Government organizations face a difficult path to meeting new operational challenges and demands. The end result is a situation in which business process management solutions and similar technologies are becoming integral to supporting operations.
The core problem is that collaboration between departments is combining with new efforts for operational efficiency, creating an environment in which government agencies are tasked with many challenges that existing process architectures are not equipped to handle. BPM software can be integral in overcoming these problems by creating a flexible foundation for process improvement that can be adapted based on shifting demands.
Understanding government productivity initiatives
Government organizations, at federal, state and local levels all face a common problem - they need to maintain robust services while minimizing the amount of public funding they use to support projects. The solution to this problem is to improve operational efficiency. Efforts to enhance collaboration are central to this, but cross-department communication is difficult because they present security and process challenges. BPM solutions that ensure secure data transmission and process progression across departmental boundaries can prove incredibly effective in this area.
For example, improving construction efficiency is a major problem for many government bodies because costs associated with delays have become staggering in many settings. However, improving operations in these projects can prove difficult because it requires collaboration between contractors, zoning boards, different departments involved in the project and key decision makers. A single process may need multiple parties to perform different tasks, and therefore be slowed when or more stakeholders is using a different technology or method than the others.
A BPM suite can provide a central process management portal that connects diverse users running different technologies. Furthermore, the platform allows managers to look at a project and identify what has been done, what still needs to be done and which parties are slowing the process. This can make it much easier, for example, for a government employee to identify which group is slowing an approval down during the early stages of a construction project, and gets things moving again.
BPM and government - supporting overarching goals
While the concept of a construction project is an isolated example of how BPM can benefit government organizations, it embodies broad principles of reform in the sector. Efforts to reduce costs through more efficient, technology-driven operations are becoming integral in many government segments, and BPM software can function as the engine that drives process-improvement initiatives.
Malcolm Ross
Vice President of Product Marketing
