Not enough emphasis is placed today on the ‘Green’ benefits of workflow solutions for reducing carbon footprint of SMEs and operating costs.
Workflow & Collaboration Solutions are good for the environment and their use should be obligatory by the Government. The most fundamental reasons are:
- Reduction of paper use for the benefit of forests, and reduction of the need to recycle paper (energy use etc.).
- More efficient use of computing and resources leading to reduced power consumption, and fuel costs for transporting paper and from office to office.
- Reduction of carbon footprint (fuel & energy cost reduction, reduction of paper use & storage) through the use of ancillary collaborative technologies that support workflow (like Instant Messaging, teleconferencing, document web-stores and team collaboration spaces).
It is therefore apparent that one of the most beneficial moves SMEs could make towards protecting the environment would be to prepare an unsustainable ways withdrawal plan centered around the adoption of workflow and online forms solutions for facilitating operating activities (e.g. eInvoicing, online sales, customer service chat bots, eBusiness, online marketplaces, eWork, etc.).
However, SMEs, especially micro-SMEs tend to be very tactical in the way they implement process automation. This is largely due to the amorphous and pervasive nature of the business processes they are called upon to address.
In large enterprises, workflow normally gets implemented based on an immediate tactical business pain that needs to be resolved and therefore can deliver immediate and tangible business value (ROI). Typical examples of initiatives can include cost reduction, increased efficiencies, regulatory compliance etc. These are well understood and therefore can be quantified.
On the other hand, SMEs are still getting to grips with what ‘Green IT’ is and therefore making a tangible business case for automation in this context is not yet a priority but may become more common place in future.
The Solution
Mandate Process Automation. Process automation can contribute to ‘Green IT’ initiatives and Governments should mandate the use of workflow due to the following benefits:
- Reduced paper use;
- Collaborating and efficiency gains (by improving processes);
- Carbon footprint reduction.
Mandating automation is a way of introducing workflow initially to public services, but SMEs will be asking:
‘What is in it for us?’,
‘Where is the value?’ and
‘How do we manage the behavioural and organisational change?’.
It is apparent that there is great potential in automation for public services and it is needed in order to steer automation in entrepreneurship. However, local governments and public services do not always fully understand how and when to address automation and the Green IT agenda to ensure quantifiable business benefits. As a result, in the immediate future, public services will continue to be very tactical in the way they implement process automation (Green BPM). This is largely due to the amorphous and pervasive nature of the business processes they have to model in relation to the complexity of their organisational structure.
Business Process Management for SMEs
The design, implementation, management and ongoing improvement of business processes - has the potential to make very substantial contributions to the measurable impact of any Green or Sustainability program.
The introduction of web-based collaboration tools and social media software provides an opportunity to leverage e-work and telecommuting and redesign business processes to add green-friendly business value while improving the collaboration and coordination both inside and outside the firewall.
Thinking in a systemic manner is a requirement for effective Business Process Management. The global warming crisis is a systemic problem that won't be solved until a critical mass of people is taught how to think systemically about sustainability. This way of approaching business process design is an inherently "Green" approach and therefore has an increased chance of adoption by any company or group seeking to achieve Green goals.
BPM tools are designed with sustainability in mind in an effort to efficiently leverage e-Work and telecommuting while at the same time accurately and effortlessly model business processes offering environmentally-friendly services of high quality.