1. How important is BPM for European managers?
Figures derived from our survey of members of the EFQM suggest unequivocally that BPM is a major issue for European businesses. Eighty-two percent of respondents cited BPM as being very important to their organisation or business unit and 15 percent said that it was fairly important.
The drivers for BPM and the benefits achieved (Table I) help to explain the level of importance attached to it. The need to work smarter, better and faster in a rapidly changing market place appears as the motive in many cases. This is coupled with the realisation that traditional organisational structures and operating procedures are ill-suited to doing this. The vision and commitment of senior management was also noted as being a key driver.
Given that processes are at the heart of the EFQM model it is perhaps not surprising that the majority of respondents to our survey endorsed BPM as a means to achieving business excellence. Our case study work has certainly shown that BPM is a logical progression for those companies which have been involved in TQM. In fact only 3 percent of survey respondents said that they had not yet started BPM (Table II). However, the majority of respondent organisations proved to be at what we would describe as an early stage of BPM.
Unfortunately the survey gave few real clues as to the type of organisation adopting BPM. There appeared to be little difference between public and private sector companies or between manufacturing and non-manufacturing industry. Public sector interest in the EFQM model appears to be increasing rapidly, however, and although statistically insignificant, company size did appear to be a factor, with relatively few small organisations having much experience in BPM. In the absence of solid evidence we would propose that BPM is most relevant for larger network organisations perhaps with long-established working practices. It may be less of an issue for small companies or those just starting up, given their proximity to the market and more narrowly defined product/service offerings. Perhaps the most interesting observation from the survey is that there appear to be few world class role models. Respondents disagreed on which organisations were best at BPM, although Rank Xerox (9 percent) and Hewlett-Packard (7 percent) were most mentioned.