Examine these basics:
-- How much paper -- printed forms, memos, etc. -- does the organization consume?
-- How much fuel is wasted on interoffice mailings and postal mailings to customers and suppliers?
-- How much raw material is wasted because of inefficient manufacturing processes?
BPM tools can help IT organizations significantly reduce corporate consumption in all three areas through process automation, both internally and externally.
Reduce paper
BPM software proves to be highly effective in the quest to eliminate paper because it not only allows you to create online forms and documents, it also allows organizations to incorporate those online documents into automated processes that remove the need to manually route and track paper. As a result, BPM eliminates the cost and environmental burden of paper, while at the same time allowing for more effective governance and control.
The average U.S. office worker is estimated to use a sheet of paper every 12 minutes and dispose of 100 to 200 pounds of paper every year. BPM software can serve as the common platform for eliminating paper and automating processes throughout organizations.
Take the City of New Orleans. In 2008, it used BPM software to take its contracts management process online, automating the processing of $1 billion worth of contracts. In the absence of process automation, each contract would have moved by manila folder through approximately eight offices. It had typically gone from one stakeholder desk to another's through both inter and intra-office mailings, often with inefficient tracking and delivery methods.
Beyond the direct paper savings of online forms and documents, organizations that have further aligned BPM with enterprise architecture (EA) efforts have facilitated the electronic documentation of the processes themselves, which otherwise would result in volumes of paper being consumed and stored. That allows organizations to create graphical models of all processes, complete with annotations and documented interdependencies. The paper is largely eliminated and it becomes easier to maintain processes and keep them current, reducing the overhead of ongoing compliance and resulting in more accurate "virtual documentation."
Reduce fuel and transport
Reducing paper also cuts down on the amount of physical transport that is required to share information. The ability to complete and submit forms online eliminates the need to mail documents such as applications, purchase orders and expense reports. In addition, because BPM allows for the automation of human-intensive processes and the movement of mission-critical paperwork online, knowledge workers are now able to review, annotate and collaborate online, reducing the frequency of business travel. Think of the savings from an environmental perspective -- lower transportation emissions, less fuel usage, and less wear and tear on the physical infrastructure that supports these activities.
, a global manufacturer of aquarium products, used BPM to move its engineering change-request process online. The solution allowed the organization to not only eliminate paper and costly mail between offices, but also allowed engineers, scientists and other knowledge workers in a variety of locations to collaborate on product changes online. Before BPM, one change request could include drawings of 50 parts and generate an exponential amount of paperwork to process the request.
With BPM, all documentation is online, and multiple, geographically dispersed users can simultaneously review the product folders and subfolders.
According to a recent Barclaycard study, a typical business person will travel approximately 7,200 miles per year above and beyond their daily commute -- that's the equivalent of 3.1 tons of CO2 emissions per person, per year. With a total of more than 200 million trips per year attributed to business travel in the United States alone, the total environmental savings from reducing travel by a modest 20% through online collaboration and process automation could be staggering.
More efficient manufacturing
On the manufacturing front, duplication of work and processes can lead to excessive costs and, perhaps just as important, inefficient resource usage. The idea of lean manufacturing as a protocol was originated by in the early 20th century, but new technologies are allowing manufacturers to identify process interdependencies and take a broad view of manufacturing process optimization across the enterprise.
Once the product leaves the manufacturing floor, process automation solutions such as BPM enable companies to increase control over both internal and external processes such as purchase order/invoicing, logistics, and transportation and trading partner integration. Shortening transportation routes by limiting movement and resources use and converting manual, paper-based procurement and payment processes into automated electronic transactions between manufacturers, partners, retailers and customers leads to significantly reduced environmental impact.
In addition, a proper understanding of your supply-chain network, related assets and interdependent processes that is well documented in an EA tool can help identify and eliminate duplicate resources, excess overhead or inefficient distribution channels. Leveraging a tool will enable increased visibility and analysis -- and correcting these issues could eliminate buildings, machinery and inefficient transportation routes, all of which contribute to a more environmentally and economically sustainable business model.
Supply-chain benchmarking and sustainability efforts, when combined with process automation, can yield sustainable carbon-footprint reductions through more optimized paper and fuel consumption, reduced physical overhead and less raw material and resource usage.
Industry needs to embrace environmentally sustainable business practices because it is the right thing to do and because governments worldwide will likely force the issue through new regulations and requirements. You can wait for the mandates or proactively improve your operations in ways that will positively impact the environment and deliver measurable cost savings and a long-term platform for sustainability.
Implementing a common technology platform for business process management and enterprise modeling will allow you to go green in more ways than one.
Mooney is vice president of Corporate Communications at Metastorm (www.metastorm.com).