Your initial thought about something as specific as business process modeling is, “What use does that have in real life?” However, if you already manage a business, chances are that you know the truth: knowing business process modeling revolutionizes the day-to-day. What it all comes down to is function. The function, the extended usability of the skill, is far greater than you might guess. The same goes for the benefits of learning the skill in the first place, which not only have to do with function, but also with the added bonuses to having this knowledge. Here are some of the biggest benefits of using business process modeling software, or tools that are made specifically to help you model business processes.
Intimate Knowledge
One of the most obvious benefits of business process modeling and notation tools comes from the way that your understanding of a business process grows as a result. Whether it’s your first time building out a business process diagram, or whether you’re a seasoned BPM professional, you can take the time to get to know a particular process when you map it out yourself — and this is all the truer when you think about software that helps you view the process holistically. Whatever industry, whatever process it is, a modeling tool that aids you in building and analyzing the structure of your business process will make you aware of the essentials, such as the main tasks, as well as more specific details, like the complexity of the process, and the types of decisions you’ll be making along the way.
Ease of Access
Business process modeling and notation tools have created the ability for anyone to map out and get to know their business’s core process with little need to be knowledgeable in the field to start out. You don’t need an education in BPM to start learning the essentials of business process modeling, thanks to the various tools that make it easy and accessible to users of every skill level. You can take tutorials, get familiar with the working parts of the software, but no longer do you need to be the one with industry knowledge — instead, let the software be that expert guidance as you build and model your processes.
Less Mental Math
A BPM professional is often thinking on their feet, and in many situations must do calculations on the fly to aid certain processes in addressing issues with the flow or the resources that are made available. There’s even merit to calculating before or after a process: before, you can preempt what problems could arise in the process; when doing so after a process, though, you can use the same kind of calculations to optimize for better performance. If you have a way to model a process within a software tool of some kind, though, it makes these calculations all the easier — with some programs doing the work for you in terms of analyzing the process that’s been mapped out.
Sharing The Process
When using a modeling tool, your business process becomes shareable. It becomes more than just a map on paper: it’s a platform for collaboration, and in many cases, it’s malleable to the feedback of various users to make it easier to find the best, most beneficial approach in any business use case. Apart from that, business process modeling tools make it easier to explain your process — remotely or in person — as you’re able to control the view and pinpoint things digitally for your teammates, making it clearer than ever what you’re trying to accomplish with your specific processes.
Implementation Made Easy
In some cases, your business process modeling is the first step of your workflow management tool. In other cases, using a modeling tool just means that you’ll be prepared to copy the process step by step into your actual workflow. No matter what, though to implement a specific business process means planning it out, and by using software that’s designed for exactly that, you’re aiding yourself in the modeling of this process to a point where it will be all too easy to implement in real life — because you’ve already designed and built it in the modeling tool.
More Creativity
There’s an added bonus to having a bit of a sandbox to play with, sporting all the tools and assets that can make up a fully functional business process model. While sometimes all you want to do is build your most straightforward solution, there will be times when you want to test out a new approach, a new way of resolving your business process needs. That’s when this software comes in handy too so many business owners looking for new solutions!
All you do is work out new ideas in a business process model that reflects your goals, and if you find it works, you’ll be able to take it to the bank without wasting resources on an actual replication of this design until you know it’s worthwhile!
Conclusion
No matter why you decide to use it, the overall benefits of having a business process modeling tool are too great, and the accessibility too high, for you to turn away from the possibilities now. Many are available for free use or come with workflow tools you already use. In any case, it’s time to put it to work!
Jason is the Marketing Manager at a local advertising company in Australia. He moved to Australia 10 years back for his passion for advertising. Jason recently joined BFA as a volunteer writer and contributes by sharing his valuable experience and knowledge.
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