The financial crisis is causing reactions throughout all enterprises globally. Several members of the BPX community - Preparations to run the after-recovery phase., Redoubling Your Focus On Innovation - have already shared their insights concerning the current situation. From a BPX point of view this situation is clearly a call for action. If the definition of the BPX as "a person with the ability to quickly understand business needs and translate that understanding into a form that leads to the creation of better solutions" (Process first, p. 31) is correct we all have the obligation to act now:
Match the deliverables of your ongoing implementation project with the new market needs and adjust it
Implementation projects of all kinds can contribute to the resilience of the companies in the current situation. BPX could be the thought leader who proactively analyse the new challenges with the current project underway and propose readjustments if necessary. Let us just take the example of an HR implementation with a focus on master data management and payroll in the first phase. In case your company cannot hire new employees for strategic projects due to the economic situation an overview of the qualification profiles could be essential to staff the projects out of other areas. This would require a readjustment of the project with personnel development shifted to the first phase. The initial push for this readjustment is exactly what a BPX could do and what will make a difference in order to ensure further growth.
Deliver functionalities in business-critical areas without new huge investments
Several GRC projects have been successfully implemented in the last years. These activities could now be reused as risk management have become business-critical for many organizations. The BPX working in or for such an institution could create attention for the potential in this area. Although it is clear that the set up of an enhanced risk management would require ressources GRC could serve as a starting point for this new solution and would reduce the investments tremendously.
Create proposals for new growth opportunities based on the SAP platform
The financial crisis has a negative impact on many enterprises in the financial sector. Nevertheless some of them are gaining market shares. This is mainly due to a reputation of stability. Therefore quick and proactive information is essential at the moment. Again a BPX could initiate these activities by providing a solution proposal how to use an external call center for a campaign in order to set up such an activity in a quick and privacy-compliant way.
Create proposals for cost-efficiency
Cost efficiency is the last area in our enumeration. This is done as a key mission for the BPX is to introduce growth opportunities in the discussion replacing a pure cost-cutting point of view. BPXer have gained a lot of process knowledge in the last years. This should enable them to create solutions for cost reduction measure à la BPX. These measures are always based on extensive process knowledge and are no pure cost-cutting. An example could be the replacement of a mass paper-based process with a digital process based on the current infrastructure and (!) a small process effort.
Some of the areas mentioned are really challenging but who promised us that it would be easy as a BPX? One is for sure: We could make the difference!
