The Impact of Information System on Business Process Design - Research Paper Example

The Impact of Information System on Business Process Design Abstract The inception of information systems into the business process design brought about a significant revolution in the corporate sector, especially in relation to the corporate roles and organizational roles of the company. Information systems brought about a turnaround in the way things worked out in these companies, and redefined the roles and practices of each member of the organization. With the inception of information systems, organizations transformed from being labor intensive to being machine intensive. Mechanization of industries and business processes plays a structural role in the growth and development of many industries in the modern day business world. In addition, the use of information systems also enables the company to expand and grow its operations outwards to scales that were almost unimaginable through the analog system of business design and engineering, such as globalization processes through creation of subsidiaries by multinational corporations. Furthermore, the organizations also benefit from the large market sphere and control brought about by the introduction of business technology and information systems within the processes of conducting business. As such, the paper considers the best methods undertaken by businesses in expanding and modernizing their operations using and adoption of technology and information systems. In fact, information systems brought about a major revolution in specific organizational sectors such as the executive and management roles, as well as, the manner and style by which people work at their organizations. This is phenomenal through the redesign processes of these business operations, and the benefits achieved through the transformation of these new company practices. The Impact of Information System on Business Process Design (Or Redesign) Managerial Roles, and the Changing World of Work What is a Business Process? A business process is a structural procedure of diverse activities, tasks, or procedures within a business in order to achieve a specific goal, or produce a certain kind of service, product, or brand for meeting a particular demand from a customer, a market, or a business client. A business process incorporates a flowchart kind of operation whereby a sequence of integrated activities operate together through a process matrix based on a varied rules provided by the data in the processes. However, there are varied versions on the definition of business processes and how they affect the operations of a business. For instance, one major scholar, Adam Smith, defines business process as the necessity of different operations to work hand in hand in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the company. Adam Smith explains in his concept of Business process with a simple example of a working organization. In this case, one man draws out a wire, the second man straightens the wire, the third man cuts the wire, the fourth man points the wire, the fifth man grinds the wire, and so on. This means that a business objective undergoes a sequence of operations before it reaches the final stages, or attains the expected levels of satisfactions, such as the market standards set up by regulatory bodies, as well as, consumers’ tastes and preferences. This means that a single person cannot start and finish a single business process, and as such, many people take part in undertaking a given business activity within the organization, whereby it is necessary to have more indulgence and experience from concerned parties, especially from the executive team of the company. A business process has several characteristics that shape and define its mode of operations. These are definability, which is the ability to clearly define its boundaries, as well as, state its various input and output sectors. The second characteristic is order, whereby the business process has to incorporate a number of activities arranged in the order of their position considering both time and space constraints. The third character is the customer, who fulfills the need to have a recipient for the outcome of each business process, preferably a customer or a client of the business. The fourth characteristic is value addition, which entails that the transformation that takes place within the process should add value to the recipient in both ways, upstream or downstream. Embeddedness is the character of a business process that requires it to be part of an organizational structure and not merely exist on its own, whilst cross-functionality becomes the last character of the business process, which requires a business process on regular basis to incorporate or span across a number of functions, though this is not a necessity. Business processes usually exist in three main categories, which are the management processes, the operational processes, and the supporting processes. The management processes are those that govern, control, and manage the operations of a system. Some of the typical management processes include strategic management and corporate governance. Operational processes incorporate al the processes that form the core or central practice of the business, and thus create the value stream for the business. Some of the typical operational processes include sales, advertising, marketing, purchasing, and manufacturing. On the other hand, supporting processes are those activities within the company that provide much needed support to the core processes of the company. Some of the typical supporting processes within an organization include technical support, call center, recruitment, accounting, auditing, and corporate social responsibility. Business Process Design A process design refers to the conscious organization and re/evaluation of the tasks, activities, as well as, procedures that compose a business process. As such, in order to design a business process that meets the threshold of the company, such as improving its current performance and productivity, as well as, ensuring the company conforms to various rules and regulations set up to govern its industry and market, one requires to incorporate a plethora of inputs. These inputs are what will enable him or her, and the organization, to be in a stable position that will overcome all the challenges and strife that come along with the process of business design. Some of the common inputs required in the business process design are the goals and objectives of the organization, the strategies of the organization, competition or other constraints faced by the organization, as well as, the organization’s prowess in managing information technology systems. Process modeling is one of the heavily researched aspect of the lifecycle of a business process, as such, forms a vital pre-requisite in the designing procedures of a business process. However, the actual act of improving the process is the most crucial step in value-addition in the process lifecycle. Read More