How Business Process Management Software Is Like a Turkey Dinner

Depending on your goals, you are going to crave different things

December 07, 2015

Category: News

Lately we’ve been seeing a trend of software companies proclaiming that they now have workflow software in addition to their core functionality (such as billing or inventory management). When you dig in, you learn it’s a feature they’ve added that provides a handful of pre-defined workflows that act more like work lists or task managers. There is little-to-no flexibility, nor an ability to add additional processes. The software companies essentially are telling you how to run certain areas of your business.

At Medforce, no matter how much experience we have in healthcare, we recognize that you are the ultimate experts in your business. You understand your market and your competitive edge best, and a one-size-fits-all approach just won’t work. We also know that real business process management is not a “feature” that can be tacked on to a software application. It is a platform upon which you can map your operations one process at a time and use it as a tool to assign, manage, track and analyze the work that needs to be done to keep you profitable.  That’s how we’ve built CommandCenter – to be a platform that allows you to design and manage the most efficient operation possible.

Recently, in one of our management meetings and analogy came up that was too juicy not to share…

 

Business Process Management

True Business Process Management is like a Thanksgiving meal made with fresh roasted turkey and homemade cranberry sauce. It’s complete, it has something for everyone, and leaves you feeling full and satisfied. Plus, with the leftovers, you can create countless additional meals – soups, stews, sandwiches, and so on. 

 

 

Preset Workflows

Predefined workflows are like going to the deli and ordering the “Thanksgiving sandwich” – the recipe is predefined, the ingredients aren’t necessarily of the highest quality and someone else decides the proportions. It satisfies your immediate hunger, but you aren’t looking forward to leftovers and wouldn’t choose to eat the same meal over and over again. It does one thing – acts as a sandwich. 

 

Work lists

Work lists are even a step further down. In this case, it’s typically just a checklist masquerading as a workflow solution. Your software developer is telling you the steps that must be taken to complete a task, but there is no flexiblity and little (if any) ability to sign that work and automatically put it into someone else's queue. It won't give you the visibility to you need to refine and optimize your business, and it may have some questionable ingredients. It's like a turkey dinner puree. It might be helping to keep you alive, in terms of nourishment, but is it really solving the problems you have? 

 

So next time a software company claims it has workflow funtionality, dig deeper. Imagine using the solution. Is it the lush spread you would hope to feed your growing business? Or is it a bland workflow susbstitute that will leave you hungry for more? 

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