analytics, collaborative platforms, etc.) and in leading their teams. The reason for this is that we understand that the importance of the CIO role has increased as technology has come to influence organizations.

So take a few minutes to stop what you are doing and look at our tips for CIOs (we hope they can help you perform your role even more effectively):

1. Have strategic vision

“Being a CIO is much more about having a good strategic vision than about being a master of technology.” The quote is from Douglas Shook, CIO at the University of Southern California, and was taken from the article “How to land the CIO job: 10 tips“.

Out of the tips for CIOs, we consider this one of the most important, especially since IT has become increasingly strategic. It is the area that provides all the technological support for the company to overcome its challenges by spending less and producing more, helping the organization to:
- Create value through technology;
- Technology supported groth plan; and
- Ensure that technical systems and procedures lead to results aligned with business objectives.
For this reason, more than ever – and especially in times of cost reduction – CIOs must have a thorough vision of business operations and know organizational goals and objectives. Thus, the professional will be able to direct the technologies to help the various areas, achieving the expected results.

2. Automate

If IT is to be strategic, it makes no sense for IT professionals to spend time on manual and repetitive processes. Routine tasks are the most time-consuming ones. They are also the ones that should be automated.

Remember that CIOs should focus on leading their teams in a way that adds value to the business. So, out of the tips for CIOs, this one is about eliminating manual processes and operational problems. To do this, as an industry leader, think about using systems that allow you to work on items such as:
- Manage the cycle of a change within the context of IT asset management;
- Generate the necessary controls for impact analysis, change planning, configuration management and predictability;
- Manage and address incidents that occur both within the context of IT management and more broadly to any occurrence in the organization;
- Reduce the response time to incidents and service requests;
- Avoid recurrence of accidents, problems and non-conformities;
- Among others.
3. Speak the right language

Especially in companies that are implementing actions for digital transformation, it is crucial that CIOs communicate in a way that other departments easily understand what is happening (i.e., leaving technical jargon and lingo aside). Keep in mind that it is the CIO’s job to explain about technology in a way that the topic is easy to understand and accessible to people of different knowledge levels.

CIOs must be able to show not only how the change will occur and how it will affect day-to-day operations, but they must also be able to explain the need for such a change and what value it will add to the area or company.

4. Be proactive in transforming

We can’t talk about tips for CIOs without mentioning proactivity. IT leaders should always look for ways to improve their area (and, of course, the company as a whole). For example, you can start mapping or redesigning processes to reduce or eliminate inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and/or waste, going for a paperless environment.

5. Keep your eyes on the future

CIOs must analyze what is happening in the market, draw their own conclusions, and see what makes sense for their company, always thinking about using technology to increase efficiency and revenue.

According to the article “What makes the CIO of tomorrow? Five traits that matter“, when it comes to tips for CIOs, this one deserves special attention. The author, Vaibhav Gawde (Oracle, India), says that the IT leader must always have a clear vision of how the area can make the business protected in the future; being able to define which technology will enable the digital transformation, and how this transformation will help the business to grow.

6 – Get involved

The CIO must be involved at all levels of the organizational structure. Each area has its problems to be solved and only those who work in it can specify what needs to be improved. However, choosing the right systems and implementing them correctly is the IT area’s responsibility. The CIO, acting as a strategic partner, is able to effectively and efficiently distribute technology. The rule here is: the more involved a CIO is in the company strategy, the more effective IT will be.

7 – Don’t forget about security and infrastructure

We understand that the CIO position has not been reinvented, it has just evolved. This means that the IT leader must also oversee the company infrastructure and ensure that it’s meeting the needs.

In addition, and no less important, especially in an age of Big Data, there is information security. A Chief Information Officer has the responsibility to manage the information environment. The tip here is to rely on a document management solution.

In closing

We believe that more and more CIOs are tasked with keeping systems up and running, while also looking at how technology can help improve organizational effectiveness. The role is much more strategic today than it was in the past, especially when taking into account the digital transformation environment.

Therefore, for an organization to be successful, the CIO should no longer be seen as the person who just manages the IT department. Instead, they should be seen as a technology leader, working to support the achievement of the company business goals.

When it comes to Information Technology, don’t forget to keep processes and tasks automated. To help you with that, we have IT accelerators.

Do you have anything to add on the tips for CIOs? Feel free to share your opinion and knowledge with us. Take advantage that you are here and check out other materials produced by Neomind. Access our blog.

