Business process management (BPM): analysis, automation, and profit growth through eliminating inefficiency

This article explains how the Business Process Management (BPM) methodology helps identify and eliminate hidden losses caused by inefficient processes.

We examine the causes of losses — from outdated tools to poor communication — and give examples of companies that successfully adopted BPM to automate, optimize and grow profit.

Companies lose up to 30% of revenue each year due to inefficient processes: unnecessary approvals, duplicated tasks, outdated tools, and communication delays.

These losses are rarely visible in daily work, but they reduce profit, order fulfillment speed and customer retention.

Business Process Management (BPM) methodology makes it possible to find and eliminate these "invisible" losses.

It is a comprehensive approach that combines analysis, design, automation and continuous process improvement so that every task in the company is performed faster, cheaper and more accurately.

Process efficiency is a measure of the effort required to achieve the set goals.

A process is considered efficient when goals are achieved with minimal use of resources and minimal losses.

To determine whether a process is efficient, you can use the following formula:

According to this formula, if a process does not deliver an operation completion rate of 100% or higher, it is inefficient.

However, not every business process can be assessed this way. For example, in manual operations that lack documentation, clearly defined workflows and role delegation, inefficiency often goes unnoticed.

Unlike direct costs such as wages, rent, or raw materials, inefficiency is often intangible, which makes it hard to track.

Let's look at the main hidden costs:

When processes are not optimized, employees spend too much time on repetitive or low-value tasks: manual data entry, processing redundant approvals, or fixing errors.

This affects the productivity of working hours and wastes resources — office supplies, software or equipment that could be used more efficiently.

Rising operating costs.

When processes are not optimized, companies incur unjustified costs: from excessive labor costs to inflated supply chain expenses.

Employee burnout and low morale.

When employees have to work more because of poorly designed processes, it leads to stress, burnout, and higher staff turnover.

Employees may feel undervalued if they are constantly busy with low-impact, repetitive tasks instead of focusing on more meaningful work that advances the company's goals.

Service delays, inconsistent quality, and errors caused by inefficiency reduce customer satisfaction.

In today's competitive market, slow service or frequent errors quickly send customers to competitors, hurting the company's reputation and profit.

Compliance risks and errors. In industries with strict regulatory requirements, such as healthcare and finance, failing to meet standards because of inefficient workflows can lead to fines, legal problems and reputational damage.

To eliminate inefficiency, a company needs to identify where it loses time and money.

Value is often lost in the following areas:

When employees have no clear guidance on how to perform tasks, confusion arises.

Without structured workflows, people apply inconsistent approaches, leading to errors, bottlenecks, and wasted time.

Inefficient processes turn into tangled systems with unnecessary steps, approvals and redundant checks.

When workflows are too convoluted, employees deal with bureaucracy more than they actually work.

Poor communication and information gaps.

Communication breakdowns — between departments, teams or individual employees — lead to misunderstandings, duplicated work and costly delays.

Inefficiency often arises when employees lack the tools, technology or workforce needed to do their jobs effectively.

Outdated software, a shortage of qualified specialists or insufficient funding — any lack of resources reduces productivity and raises operating costs.

When information handoffs, approvals, or decision-making take too long, processes slow down.

These delays can be caused by dependence on a single person, unclear priorities or excessive manual intervention.

Working without tracking performance.

Without measuring performance and analyzing data, organizations operate blindly and cannot identify areas for improvement.

Use of outdated technologies and traditional practices.

Systems or methods that no longer benefit the business lead to inefficiency.

Teams working in isolation leads to duplicated effort and poor collaboration.

Economic downturns force companies to take cost-cutting measures.

Strategic investment in innovation and process optimization can deliver significant competitive advantages.

According to Bain & Company, companies that invest in innovation during recessions often come out stronger: spending on engineering and R&D proves resilient and grows almost four times faster than GDP.

Research shows that innovative companies consistently outperform the market average, and leading innovators achieve annual shareholder returns 3.3% higher. BPM helps drive innovation because it eliminates inefficiency and allows resources to be reallocated. As a result, companies achieve greater results at lower cost.

This allows them to grow market share, improve customer satisfaction and weather economic uncertainty resiliently.

Manual processes are tedious for employees, time-consuming and carry the risk of costly human error.

Many routine manual processes — data collection, lead tracking, recording customer information, sending emails — can be automated.

Review your current processes to spot repetitive tasks, then choose software to optimize them. For example, the all-in-one ELMA platform simplifies and automates data collection processes.

Instead of painstakingly updating spreadsheets, data on new leads or customers can be entered into the CRM automatically through a dedicated web form.

Automating repetitive tasks eliminates up to 40% of manual data entry errors.

Outdated software and systems, old slow computers and inefficient applications negate employees' efforts and build up frustration. Because of inefficient tools, tasks are neglected or pile up, delaying every business process.

How to fix: Make sure all employees work on up-to-date devices powerful enough to keep systems running smoothly and efficiently.

Remove unsuitable software and install new tools with collaboration features, work app integration, document sharing and other functions that make work easier. Companies that invest in process optimization cut costs, adapt to change faster and retain customers.

Implementing BPM is ongoing work to increase business value that pays off in higher profit and competitive advantage.