During the recent ARIS Process Forum in Birmingham I carried out a delegate survey revealing that speed and efficiency are top of the agenda for CIOs and that business process excellence is key if CIOs are to meet the challenges they face.
When I asked the delegates to identify the issues on their CIO's agenda they came up with 5 top priorities, each of which places great emphasis on an ability to manage business processes confidently:
- Agility and speed. While speed of delivery was highly rated, the ability to be able to change direction or respond to shifting circumstances was seen as equally important.
- Business productivity and cost reduction. Operational efficiency was ranked near the top of the list as well as the need for real reductions in the cost base.
- IT/business alignment & IT cost reduction. It's clear that CIOs believe that the closer that business and IT functions are able to work together and support each other, the more streamlined and productive the overall business and its processes will be.
- Security and privacy. Risk management as a whole is clearly a big concern for CIOs, and being able to reduce failure rates, improve performance reporting and attach stronger ownership responsibilities to processes is seen as a prerequisite for a more secure operation.
- Business process re-engineering. CIOs recognise the challenge of making changes stick in the long run, to make sure the benefits grow as the business grows, and to share and re-use the ideas across the whole business. In other words they need to deliver true and sustainable value.
Business process re-engineering is seen as fundamental to this.
Andrew Morrish, MD of IDS Scheer UK also commented "Delegates at our Process Forum did more than identify a series of individual priorities; they highlighted the interconnectedness of today's business issues and what it takes to master them. What emerged was a story of how business process excellence underpins the whole CIO agenda," he said. "Helping CIOs deliver against their priorities is what IDS Scheer is here to do."
**If you are an ARIS User within the UK and Ireland why not join our ARIS UK and Ireland Community? As a member you have direct access to the latest developments of Business Process Management (BPM) related topics. It offers a platform for information exchange and enables shared discussions with other UK & Ireland based Business Process Professionals. Please email Ms. Joanne Riches if you want to join this group!**
