Business process management (BPM) is a structured approach to analyzing, designing, executing, monitoring, and optimizing business processes. It helps you get better business outcomes through continuous process improvement.
Adapting to today’s fast-paced environment is challenging for any organization. With continual changes in regulations and technological capabilities, companies must be able to achieve their business goals in a shifting landscape.
Modern and traditional enterprises alike employ business process managers to fix broken workflows and support new strategies by aligning operations with clearly defined process improvements.
That’s where the Business Process Management pillar comes in. This pillar serves as a central guide with a curated collection of articles, use cases, and resources focused on process management.
Whether you're new to BPM or refining a mature initiative, you'll find actionable insights and practical guidance to support effective, scalable process management.
Business process management (BPM) is a systematic approach to analyzing, designing, and continuously improving an organization’s operations to align them with its strategic goals and ensure correct and compliant execution of those processes.
Used in organizations of all sizes, from SMBs to large corporations, it helps process experts make processes more efficient, effective, and adaptable based on data-driven decisions, all while reducing costs.
You can think about BPM like GPS for a business: It gives you real-time insights and directions to help you navigate complex workflows. The value of business process management is that it helps companies operate more efficiently, adapt faster to change, and deliver better outcomes.
In combination with process improvement methodologies and BPM software, you can create optimized, standardized, and compliant processes that can be measured and refined over time.
A good example of BPM implementation is within customer relationship management, where it can help you reduce customer response times, increase CLTV, boost customer satisfaction by integrating customer data across departments, and strengthen customer feedback loops. Not only does this make your operations more efficient, but it also enhances customer experience.
To better understand BPM today, it's helpful to look at how it has evolved.
→ Related: Business process management vs. Workflow
Business process management has evolved from manual methods in the 1980s to today’s intelligent, cloud-based platforms. Early BPM focused on efficiency and quality, influenced by quality management approaches like Six Sigma.
The rise of ERP systems in the 1990s and 2000s formalized BPM as a discipline, supported by modeling standards like BPMN and EPC.
In the 2010s, BPM expanded with automation platforms, process mining, and cloud-native tools—shifting from IT-led efforts to more collaborative, data-driven practices.
SAP’s 2021 acquisition of Signavio reflected this transition, as organizations increasingly sought agile, integrated process solutions.
As BPM tools and practices evolved, so did the approaches to managing different kinds of business processes.
→ Related: BPM vs. Analysis vs. Automation
Choosing the right type of BPM depends on how processes are executed and what technologies or people are involved.
Once the right BPM type is identified, organizations can begin applying a structured method to improve and govern those processes. That method is the process lifecycle.
To manage business processes continuously and effectively, it's essential to recognize that each process follows a lifecycle. The process lifecycle provides a structured framework that supports every stage of process management—from initial discovery to ongoing optimization.
Each phase builds on the previous one, ensuring that business processes are continuously improved and remain aligned with strategic objectives.
To support each stage of the process lifecycle, organizations rely on visual modeling techniques to document, communicate, and improve processes.
BPMN stands for Business Process Model and Notation. It is one of the modeling standards used to create clear and consistent visual representations of business processes. Maintained by the Object Management Group (OMG), it ensures that both technical and non-technical stakeholders can understand how processes work.
BPMN diagrams use symbols to represent tasks, events, gateways, and flows—making it easier to document, analyze, and improve processes. It’s widely used for aligning business and IT, especially when processes need to be automated or optimized.
Event-driven Process Chain (EPC) is a graphical modeling method used to represent business processes, especially in ERP environments like SAP. It was developed to support structured process documentation and strategic analysis.
EPC diagrams use events, functions, and logic connectors (AND, OR, XOR) to show the flow of activities and decision points. It remains popular in organizations using ARIS or SAP for modeling high-level, enterprise-wide processes.
In today’s highly competitive environment, where businesses are employing AI-driven technology to get ahead, there has never been a greater need to be able to harness high-quality data to ensure optimal decision-making.
