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The SAP Signavio Customer Community Tour is quickly becoming a tradition.
With three events already hosted in the MEE Region, the latest was in the stunning city of Vienna, focusing on Process Organisation. This tour is not just about attending; it's about deep dives into how process organisations can transform businesses - as was the case at our Community Tour stop in Munich. Read more about what happened in Munich, focusing on Change Management & Organisational Governance!
Always, we start our workshops with a 5-minute exercise where the attending customers take a few moments to reflect on their current challenges. Following this brief pause, we facilitate a rapid networking session where participants present their use cases and challenges. This approach fosters an open and collaborative environment right from the start.
One of our customers, Palfinger AG, started the workshop with a presentation titled "Vision to Reality: Developing a Process Map and Integrating it into a Management System – A Year-long Journey", presented by René Lindenberger. The presentation offered a deep dive into one of our customer success stories, providing valuable insights into how they defined and achieved success. Interestingly, this journey had no definitive end date, highlighting that pursuing success is ongoing. The best advice we can offer is to view your journey through the lens of multiple success stories.
Curious to learn more about this specific customer journey? You'll still have the opportunity to do so at SAP Now on 19th of September. Save your seat now and register. Join René Lindenberger in discovering how a well-designed plan, along with the necessary conditions just with air, can create something truly magical:
What is a Process Organization?
Before diving into the specifics of how to start, let's clarify what a process organisation actually is. In simple terms, a process organisation is a structure that aligns its activities around business processes rather than traditional hierarchical functions. This approach can drive efficiency, improve customer satisfaction, and foster a more agile business environment. Both approaches – the function and process orientation approaches – have advantages and disadvantages which we discussed together. For example, whereas there are clear responsbilities given in a functional orientation, the E2E performance is stronger within the process orientation.
Kickstarting Your Process Organisation Journey
Most companies look for a hybrid format when transitioning to a process organisation, balancing the advantages of both traditional functional structures and process-oriented approaches. However, the transition can be lengthy and challenging, so starting sooner rather than later is crucial.
Bottom-up Approach (8-12 years): This method focuses on gradual implementation, often starting from individual departments and scaling up. While it’s thorough, it’s also time-consuming.
Strategic Approach (5-7 years): In this approach, the organization sets a clear strategy from the top down, making faster progress but requiring strong leadership and alignment across all levels.
Hybrid Approach (4-6 years): Combining the strengths of both the bottom-up and strategic approaches, this method is often the most balanced, making it the preferred choice for many companies.
This overview is made by my esteemed colleagues and BPM Expert Christian Baumgartner.
Comparing Different Organisational Setups
Different companies have different needs and environments, meaning there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to process organization.
Here's a look at six common setups:
- Pure Functional Organisation: Traditional structure where functions are separated. It's simple but often lacks agility.
- Functional Organisation with Processes Identified: Functions remain, but key processes are recognized and managed separately.
- Process Owners with Development Authority: A step further, where process owners have authority over development, ensuring processes are aligned with business goals.
- Process Owners with Performance Responsibility: Process owners are responsible for performance, with clear accountability and resources.
- Process Owners with Business Responsibility: These owners not only manage processes but also have business accountability, functioning as competence centers.
- Pure Process Organization: The most advanced setup, where the entire organization is structured around processes, with clear focus and alignment.
Driving a Process-Oriented Initiative
So, how do you drive a process-oriented initiative? It starts with a solid foundation and builds up to game-changing strategies.
- Solid Foundation: Begin with Change Management and Training—upskilling your team, introducing new methods, and ensuring everyone is on board.
- Business Transformation: Deploy a Global Process Organization, establish Process Performance Measurement, monitor change adoption, and keep evolving through Digitalization.
- Game Changer: Finally, focus on Customer Experience Framework, Strategy Deployment through Process Organization, and strong Sponsorship, Leadership Engagement, and Continuous Communication to truly revolutionize your business.
Join the Conversation
Process organisations are becoming the norm in industries prioritizing agility, customer focus, and continuous improvement. What challenges have you faced in transitioning to a process-oriented organization?
Share your experiences and let’s discuss!
And don't miss the next stop on the SAP Signavio Customer Community Tour in September in Dubai, Madrid and Hamburg, where we will explore more business transformation strategies and share real-world success stories.