Try it for 15 days free right now! Or, if you prefer, request a demonstration from our consultants. Count on us to answer all your doubts and help your company!
29/06/2021
Differences between BPM and ERP: which solution is right for my company?
There are several solutions that simplify business management. Among them are two that usually cause some confusion in the minds of many managers: BPM and ERP. The confusion is normal, since the implementation of both systems aims at increasing efficiency and profit, and reducing costs. However, despite the similarities, there are differences between BPM and ERP.

In this article, we point out the main differences between ERP and BPM. In the end, we hope we can help you define what is best for your business. And to get you started, here is a brief explanation of BPM and ERP.

What is ERP?

Enterprise Resource Management (ERP) is a software that integrates a set of programs to collect and manage data. It is composed of specialist modules such as financial, accounting, production, manufacturing, HR, among others, which are characterized by a multitude of screens, reports, and parameters, always with a transactional view.

ERP is used to control and organize company information, integrate and manage resources and processes in order to optimize company management, reduce costs, and minimize risks. Other benefits of ERP include improved business insight, since it is possible to extract real-time information from the system; and more efficiency and collaboration from users who share data in contracts, requisitions, and orders.

What is BPM?

If you follow our blog, you may have already read some of our articles about Business Process Management (or simply BPM). Gartner defines BPM as means to improve a company operational performance and agility. Thanks to the solution, information flows better and processes gain more consistency. Consequently, the company delivers more value to customers.

BPM is an adjustable management methodology developed with the objective of organizing and facilitating organizational processes of low or high complexity, internal or external, in corporations.

As we commented in this post, the BPM discipline and systems came to fill an important gap left by ERP, with a vision oriented to processes, integrations, and management, aiming to allow end-to-end control of all the company data, documents, and information flow in an integrated way.

Among the main advantages of using BPM is the significant improvement of processes, which allows the organization to be more efficient, assertive, and prone to change than those that use functional focus, with a traditional management approach.

Since the focus of this article is the differences between BPM and ERP we will not delve into the concepts. But in case you are interested in knowing more, we recommend reading the post: What is Process Management (BPM) and what are its benefits?

What are the differences between BPM and ERP?

To begin with, ERPs are tools for storing data from different areas in a single place. BPMS, on the other hand, is an integrated solution for process management and automation.

Among the differences between BPM and ERP, the main one is that while BPM solutions are more process-focused, ERPs are limited to organizational functions. Still, with an ERP, activities are “tied” to a particular department. BPM software, on the other hand, allows the creation of interdepartmental processes.

Also as differences between BPM and ERP it is important to note that ERP usually needs BPM to get its full value. Besides, Business Process Management solutions are more flexible and generally require less effort to implement.

It is important to say that both BPM and ERP are used to manage processes and can even solve similar problems. The real differences between BPM and ERP may be more visible when a BPM tool (BPMS) is integrated with ERP. In this case, the BPMS can bring together systems, applications, and repositories that an ERP system may not have access to.

To complement the differences between BPM and ERP, a Business Process Management solution solves the problem of broken and inefficient processes that can slow down the ERP.

Which one is ideal for my business: BPM or ERP?

In short, from the differences between BPM and ERP that we have analyzed, we can say that BPM solutions are process-focused, while ERPs follow a parallel task-focused path.

An ERP can even help your employees with task automation, but if you feel it’s time for your company to orchestrate several chained tasks and obtain tactical and strategic information, there is no doubt that BPM will accomplish this mission with excellence.

It is also important to emphasize that, as we mentioned in the article How BPM powers your management systems (ERPs), Business Process Management software must be considered in any digital transformation strategy, paperless initiatives, or simply with the goal of raising the bar in terms of effective control of any business.

Finally, if your organization already uses an ERP and is not achieving the goals described at the beginning of the implementation, it is very likely that the system is not entirely to blame. There is a high probability that the ERP failures are in the processes. In this case, by implementing a Business Process Management solution you will see improved results in your ERP system. Keep in mind that a BPM solution is a requirement to help create a successful ERP system.

In closing (with bonuses)

Since our goal in this article is to answer your questions about the differences between BPM and ERP, here is our summary:
- BPM is an integrated solution for process management and automation. ERPs are tools for storing data from different areas in one place.
- BPM fills an important gap left by ERP, with a process-oriented view, integrations and management.
- BPM solutions are more process-oriented, while ERPs are limited to organizational functions.
- In an ERP, activities are “tied” to a particular department. BPM solutions, on the other hand, allow the creation of interdepartmental processes.
- BPM software is more flexible and in most cases requires less effort to implement.
- ERP often needs BPM to help it achieve its full value.
- BPM solutions often solve the problem of broken and inefficient processes that can slow down the ERP.
We hope you were able to understand the main differences between BPM and ERP. In case you are still evaluating whether your company really needs a management system, we recommend an infographic that we developed especially to show you the options available in the market. In the material, we present the meaning and the focus of HRM, Analytics, ECM, SCM, CRM, MES and, of course, BPM and ERP solutions. Check it out!

