From business process management to customer process management
Trkman, Peter Mertens, Willem Viaene, Stijn Gemmel, Paul
Trkman, Peter
Mertens, Willem
Viaene, Stijn
Gemmel, Paul
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Publication Type
Journal article
Editor
Supervisor
Publication Year
2015
Journal
Business Process Management Journal
Book
Publication Volume
21
Publication Issue
2
Publication Begin page
250
Publication End page
266
Publication NUmber of pages
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Abstract
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to argue that in order to achieve customer centricity through business process management (BPM), companies have to obtain the profound understanding of customers' processes and when necessary change not only the interactions with but also the processes of their customers. A method is presented that allows doing this in a systematic manner. Design/methodology/approach - A case study of a large multinational company was conducted. Several different sources and methods were used, including document analysis, interviews and a qualitative analysis of responses to open-ended questions. Data were gathered at three points in time: before, during and after the implementation of the presented approach. Findings - The method that was successfully employed by the case organisation consisted of combining BPM with service blueprinting, and of extending these efforts by integrating the customers' internal processes into the scope of improvement. Research limitations/implications The paper does not thoroughly evaluate the long-term effects of the proposed approach. Some results of the case study analysis had to be excluded from this paper due to reasons of confidentiality. Practical implications - The paper presents an approach for organisations to not only understand the needs of their customers but also the way in which their product is used in customers' processes. In this way BPM can be implemented in a truly customer-oriented way. Originality/value - This paper extends previous work by presenting one way in which BPM can follow up on its promise of increasing an organisations customer orientation. While servitisation has received a lot of attention in various disciplines, its application within BPM research and practice has been scarce.
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Keywords
Operations & Supply Chain Management