Forget Process Excellence, Companies are Process Ignorant

Silver Spring, MD – September 16, 2008 – In a new study on Business Process Management to be released by AIIM, 87% of survey respondents stated that ownership is necessary to BPM-enable a process, yet there is no consistent area of the enterprise where ownership of process occurs. “Whether processes are documented or undocumented, manual or automated, optimized or sub-par, they are the core of any functioning organization,” states AIIM Vice President Carl Frappaolo. “The spread of process excellence from the manufacturing industry into the world of “knowledge workers” across all industries has been a long, slow journey, and many have yet to embark on the journey.”

Is a process owner necessary to effectively BPM-enable a process? 13%  No 87%  Yes Source: AIIM Market Intelligence, 2008 (www.aiim.org)

The new survey of over 300 businesses conducted by AIIM in August 2008, found that 57% of respondents have no specific group responsible for BPM initiatives, and the reporting structure of those that exist are spread amongst IT (primarily), and everyone from the financial department, to operations, to nearly every conceivable department.

Do you have a specific group in your organization responsible for BPM initiatives? 57%  No 43%  Yes Source: AIIM Market Intelligence, 2008 (www.aiim.org)

Unfortunately, 90% of respondents state that a Chief Process Officer does not exist within their organization, now fully 6 years after the publication of the noted book “Business Process Management: The Third Wave” by BPM experts Howard Smith and Peter Fingar, in which they promoted the benefits of a Chief Process Officer (CPO). Since the book was published, the idea of a CPO role has been promoted, discussed, and debated by process and strategy experts such as Michael Hammer, Phil Gilbert, Sandy Kemsley and Steve Towers, while minor evidence exists of companies actively pursuing such a role at an executive level.

Does your organization have a Chief Process Officer? 10%  Yes 90%  No Source: AIIM Market Intelligence, 2008 (www.aiim.org)

48% of respondents place their organization at Level 1 of the Business Process Maturity Model (Enterprise lacks consistent practices and management is reactive. Little to no BPM strategy, process redesign is ad-hoc at best) while only 3% are at Level 5 (Optimizing Process excellence and re-engineering is fully integrated into the organization. Emphasis is now on the continuous pro-active improvement of processes, narrowing the gaps between objectives and capabilities).

What is the Maturity Level of your Organization? Level 1 = 48% Level 2 = 29% Level 3 = 14% Level 4 = 6% Level 5 = 2% Source: AIIM Market Intelligence, 2008 (www.aiim.org)

Whether management and workers alike in today’s organizations still find a lingering chill from the massive Business Process Re-engineering efforts of the 80s, or small to medium enterprises believe that Business Process Management is only for the rich, the large, or the elite, there are signs of progress in certain quarters.

FREE WEBINAR
For further details on this study, AIIM is hosting a Special Webinar on Friday, September 26th at 2:00 PM EDST for organizations interested in the major findings. Register for this FREE webinar, presented by the report authors, by going to:
http://www.aiim.org/Events/register.aspx?id=276

THE FULL REPORT
The companion research paper, the AIIM Market IQ on Business Process Management, will be published in October 2008. To receive a copy of the report, please fill out this form:
http://www.aiim.org/ResourceCenter/Research/MarketIQ/Article.aspx?ID=35044

About AIIM
AIIM (http://www.aiim.org) is the community that provides education, research, and best practices to help organizations find, control, and optimize their information.

For over 60 years, AIIM has been the leading non-profit organization focused on helping users to understand the challenges associated with managing documents, content, records, and business processes. Today, AIIM is international in scope, independent, implementation-focused, and, as the representative of the entire ECM industry - including users, suppliers, and the channel - acts as the industry's intermediary.

AIIM was founded in 1943 as the National Microfilm Association and later became the Association for Information and Image Management. AIIM is also known as the Enterprise Content Management Association.

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For more information, contact:

Beth Mayhew
Director, Marketing
301.755.2681
bmayhew@aiim.org

Carl Frappaolo
Vice President
617.933.2584
cfrappaolo@aiim.org

AIIM - Find, Control, and Optimize Your Information
1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100, Silver Spring, MD 20910, 301.587.8202