02.06.2015

Business processes are without supervision

Although the quality demands on business processes have risen continuously in recent times, companies are only reluctantly devoting themselves to systematic performance control of the processes. The main reasons for the deficits in process controlling are, according to a survey of more than 200 companies by the management consultancy Actinium, above all the complex business process structures and insufficient methods for quality assessment. 

Accordingly, 59 percent of the companies surveyed state that the performance expectations for business processes are currently significantly higher than three years ago. A further 29 percent of the companies recorded a moderate development in this respect. In all other cases, the quality expectations remained recently either unchanged (16 percent) or have even decreased according to the business managers surveyed (7 percent). 

However, the majority significant increase in the performance requirements of the processes is only reflected in a consistent performance management and control at a few companies. Only 21 percent of companies have established company-wide methods for process controlling to identify potential weaknesses at an early stage. In four out of ten cases, they exist for at least some operational processes. A similar number of respondents in the Actinium survey, on the other hand, admit that they have so far only dealt with the topic of process controlling to a minor extent or not at all. 

As reasons for the restraint so far, 66 percent of the companies name above all the problem that they face too extensive business process relationships and differentiated performance evaluations are therefore difficult. But the lack of suitable methods for controlling is also one of the reasons for 61 percent. In addition, more than half of the respondents state that there are no clear responsibilities for process controlling within the company. In addition, it has in many cases strategically so far no sufficient priority. 

Actinium managing director Klaus Hüttl concludes from this that the companies would have to put the topic of process controlling more on their agenda and above all also question whether their previous procedures can sufficiently meet these requirements. “Inadequately functioning business processes are a decisive brake on corporate success. Therefore, there is much to be said for taking them regularly under the magnifying glass and optimizing them through targeted IT support.”