Business Process Improvement (BPI) is an approach organizations use to review and redesign an existing process or to design a new process. Typically, a work process consists of a series of actions or steps that produce a product or service. BPI is used to analyze the current way of doing things and to determine whether there is a better way to design how the work gets done.

What Prompts the Use of BPI
In many cases, current processes have been in place for years and have gradually become outmoded.

A good time to initiate BPI is when companies are presented with changes brought on by advances in technology or other innovations. With the adoption of a new dispatch program, it makes sense to review the current ways things were done and develop a sketch of what the desired processes might look like. As a result, a BPI initiative is often undertaken with the implementation of new software. (See our Real-Life Experiences.)

There are many examples of process improvements inspired by the advent of the Web:

• Can your Drivers check their payroll online?
• Is your company using paperless billing and can your customers access images of the paperwork online?
• Can you using imaging to eliminate paperwork?

These are all changes in the way the processes used to work.

Customers may also prompt an organization to undertake a review or redesign of a business process. As customers' expectations change, many organizations recognize the need to update how they do business. Changing customer demands, and the desire to lower costs, led banks to the development of the Automated Teller Machine (ATM). Once consumers were exposed to the their convenience, evolving customer expectations for access and service led to their widespread use, dramatically changing the banking industry. Large shippers are demanding that carriers provide efficent and timely access to paperwork and tracking of the loads. Does your transportation company have the processes in place to get new customers and keep your current customers happy?