In the past, companies benefited greatly from economies of scale, that is, the reduction of production costs that is achieved with increased output. These economies were possible because companies typically manufactured large quantities of standard products for relatively large and stable consumer groups. However, economies of scale are becoming less important in today’s marketplace, due in large part to the increasing fragmentation of the consumer base. With so many products available, customers are more discriminating than ever and often expect highly complex services to go with the products that they purchase.

As a result, the definition of productivity as it relates to business success is changing rapidly and radically. Productivity is no longer defined simply as creating more with less. Increasingly, value is linked not only to sheer output but to innovation, or the ability to correctly anticipate and creatively respond to new and changing market opportunities. Today, a keen competitive advantage is enjoyed by those organizations with the flexible business infrastructures and tools in place to quickly develop new products and services and continuously outperform the time to market of their competitors.

The dependence of today’s business enterprises on innovation and fast delivery of product cannot be overestimated. With the new emphasis on relentless innovation and the advantages that it breeds, successful companies are constantly searching for ways to reshape their corporate structures and streamline their business processes.

Because organizations are made up of a series of intricately intertwined business cycles, these cycles are a logical place to look first when attempting to streamline. According to the Workflow Management Coalition, almost 90 percent of all time that is used to perform tasks within the business setting is classified as transfer time, whereas 10 percent is used for the actual performance of those tasks. The objective of workflow analysis is to redefine and then reconstruct the components of lengthy business cycles so that the time required to execute a task is minimized and the transfer time between tasks is eliminated entirely.

Other key benefits of workflow management include:

• Better business process control achieved by standardizing work methods and creating audit trails.
• Improved customer service from predictable processes and responses.
• Flexibility bred from software control over processes, which enables their future redesign in response to changing business needs.
• Improved efficiency through the elimination of many unnecessary task steps.