Business process management : how to reduce process debt

Abstract

Business processes are one of the key elements of the company ecosystem that emphasize its ability to grow and adjust in the fast emerging and evolving market. Business processes orchestrate the overall business flow, quality of product and its robustness. When the company's processes are well-established and optimized, it directly translates to an enhanced organizational efficiency within the company. However not all the companies implement formalized processes in their daily operations, nor do they prioritize regular review and optimizations of business processes. This tendency is commonly observed among startups, but it can also be seen in the larger companies. These companies often rely on experienced managers and advanced technologies and consider these advantages as a substitute for well-determined and structured processes. Nonetheless, it can lead to the detrimental consequences. Just like companies can get the “technical debt” from not-optimized technical solutions and processes, they can receive “process debt” from poor determined business processes. It is crucial to always recognize that time dedicated to process management is an investment in future scalability, performance and resilience. By establishing transparent and well-defined business processes, the path to improvement, performance optimization and enhanced operational efficiency becomes much more attainable. This work aims to explore the importance of business processes management within the scope of process debt: its origins, current framework and background. Additionally, it examines approaches to managing process debt, exploring strategies and tactics companies can employ to pivot towards integrating business processes and leverage them to foster growth, drive success, and achieve sustainability.