U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently sent a shockwave through the defense world by announcing significant cuts to the current defense budget.
One of the biggest cuts is the proposed elimination of the Department of Defense's Business Transformation Agency (BTA), an office created in 2006 for streamlining the military's business operations.
While completely shutting down a critical office such as the BTA could certainly cause the DoD to experience an "effectiveness de-evolution," there is a cost-effective solution for meeting the same efficiency and effectiveness goals with Business Process Management (BPM).
Drastic cuts alone, such as the DoD is making, are not enough to ensure long-term health. Innovation matters ñ perhaps more than ever in the face of tight economic conditions ñ and innovation requires re-examining and improving how mission-critical processes are executed. With BPM, government agencies can increase efficiency and effectiveness with minimal investment by streamlining their business processes.
We are still a nation fighting two wars and the Department of Defense is one of the most critical elements of our government. It is not the right time to cut programs that make DoD more efficient and effective. With BPM, they won't have to.
