Being Human

 Inspired by my twin passions for process improvement (using BPM and Case Management) and the BBC, here is my latest article on CMSWire…

Being Human: Why Knowledge Workers Need Adaptive Case Management

“If a ghost, a werewolf and a vampire can appreciate how difficult it is Being Human, so can a  BPM practitioner”  – Anonymous

How important is the human factor in driving meaningful process improvements for your business? 

I believe it is THE most important, and arguably the most difficult, aspect of any effort to improve performance.  I recently participated in an educational virtual summit aptly titled ACMLive that considers what it takes to properly support human knowledge work.  I share some of the ideas discussed at that summit in this installment of my ACM article series, and take a look at ways that  Adaptive Case Management is helping  Business Process Management (BPM)  practitioners  succeed with the complex task of involving people in process  improvement.   Read the enire article  at CMSWire: Being Human

 

Do you have the right stuff?

Check out my latest article on process improvement. Inspired in part by the movie The Right Stuff, it’s a bit of a walk down memory lane.

 

Fast Cars, Fast Financing… with ACM

When products are comparable what do you do to differentiate?  Customer experience and speed of deliverying results are how automotive leasing and financing companies are capturing and keeping customers.  Case Management is the tool they are using. I recently wrote about this in my adaptive case management series in CMSWire.

 

What a Bank needs, what a Bank wants

I’ve been fortunate in my pursuit of business process improvement practices to talk with a number of bankers, banking technologists, and  industry analysts and advisors about current FSI needs and future wants.  As we come to the end of this year and look ahead to 2012 , I thought I would share some of the highlights of those conversations: 

• Improved ability to focus on the customer is a primary concern.
• Cost reduction, regulatory reporting, rapid delivery of new products & services are and will continue to be top of mind.
• The retiring workforce is seen as a risk, as are meeting the requirements of the “new” (social and mobile) employee and customer profiles.  This drives a perceived need to get new and improved systems in now.
• There is major focus on consistent brand experience and integration across channels (esp. w/mobile)to improve customer service/satisfaction.
• Banks are often pursuing business process and case management solution purchase decision as though getting an application (vs. a BPM technology platform)
• A natural cycle of refresh is happening and banks are open to new sources – the notion of an app is morphing… Build or buy,  is no longer the simple question … category is blurry, a continuum.
• Many of the banks start with a modernization approach (technology focus) but then find they need a business transformation.  
• IBM, Oracle, Microsoft  identified as strategic vendors, but  banks of all sizes seem to be willing to go for mixed solutions and heterogeneous approaches.

Of course, it’s important to realize that the above points are a result of my conversations and not necessarily a scientific study.  I would be interested in your views and what you are seeing and hearing in the banking industry for process improvement initatives.

 

Future Banking, Future People

I like this video from Microsoft that was done a while back on Future Banking (actually not so future today )

and this new video on the future of productivity

 

What’s Happening with Dynamic Case Management

It has been a while since I posted to this BLOG and much has been happening in the world of adaptive case management (or dynamic case management as many refer to it).  

I just returned from this year’s Forrester Business Process Conference (#BPF11) in Boston and once again gained some great industry insights. I was especially taken by the keynote from Forrester’s Craig Le Clair who has done some outstanding work on the role of dynamic or adaptive case management in achieving business improvement. Craig was joined by Steven J. Spear, Senior Lecturer at MIT, expert on achieving operational excellence and author of “The High-Velocity Edge.” Together their message focused on what needs to happen differently for our business process solutions to meet today’s more demanding customer expectations.  READ MORE

Also be sure to check out my article series in CMSWire – my latest are:

 ”How Community Banks Can Use Adaptive Case Management to Cost Effectively Capture and Service New Customers“. I review three key areas where case management can facilitate positive change: “focus on customers, not products”, “integrate process and content for better decision making”, and “respond to unpredictable events and exceptions”.

How Adaptive Case Management Can Help Businesses Innovate where I talk about the big breakthrough value with adaptive case management (ACM) coming from solutions driven by those who are technology-agnostic, who simply want the business results that adaptive case management can deliver. In this article I explore how forward-thinking business leaders will use adaptive case management, including some of its social business aspects, to help foster knowledge worker innovation and win market share.

 

Hope for introverts: How adaptive case management makes us all social

I just returned from vacation at Lake George <sigh>. Since I am by nature an introvert, a big part of my vacation time was spent at the Lake in quiet solitude… catching up on reading, watching our golden retrievers swim, and contemplating life.  Yes, it was wonderful,  and no  it did not in any way affect my apparent obsession with process improvement and case management.  In fact, it made me think about the power of “social” collaboration capabilities within case management. I believe the combination can help transform knowledge worker intensive processes like insurance underwriting, claims adjusting, customer on-boarding, credit claims disputes and more.  Here’s a few resources I recommend that explore this idea; including the upcoming  ACMLive Virtual Summit.

 

A few of my favorite things… at the Gartner BPM Conference

Cloning would have been helpful at Gartner’s BPM Conference #BPM11 last week in Baltimore.  It was hard to decide which of the multiple concurrent sessions to attend.  Usually my favorite time is in between the sessions, meeting the other attendees and catching up with industry colleagues since the last event.  That was still true for this conference of course, but credit is definitely due to Gartner for putting together some outstanding session content!

So here are a few of my favorites:

 

Convenience Card… Really?

I frequently write about business process improvement and information agility. To illustrate best practices, I draw from the many successful BPM and case management implementations  I have been fortunate to work with or review.  This is NOT one of those articles!

 Process rant alert: With apologies in advance to the many forward thinking,  technology-enabled companies in the healthcare insurance arena, this article is  both a rant about inefficient processes and a plea for better customer-oriented service from that sector.

 

The Power of Narrative: Practical Approach to Process Improvement

An on-demand version of the  BPM.com webinar  Practical Approach to Get Started with Process Improvement is now available.  Registration is required but it is well worth the time to view this 30 minute educational session.   In my previous post It’s not where you finish, it’s where you start , I promised to share this link once it became available.  

The webinar includes an interesting discussion for those concerned with successful BPM projects.  BPM.com  Editor-in-Chief and well-known industry expert Nathaniel Palmer and Global 360′s Donna Tellam are both experienced practitioners and excellent presenters. 

Nathaniel does a great section on developing a narrative first, rather than jumping into boxes and lines process modeling.  I especially like this approach because it is useful for both structured and unstructured process patterns.

Donna who is an expert  in user experience design (and helped conduct the AME Learning Labs  last November to rave reviews), shares some great techniques to put the “user” at the center of your design and involve the process participants ” early and often.” 

I participated in this webinar when it livecasted and have since listened twice to the replay – there is a lot in there to learn from!