Indeed, in a 2023 survey by LeBow College of Business at Drexel University, 77% of respondents said data-driven decision-making is an important goal of data programs. However, only 46% of respondents rated trust in data used for decision-making as “high” or “very high”.
This is exactly where BPM can add value by providing a structured, transparent, and data-driven way to manage how work gets done. Instead of focusing on individual tasks or departments, BPM supports cross-functional initiatives where process alignment, visibility, and adaptability are critical to success.
Here are the most common BPM use cases:
→ Related: Value of BPM
There is a wide range of advantages of business process management that contribute to making your business more effective.
→ Related: Business process management: A winning strategy
It’s important to consider business process management challenges to be able to plan for success when you implement BPM in your company. Below is a list of common challenges and tips to overcome them.
→ Related: Top challenges to business transformation
Below are eight practical steps to help organizations implement business process management—from initial discovery to continuous optimization.
Start by defining the strategic goals BPM should support—such as reducing operational costs, improving customer experience, or ensuring regulatory compliance. Clear objectives will guide process prioritization and help align BPM efforts with business outcomes.
You may choose to focus BPM on areas like:
Successful BPM requires collaboration across departments. Identify the key business and technical stakeholders, involve them from the beginning, and communicate the purpose and expected benefits of BPM. Early buy-in helps reduce resistance later and builds momentum.
Modern BPM tools support real-time collaboration, workflow automation, process modeling (e.g., using BPMN), and performance monitoring. Choose a platform that fits your organization’s scale, integrates well with existing systems, and supports your BPM maturity level.
→ Related: Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for process mining platforms
Start by understanding how your processes currently operate. This is the foundation of any BPM initiative. You can approach this using process mapping, process mining, or ideally, a combination of both.
Combining both approaches gives you a complete picture: mapping helps align people and expectations, while mining validates those assumptions with actual execution data.
Once your processes are mapped or mined, analyze them to identify inefficiencies, delays, or risks. Use metrics such as cycle time, cost per transaction, and error rates to quantify issues.
Data analytics and process mining can also help identify root causes and performance gaps, forming a solid basis for process improvement planning.
Use your findings to design optimized, to-be processes aligned with your business goals. Involve frontline users and process owners to ensure practicality and acceptance.
Model proposed changes using BPM tools and validate them with stakeholders before rollout. Consider automation opportunities where applicable.
Roll out redesigned processes in phases or pilot programs to manage risk and gather early feedback.
Communicate clearly and frequently with all affected teams, provide training and documentation, and support adoption through structured change management. Ensuring transparency and ongoing engagement is key to long-term success.
BPM is a continuous discipline. Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs), gather user feedback, and regularly assess outcomes.
Refine processes as conditions change, and establish governance for ongoing process ownership and improvement.
→ Related: A five-stage approach to business transformation.
By now, you should have a very good idea of how to implement BPM in your organization. To help you on your way, here is a quick checklist of best practices to keep in mind when you are doing BPM.
The evolution of business process management is now entering an AI-driven phase characterized by machine learning and hyperautomation. AI-powered tools now analyze vast datasets to detect inefficiencies, predict bottlenecks, and automatically implement improvements.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is being used to automate workflows by having “software robots” carry out repetitive tasks. All this creates dynamic, self-optimizing systems that adapt in real time for unprecedented continuous improvement of business processes.
Through activities like process mining (which uses event logs to reveal how processes operate), low-code/no-code platforms, and RPA, business users without technical expertise can now design and automate workflows.
This makes the benefits of BPM more accessible than ever to businesses of all sizes that want to achieve better business outcomes without the need for specialists.
The benefits of business process management mean that overcoming any associated challenges is well worth the effort. BPM plays a vital role in systematically improving processes to enhance all operational areas of a business.
To ensure success when you start working with a business process management tool, follow best practices and include all stakeholders in the steps you take toward increasing business automation.
Get a BPMN 2.0 overview poster with the various graphical elements, examples of applications, and their meaning.
