A Practical and Light-Hearted View on BPM, Automation and Business Excellence

How long is the path to Excellence? Look at it!

Strategy (Organization's Reason for Being) → Governance (The Rules) → Cultural Change (process efficiency mindset) → Critical Mapping (20% of the processes that deliver 80% of the results) → Process Improvement Before Digitalization → AI Tests for Integration and Optimization Opportunities → Digitalization → Automation → Monitoring → Continuous Improvement → Peace of Mind and Salvation :)

1. Strategy = Reason for Being — Strategic Illumination

"Know thyself, oh organization."

Strong organizations know exactly why they exist. A simple test: If your company ceased to exist today, what impact would it have tomorrow? If barely anyone would notice, the real value was small — and it’s time to rethink.

2. Governance — The Rules of the Game

"Thou shalt have no other process owners besides those defined."

Before mapping anything, make it crystal clear who decides, who prioritizes, and who owns each process. Without that, chaos is inevitable.

3. Cultural Change — The Awakening of Efficiency

"Abandon thy old ways of working."

There’s no point in trying to go digital if the mindset remains analog. Start by preparing the people. It sounds easy — but it’s not.

4. Critical Mapping — The 20/80 Rule

"Focus on what truly matters."

Map what has strategic impact, as defined back in Step 1. If you try to map everything, you’ll drown in endless spreadsheets.

5. Pre-Digital Improvement — The Purification of Processes

"Thou shalt not automate a bad process."

First, clean, simplify, and fix it. Only then think about digitalization. Don’t automate chaos.

6. AI as the Prophet of Integration

"And AI shall reveal paths previously unseen."

Use AI to better integrate systems and processes — but never abandon critical thinking. Always double-check. After AI enters the scene, professionals must embrace the mindset of quality managers: always checking face-to-ID.

7. Digitalization — The Crossing of the Analog Desert

"And the PDFs shall become living workflows."

Prioritize what truly adds value. Digitalizing just because it’s trendy won’t fix anything — it’s all about real efficiency. Digitalize, but don’t worship technology.

8. Automation — The Miracles of Scalability

"And the microservices shall inherit the earth."

Automate what makes sense, the right way: modular, scalable, and flexible. Avoid falling back into the old, frozen monolithic trap. Automate, but with intelligence.

9. Monitoring — The Final Judgment of KPIs

Implement smart KPIs from the beginning.

Focus on a few good ones. One of the greatest sins driven by intuition is KPI overload — and the mathematical impossibility of keeping them all alive. It’s far better to have a few KPIs alive and breathing than thousands of stillborn ones. (Sorry for the strong term — but it is what it is.)

10. Continuous Improvement — The Karmic Cycle of Processes

"Thou shalt always improve."

The work never truly ends — and that’s a good thing. Constant improvement keeps everything alive, relevant, and competitive.

11. Peace of Mind — The Glory of Processes

"And on the seventh day, the process manager rested."

Processes flowing. Results appearing. Teams engaged. Clients or Citizens happy. The reward comes — inside and outside the spreadsheets.

That's all for today!