4 Steps to Efficient Business Process Integration
With business process integration, companies can ensure all systems are working together towards expansion.
During process improvement initiatives, many business owners find they can better manage their operations by integrating existing systems. Through successful integration, organizations enhance established services through streamlined information exchange. This puts them in a better place to leverage their data to produce actionable insights. With optimized data management, businesses can access several benefits from enhanced productivity to improved communication.
What is Business Process Integration?
Business process integration (BPI) synchronizes internal operations throughout departments, such as sales and inventory systems, to gain access to real-time data. BPI solutions can also link external partners, such as suppliers and distributors, to collect big data and ensure successful collaboration.
BPI automizes system and data integration and business processes, increasing productivity and eliminating the need for manual information exchange. This integration solution gives companies a competitive edge as it removes the stress of logistics, allowing management to focus on business expansion ventures.
Modern BPI is able to connect a company's existing systems seamlessly, so new business process management (BPM) systems can be implemented. BPM software manages the processes of different services but is reliant upon successful BPI. With advanced integration methods, a BPI can-
- Trigger processes based on events within a system. For example, when supply chain operations are integrated, a low stock level recorded in the inventory control system can trigger a reorder within the replenishment software.
- Collect information from outside sources to build big data.
- Send data to external parties to ensure harmony.
By integrating internal and external systems, BPI provides organizations with several benefits, including-
- Optimized Data Accessibility - With access to real-time data from all systems, departments can make accurate data-driven decisions to improve operational efficiency and business expansion.
- Improved Communication - Enhanced connectivity optimizes communication between departments and beyond company walls, ensuring project management teams work in unison.
- Enhanced Productivity - The time saved from manually consolidating and transferring data from various systems can be used for more complex tasks vital for business success.
- All-in-One Solution - By having all vital metrics and insights in one process management platform, management can efficiently monitor each department's performance.
- Enhanced Scalability - Without proper application integration, businesses can invest much of their time and effort on aggregating information from their various solutions rather than focusing on scalability. However, BPI solutions promote expansion through advanced technology that can adapt and grow with the company.
4 Steps for Proper BPI
In order to access these benefits, businesses must be able to successfully implement BPI. Companies can ensure proper integration by following four simple steps-
1. Identify Each Process
Before beginning any integration project, businesses must first identify each internal and external process they wish to connect. An effective way to outline systems is by using business process mapping (BPM) tools that use words and visual aids to define the functions of internal systems.
This comprehensive layout allows management to determine the integration needs and actional insights necessary to complete data-driven tasks, such as demand forecasting.
2. Document Mapped Processes
Once each process is identified, businesses must report on how the systems interact with each other in order to understand the benefits of integration. Visual models or flow charts can adequately show the data and operation flow between disparate sources.
For example, point-of-sale (POS) and demand forecasting systems use sales and customer data to predict future demand fluctuation. Therefore, integrating these two systems would automize sales data sharing, optimizing forecast and actionable insight production.
After the processes have been documented, they are re-evaluated and reviewed to ensure they accurately depict overall business operations.
3. Develop Models for Processes
With these plans, integration providers can help organizations create a model to illustrate the desired system and how it would improve their overall performance. This allows business owners to understand how processes will be altered and make assessments before finalizing the implementation solution.
At this phase, management can make alterations and have the providers address any concerns that they may have. It is crucial to ensure the integration solution satisfies the company's needs before implementation.
4. Create, Implement and Monitor BPI
After thorough planning, businesses can create and implement their integration solution and begin connecting desired systems. A successful BPI will enhance information exchange and communication by eliminating duplicate data and manual consolidation. With access to real-time data, integrated processes can automate simple functions, such as purchase order approvals and email marketing, to save time and labor costs.
Advanced BPI systems allow employees to access all operations on one interface rather than just interconnected systems. For example, integrating only a POS and inventory system would mean management could only pull sales data through one of these software solutions. However, businesses could connect their POS, inventory management, reordering, and demand forecasting services to access sales, customer demand, stock level, and purchase order information all on one platform. This optimizes data management and enhances data-based decision-making.
BPI enhances a business's functionality by ensuring all operations are working in unison to promote scalability. Through efficient data sharing and communication, companies can monitor internal processes and build strong partnerships with third parties.