This article is a brief summary of the paper “The Perceived Effects of Business Process Management” by Kohlbacher M., presented at the IEEE International Conference in Toronto, September 26-27, 2009 (TIC-STH 2009).

The paper empirically explores the outcomes of business process management by conducting interviews with a total of 44 process-oriented firms. Organizations were asked about the perceived benefits of business process management (BPM).

The effects most often reported are:

• BPM leads to better transparency: 18 respondents (that is 40.91% of the total respondents) stated that by applying BPM, the organization and/or business processes became more transparent and understandable. This leads to better identification of organizational problems and their causes.
• Nine respondents (that is 20.45%) reported that process-oriented organizational approach leads to clear responsibilities because of the process owner role terminating many unclarities caused by fragmented and/or blurry accountability.
• Eight respondents (that is 18.18%) refer to the gained efficiency/productivity due to BPM. Non value-adding activities are better identified and can be called into question.
• Seven respondents (that is 15.91%) reported that BPM brings clear structure and organizational interfaces.

Other benefits reported include improvement of product quality, throughput time reduction, better customer orientation, etc.