Computerworld - Business process management tools can cut administrative costs and the time it takes to complete a task by supporting automated end-to-end proc¿esses, some users say.
The Lance Armstrong Foundation, for example, has used BPM tools to create a process that reduces the time it takes to create a direct-mail list and send out solicitations from as long as 60 hours to less than five minutes, said Betty Otter-Nickerson, chief operating officer at the Austin-based nonprofit.
In addition, the organization — which has been using BPM software from Lombardi Software Inc. for the past nine months — has slashed the time it takes it to close the monthly financial books for its retail e-commerce site by 60%, she said.
The charitable foundation also used the BPM tools to create a process that helps its donation processing center more easily get matching funds from a donor’s employer than was possible using the old, manual process, according to Otter-Nickerson.
“We undertook BPM as a way to automate as much of our business processes so we could so we could run the business efficiently,” Otter-Nickerson added.
Todd Januzzi, vice president of application development at Vornado Realty Trust, said that the commercial real estate company’s use of BPM has allowed it to trim the number of accounts payable clerks in each of its four divisions from five or six to two at each location.
“It allowed us not to have to expand the accounts payable department every time we have an acquisition,” he said. “We wouldn’t have to bring in an entire accounts payable staff from the company that we purchased.”
Read more about Applications in Computerworld's Applications Topic Center.
Free Insider GuideCopyright © 1994 - 2012 Computerworld Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Computerworld Inc. is prohibited. Computerworld and Computerworld.com and the respective logos are trademarks of International Data Group Inc.
