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.