Process for Small Business - The Undiscovered Country?
One of the biggest issues I have with BPM is it's focus on big business. We all sit in our shiney office blocks buying our big, expensive BPM tools and talking about governance, etc, etc. But outside our freshly cleaned windows is a little world filled with shop and cafes, butchers and bakers - small businesses "the lifeblood of the economy".
What use is ARIS or BPMN to them? How can they implement SOA? They can't - it's totally unfeasable - but does that mean that we should designate small businesses as process free zones? Of course not! There are still practical process solutions to help small businesses.
I onced owned a cafe - when I bought it all the knowledge was in the previous owner's head - I sucked all this information out and documented the entire business - I made the knowledge transferrable. I turned the little cafe into a totally process centric business (and it worked!) Let's not forget how McDonalds started - once it was just one restaurant until they developed it into a process centric business (a franchise!)
But this isn't to say that every small business should aim to be a global giant - process can help small business owners to build better businesses. It can help them become more efficient, save money, improve customer service, improve standards - all the things we want for big business.
So the next time you think about BPM, spare a thought for the little guys - they need our help too.
I agree with you, small business need to think about BPM. The biggest obstacle for them to be process centric business is amount of time they are ready to put in to make them pcb or a support system where they can get this done. my few cents.
Posted by: Prakash Kannoth | August 23, 2009 at 11:30 PM
Totally agree - time is one of the great challenges for small business - although we know that one of the greatest time savers is efficient processes!
Posted by: The Process Ninja | August 23, 2009 at 11:55 PM
I use this argument regularly when trying to explain the Process Perspective to people and de-link it from technology. The franchise system demonstrates that excellent process is effective with little or no technology!
What became of the cafe?
Posted by: Craig Westbury | October 25, 2009 at 12:14 AM
Sold it 5 years ago for a handsome profit!
Posted by: The Process Ninja | October 28, 2009 at 12:30 PM