My cousin runs an electronics showroom. His setup started small but has grown over the years. Sales growth has been matched by increased operational complexity because he has to perform complicated tasks such as warehousing, purchase and budgeting. To scale the complexity, my cousin increased the number of people working with him. As a result, his profit margins, which could have been pretty high considering the growth of his business, have not changed much since his early years. Had he tried mapping processes and analyzing them to learn more about his business? I asked him one day. In response, he laughed.
“My business is pretty small,” he said. “Processes are for big businesses.”
Pity.
He could have really scaled his company using business software to improve his processes. Romeo Elias, chief executive officer at Interneer, is out to change people like my cousin. “Large organizations use Gartner and Forrester research and already know about business process management (or BPM),” says Elias. “We target the SMB and enterprise mid-market companies who do not know much about processes but need BPM to improve their business.”
This week we will review Interneer, a business process management solution. We will look at its interface, functionality and see how it can be of use to you.
MAPPING THE PROCESS BEHIND INTERNEER
The idea for Interneer grew out of Elias’ background in engineering and design. While working in this space, he noticed that the multiple stakeholders hindered process design. So, Elias came up with the idea for a business software that would make it simpler to capture “what was inside the business person’s heads.” This translated into a software focused on allowing business users to quickly build processes themselves thus reducing resources, time and effort required to tweak or build processes from scratch. According to Elias, their solution combines capabilities and provides the same performance as hosted enterprise systems for a fraction of the cost.
Elias clarifies that BPM is not really restricted to large organizations. “BPM applies to companies of any size or capability,” he said. “All you need is process maturity and a number of people-intensive, repeatable activities.”
DO I REALLY NEED PROCESSES?
Think about it. Whether you are into manufacturing or services, you need a cohesive and coherent process to deliver your product or service.
Interneer has a platform that enables you to create and document your processes from scratch through a drag and drop interface. “We talk to small businesses to identify their needs or problems,” says Elias. Once they have identified a problem, Elias says they set about finding a solution. As an example, he illustrates case management. The activity consists of a specific number of repeatable and predefined tasks that are sequential in nature. Using a process automation system, you can set up triggers and forms for each task, thus eliminating redundancy and increasing efficiency. Automating processes works especially well in construction, field automation, CRM, and general operations, according to Elias.
SO, CAN WE FIX IT?
Yes, we can! Interneer has a platform that enables business users to immediately define processes. The software uses individual workflow building blocks to construct a process. To begin with, you need to define workflows using administrative tools. The workflow is a typical commonsensical documentation of your individual process. It begins with a trigger, and includes standard process elements such as input boxes, decision points, and split points. The workflow engine kicks in once your process is complete. The next step is to define individual activities using new or predefined templates. By themselves, the templates consist of forms and tables for each task.
Of course, this is a fairly basic representation of a workflow. Because life is complicated, the solution also offers the capability to construct complicated work flows that include sub-processes within processes and split or interlinked processes.
According to Elias, deployment and implementation is fairly easy and can be done by non-technical users as well because it does not require knowledge of programming. Similarly, because it uses out-of-the-box databases, the user does not need to worry about the backend. In addition, the solution comes with a built-in tool box, instead of modules, that enable business users to immediately start mapping processes.
However, third-party integration could improve in this case. In my past life, I mapped processes and used Microsoft Visio almost daily. In fact, Visio equaled processes. However, I was pretty surprised to note that the software does not have third-party integration with Microsoft Word or Visio. Elias says that is being remedied: integration with Visio and Word is “immediately on the horizon.” In addition, they plan to enhance the user interface and add Firefox browser support.
THE BASICS: WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
The solution employs a clean and intuitive interface that allows you to get right down to the task. Or, process in this case. Elias says the idea behind the clean interface was to empower business people and analysts to map processes. However, the interface could do with improved UI colors as well as variety in the number of stencils being offered to map workflows. Right now, their solution offers a limited number of predefined stencils. The screenshot below is a combination of three screens from the software.
THE PROCESS SUPPORT
Elias says the company has a customized help desk. Similarly, implementation services are offered during implementation. In addition, the solution has a roster of webinars, accessible to registered users, to educate and learn more about the solution. The company also works with a number of implementation partners that are vertically and regionally focused.
IS IT FOR YOU?
Definitely. I think this is a great tool for process mapping and implementation. If you haven’t already mapped your processes, I suggest that you try out this tool to look at your processes. I might even convince my cousin to invest in a copy!
Our Verdict
Pros Cons Great product Third party integration and user interface could have been better
Rating
Ratings: overall rating 4/5, ease of use 5/5, features 4/5, value 4/5 and ease of deployment 5/5
If you like this article, follow us on Twitter, Google+, Facebook and grab our GetApp.com blogfeed
