BPM, enterprisewide and beyond

The first process chosen for automation was one of the most paper-based and also one that could produce immediate improvements in cash flow. “Contracting and chargeback are very important because we need to reflect correct prices quickly,” explains Kumar. “If the price negotiated between the customer and the pharmaceutical company differs from the one we as distributors have on record, the billing process becomes much more complex and lengthy.” Now, instead of having a paper contract go from one desk to another, an electronic version with the current price is routed to AmerisourceBergen staff responsible for approval, and subsequently loaded into the system. The process is faster and improves the likelihood of consistent pricing.

Short development cycle

Approval routing is dynamic in nature and because of Metastorm BPM, it can be easily adjusted to match changes within the organization. “If we have a sensitive customer with special requirements, for example, the change can immediately be sent through a different approval path,” Kumar says, “so we have greatly improved our cash flow and the way we load our contracts pricing. Also the number of pricing adjustments we need to make has been significantly decreased.”

AmerisourceBergen now has more than 200 processes automated and managed by the company’s BPM Center of Excellence, with new ones being brought on steadily. Part of the reason the company has succeeded in getting so many processes in place is that the ease of use of Metastorm helps keep the development cycle short. “We can develop processes that do not involve other systems in about 160 hours,” Kumar explains.

More complex processes, such as those that draw in data from other sources, take longer, but are still feasible. “In one case, we have representatives out in the field collecting and analyzing data that feeds into our strategy on competitive pricing,” he adds. Metastorm BPM imports data from Excel spreadsheets, or data is submitted through a Metastorm Web form used by the representatives, and then provides information that supports decision-making on pricing.

Becoming a process-centric culture is not easy for an organization, Kumar acknowledges, but the rewards are significant. “It took about a year for people to understand process management,” Kumar says, “but after that, it spread like wildfire.” AmerisourceBergen can now benefit from the visibility at every stage achievable through BPM to address bottlenecks and improve processes.

Metastorm continues to enhance the usability of its BPM product. Laura Mooney, VP of corporate communications, says, “We think the greatest strengths of Metastorm’s BPM solution are its ability to support complex processes in a way that is simple for the user, and its ability to provide meaningful visualization of processes.” The latest release also allows multiple languages within a single instance of the process workflows and their associated objects. “This feature significantly decreases the time and effort required to deploy global business processes,” Mooney adds.

BPM is generally linked to a measurable outcome, such as cost reduction, quicker turnaround time for a process, or an increase in customer satisfaction. That quality makes BPM solutions more compelling than products whose ROI is less definitive. In a survey conducted by Gartner (gartner.com), one-third of respondents indicated that they were going to increase BPM by more than 10 percent. “The feedback we get is that BPM is not a luxury,” says Michele Cantara, research VP at Gartner. “It’s the way that companies are doing business.”   

Grassroots impact

Once an organization takes an enterprisewide approach to process management, BPM solutions can provide a practical means of reaching individuals at all levels. “Some of our customers are rolling out BPM with the capability to function as an electronic watercooler for process improvement,” says Phil Gilbert, CEO of Lombardi, which IBM announced in December it intends to acquire.

Lombardi’s Blueprint is a collaborative process documentation tool that allows multiple individuals to define and modify processes. “Sometimes an individual recognizes that they can do a better job if they have another resource on the job or change some other aspect of their work,” Gilbert says, “and Blueprint lets them suggest this change.” Once approved, the new processes can then be implemented and executed in Lombardi’s Teamworks.

As a cloud-based application, Blueprint is accessible from anywhere via the Internet, so it is well suited to geographically dispersed teams. “We are finding that organizations buying Blueprint are those with a vision for global BPM,” Gilbert says. “Moreover, for the first time in our corporate history, we are seeing a greater sales volume in license expansions as compared to new licenses. We see this as an indication that companies are deciding to make BPM pervasive in their business.”