It is clear that businesses today need to continually transform to keep pace with the rate of technological and social change. It is for this reason that billions of dollars are spent every year on transforming business processes, yet despite the vast amounts of money thrown at the issue, the majority of such transformations fail.
Bearing this in mind, imagine that an enterprise could ensure such ongoing transformation would be effective and that the organisation had the tools at hand to allow it to keep pace with the rate of transformation in the world itself.
Now, thanks to FlowCentric Technologies, businesses no longer need to imagine. The company has launched a new solution, FlowCentric Collaborate, which utilises software designed by BusinessOptix to enable companies to rapidly map their processes, prior to development and implementation thereof. In this way, they are able to keep pace with changing governance, risk and compliance rules and multiple varying business conditions.
BusinessOptix was recently named as a Cool Vendor in Business Process Management, 2015 by Gartner. The research firm points out that Cool Vendors exemplify the technologies and methods business transformation leaders must use to connect the work done by people, systems and the Internet of things.
"By understanding where your business is today, it is possible to identify where the opportunities exist for improvements at strategic and operational levels, particularly when it comes to issues of governance, risk and compliance. After all, you can develop the best process in the world, but if it isn't in line with legislation, then it is a waste of time," he says.
"As a leading provider of business modelling and process analysis and design tools, BusinessOptix understands what is needed to help organisations end-to-end, from strategic initiatives through to operational process design. FlowCentric Collaborate is a solution that will give the right people in the organisation the tools they need to model, transform and shape their business."
He adds that those who don't see the value in rapid business transformation need look no further than the manner in which NetFlix has changed the film hire model in just a couple of years. This, he explains, is a business that has changed processes so rapidly that it has left the traditional video store in the dust, with a legacy business model that simply cannot compete.
"It is for this reason that businesses need to be able to transform their processes rapidly. "We are now living in a world where change is swift and only those that can keep abreast of it will stay profitable. If the rate of change outside your organisation is greater than the rate of change within your business, then there is little doubt that the end is near."
"Our software will allow FlowCentric Technologies to provide business and technical users with a powerful platform that enables them to model their business and processes to deliver specific initiatives and continuous improvements. In this way, they will easily be able to keep pace with the rapidly changing environment we live in today," suggests McInally.
"The way business process automation normally occurs is complicated. Generally, the business explains what is required to an analyst, who creates the necessary documents that are then supplied to the programmer, who develops the process from there. This means that the potential for misunderstandings to occur across this chain is enormous. FlowCentric Collaborate, on the other hand, overcomes this ‘broken telephone' principle and ensures that the business gets exactly what it needs, without the risk of garbled communications interfering," he says.
"The tool is particularly useful in the current business environment, where the need for rapid evolution of processes is exacerbated by the sheer volume of change that is happening on a technological and social level. Cloud Computing, bring your own device (BYOD), mobility and numerous other developments are leading to such rapid change within organisations that most people in the enterprise are unable to even grasp or understand why or how this change is happening."
FlowCentric's partnership with BusinessOptix, in the form of the Collaborate tool, is all about adding structure to what is generally seen as a much more unstructured process. With this tool, continues Bensch, it is now easy to provide a single breakdown of exactly how a process works, via a single tool, which is accessible to whoever has the rights to view it.
"A key aspect of FlowCentric's strategy has always been to manage the entire process lifecycle for its clients. By adding the BusinessOptix tool to its set, under the FlowCentric Collaborate brand, we are now able to offer clients a complete end-to-end solution in terms of business process management."
"It is about being able to get involved with our customers from a much earlier stage, and thus be able to add even more value," he concludes.