After my engagement as a business consultant, a preliminary review revealed that the core of what the company does hasn’t changed much for more than 15 years despite increased competitive pressure and decreased margins. Which goes some way to explaining why a larger marketing budget hasn’t led to better sales or more profitability: marketing can garner attention, but process performance is key in determining if the business can execute faster, cheaper, better and more consistently than other competitors.
What is BPM?
BPM stands for Business Process Management, and it’s a systematic way to map, improve and optimize how work actually occurs, end to end (order → production → delivery → after-sales). The emphasis on not being overly costly eliminates waste, delays, errors and rework — so that the business runs faster and consistently and cheaper.
Why BPM is important for you?
Margins tend to leak through in construction materials (poor forecasting, stockouts/excess inventory, late deliveries, poor and inconsistent quality, high returns/claims, and slow coordination between sales–production–logistics). If processes are outdated, marketing may add more production volume, but the business has a hard time making it profitable.
Main Critical Success Factors (CSFs). If you adopt BPM, here are the deal-breakers:
BPM requires top-level sponsorship top management. Process owners (one that owns each end-to-end process is not just other departments you are working with). Base KPIs (lead time, on-time delivery, defects or returns, cost per order, stock accuracy). Cross-functional teamwork (Sales + ops + Procurement + Logistics synchronous). Change management (people involvement, communication, training). Tech as an enabler (fix the process first, then automate/ERP/CRM). Continuous improvement (BPM is a cycle, not a one-off project).
Conclusion: If things keep this way, marketing spending usually just worsens the problem. If they go wrong BPM is how a smooth “engine” will be fixed so growth translates into better margins–not further chaos.
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