Get to know Fusion Platform, the tool that integrates with any type of management system. Try it for 15 days for free right now!
21/06/2021
Checklist: Is it time to invest in BPM?
In the highly competitive scenario we find ourselves in, every company that wants to grow and remain financially sustainable needs to be as efficient as possible. So far, nothing new.

What many have not yet realized is that, in the midst of so much technology, insisting on manually executing traditional processes is the same as having teams spending time and money on activities that do not add value. This is where a BPM solution comes in.

In this article we give you an overview of Business Process Management and its benefits, and help you figure out if it’s time for your company to invest in BPM. Check it out!

BPM in brief

Acronym for Business Process Management, BPM is, as we explained in another opportunity: “an adjustable management methodology developed with the objective of organizing and facilitating low or high complexity organizational processes, internal or external, in corporations”. It is a process automation tool.

Broadly speaking, a BPM software helps you map your daily processes to:
- Identify and eliminate bottlenecks;
- Control your company costs;
- Make your daily processes as efficient as possible;
- Ensure the effectiveness of the people involved in your processes.
Note that BPM is a combination of practices focused on driving organizational value through a culture of process improvement. If you are interested in digging deeper, we recommend reading this article: What is Business Process Management and what are its benefits?

Ok, but how do I know if my company should invest in BPM?

So far you have understood what BPM is and some of the benefits of a process management solution. But is it time for your company to invest in BPM? To put an end to this doubt, we have listed below some of the problems faced by many organizations. Check the ones that are part of your daily business routine:

( ) Difficulty in completing processes on time.

How long does it take your company employees to complete an activity within a process? Do you have control over what stage the process is at and/or what is being done?

( ) Difficulty in making decisions.

Does management have the information necessary to make important process-related decisions? Is the information easy to find? Is it centralized?

( ) A lot of money invested, little return.

Has your company been investing in processes that do not bring profit? Before starting a process, can you evaluate the time it will take to complete and the expense it will incur?

( ) Loss of competitiveness due to delivery delays.

Does your company need to reduce the time to sell your product due to increased competition? Do you need to improve the quality of your product/service delivery?

( ) Lack of achievement of organizational goals.

Despite all the efforts of your teams, is your company unable to achieve its organizational goals?

( ) Inconsistent delivery of products/services, coupled with customer dissatisfaction.

Have your customers been complaining about delivery delays, product defects, and so on?

( ) Inefficiency of the employees.

Has the productivity of your employees decreased and is the delivery of products/services falling short? Do your employees waste time performing repetitive, manual tasks?

( ) Lack of information about which step of the process is being performed.

Within a process, how do you control the progress of the activities? What is the level of difficulty to obtain this information?

( ) Finding of non-compliance with legal conformities.

What is your company level of control over legal compliance?

( ) Difficulty in prioritizing processes.

Your company has a lot of things to do, but doesn’t know what is urgent and what is important? Among the processes, do you know how to define those that need to be executed with more urgency?

( ) Inability to assess the effectiveness of processes and map them.

Do you know which processes really bring results? Can you make a list of those that can be eliminated? Can you identify improvement points? (understand about process mapping)

( ) Difficulty in finding which process steps do not add value and where the waste is.

Are you sure that all activities within a process are essential? Are they done in the right way? Are they completed on time and within the budget?

( ) Inability to evaluate the results of a process.

Can managers measure end-to-end processes and make a comparison with the expected results? Is it possible to quantify processes?

Is it time to invest in BPM?

If you checked most of the items above, then your company should ideally invest in a Business Process Management solution in order to streamline and facilitate process management.

But if you are still in doubt about investing in BPM, in addition to the checklist we want to help a little more. We know very well that top management only supports investment in process improvements when they realize that the demands are legally mandatory or financially interesting.

With that in mind – and aiming to give you an extra hand – we developed a calculator that allows your company to analyze the viability of investing in a BPM solution. The ROI calculator takes into account variables such as:
- Standardization and conformity of the process and its rules (quality gains);
- Assertiveness with reduced failures and rework;
- Increase in process speed;
- Efficiency and process reliability;
- Decreased time and number of people involved;
- Increased productivity.
If you would like to understand more about business processes and what a Business Process Management solution can do to make your company even more productive, please contact us! Also feel free to share this article with your colleagues. Enjoy being here and access our other materials.

Try it for 15 days free right now! Or, if you prefer, request a demonstration from our consultants. Count on us to answer all your doubts and help your company!
04/05/2021

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