Process Management Maturity Study. Overview and Conclusions

2021

APQC released the study “HOW PROCESS PROGRAMS STACK UP” about the current state of process management in responding organizations.

The report is based on the APQC maturity model and methodology.

Our consultants have analyzed the report and highlighted 9 key conclusions:

The goals of process management projects were distributed as follows:

Fig. 1. Program`s Primary Purpose

First place: Projects implemented within the framework of supporting strategic initiatives.
Second place: Projects implemented within the continuous improvement cycle of business processes.
Third place: Traditional projects for describing and documenting business processes.
Fourth place: Standardization and unification of business processes.
Fifth place: Targeted projects to increase the profitability of the organization.

At the same time, in most organizations, the link between process management and strategy is still absent:

Fig. 2. Relationship Between Strategy & BPM

The business process owner is the most formalized role (formalized in 77% of respondent organizations) at the level of Process Management Policy:

Fig.3. Process Governance Roles

To engage stakeholders, techniques such as support from top management, training sessions, internal communications, and formal regulations are used. Tools like creating process management collaborative groups, promoting success stories, and encouraging and rewarding efforts are still underrated.

fig.4. Top Methods for Embedding Process Management

The use of metrics and indicators is still underdeveloped. Only 14% of respondents confirmed that business process performance indicators are linked to their company’s overall goals:

Fig. 5. Measuring Process Performance

Only one in three organizations has managed to build an internal control system integrated with risk mitigation actions across the entire company:

Fig. 6. Process Control Points

7. As a result, compliance monitoring is either not conducted at all or only occurs as a reaction to an already arisen issue in nearly half of the organizations:

Fig. 7. Process Compliance

8. Most organizations implement business process improvement initiatives in a non-systematic way. As a result, they tend to be fragmented:

fig. 8. Process Improvement Culture

9. Despite the fact that workflow automation remains the top tool, specialized IT solutions for business process management (BPM platforms) are used by 34% of respondents.