Not all "processes" are equal: clarifying the basics

Anyone reading business literature quickly finds themselves muddling up BPM, process improvement, and workflow management. That's no accident, business jargon treats these terms as interchangeable, yet they represent quite different levels of abstraction.

Business Process Management (BPM) is a systemic, holistic discipline: it identifies, models, executes, measures and continuously aligns an organisation's processes with its strategic goals. Process improvement, by contrast, fixes flaws in existing structures, cutting costs and eliminating waste. Workflow management is a narrower, tactically-focused subset: it coordinates tasks, manages sequencing, and automates manual steps within a single functional unit.

This distinction isn't academic hair-splitting. Anyone thinking at workflow level whilst trying to solve a systemic problem will find their tools are guaranteed to fall short.

From Taylor to Industry 4.0

Process management isn't a product of the new millennium. As early as the start of the 20th century, Frederick Winslow Taylor was already working with micro-level motion studies and standardised work instructions, laying the foundations for measurability. Deming and Juran's work in Japan gave rise to TQM, which made quality improvement the responsibility of the entire organisation.

The 1990s brought the BPR revolution: Hammer and Champy championed radical redesign, where the principle wasn't incremental improvement but a clean slate. Around the same time, Lean grew out of the Toyota Production System (TPS), built on eliminating waste and boosting efficiency, whilst Six Sigma relies on the DMAIC cycle: Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control.

Today, Industry 4.0 and digitalisation have steered the field down radically different paths. Static process maps based on manual interviews have been replaced by real-time system analysis: event logs from ERPs, CRMs and workflow applications automatically reconstruct how processes actually run. Process management has shifted from after-the-fact correction to a proactive, predictive capability.

Which methodology is for what?

Lean excels at eliminating waste, delivering quickly visible results with low investment requirements. It's at home in manufacturing, logistics and transactional environments. Six Sigma, by contrast, is an extremely rigorous, data-driven system, but demands high levels of expertise (Black Belt, Green Belt) and is slow to implement. The combination of the two, Lean Six Sigma, aims for synergy between speed and flawless quality, primarily in medium and large enterprise, multinational SSC environments. The method brings together Lean's speed-oriented waste reduction with Six Sigma's statistics-based quality control in a single framework.

BPR can deliver breakthrough, even tenfold, performance improvements, but in return carries an extremely high failure rate and generates drastic organisational resistance. It's suited to companies in crisis, large enterprises struggling with outdated systems, or M&A integrations. Agile process management means rapid responsiveness and self-organising teams. It works best in software development and innovative service providers, and is hard to scale in tightly regulated manufacturing environments.

The choice isn't a matter of style. Anyone leading a complex SSC transfer won't get far with Lean workshops.

When internal capacity falls short: entry points for interim management

There are situations where the usual internal development team simply isn't enough. When launching a new plant, managing SSC migrations, navigating scale-up chaos, handling generational transition, or dealing with a turnaround situation, structural process constraints can block progress entirely.

This is where the interim manager comes in. Their role differs significantly from that of a consultant: rather than analysing and recommending, they take on operational responsibility, make decisions, lead the team, and are personally accountable for results. This comes paired with an external, unbiased perspective: free from organisational blind spots, with no internal career interests at stake, and able to lead a complex transformation from day one.

Speed of response matters too. After a precise task specification, personal discussions and selection can take place within 48–72 hours. The assignment runs on a service contract basis, with a daily rate structure, without notice periods or severance pay.

The case of Furbify s.r.o. shows what this looks like in practice. The company's revenue jumped from €5 million to over €10 million within a single year during the COVID pandemic. The result wasn't success but operational chaos: 20 parallel projects were running simultaneously, most of them stalled. The specialist brought in through Interim Ltd cut logistics costs by 20%, or €200,000, within three months, and laid the foundations for a BI system. The company subsequently hit its €18 million revenue target and was able to expand into 15 European countries simultaneously.

Why do most process improvement projects fail?

Forrester Research analyses point to three recurring mistakes. The first: improvements aren't linked to the company's strategic goals, leaving them as isolated, self-contained actions. The second: the internal team lacks the methodological capability needed to analyse complex processes. The third, and most common: change management is neglected, and once the project closes, the organisation reverts to its old patterns.

Siloed thinking also regularly sets limits. If procurement buys cheaply whilst this increases the defect rate in production, the overall performance of the value chain deteriorates.

Process mining, ai co-pilots and the path to maturity

Process mining software forms the backbone of modern BPM. These tools automatically reconstruct how processes actually run from event logs, uncovering bottlenecks. Celonis is strong in large enterprise, multi-system environments, with a high total cost of ownership: entry-level pricing starts around $30,000–50,000 USD, rising above $500,000 USD at enterprise level. SAP Signavio is more SAP-centric, suited to medium and large enterprises, and strong in governance functions.

AI co-pilots can now generate BPMN models from text descriptions, identify risk points, and suggest areas of responsibility. According to Celonis research, 89% of decision-makers see AI as the biggest opportunity for competitiveness. At the same time, 47% cite a lack of expertise as the biggest barrier.

An important lesson: if a low-maturity organisation introduces automation without first documenting its existing processes, all it does is speed up bad, wasteful processes. Stabilising and standardising processes beforehand is an essential prerequisite for digital transformation.

KPIs and maturity levels

Among process KPIs, Lead Time measures the total turnaround time from order to delivery, whilst Cycle Time covers only the active processing time. FPY (First Pass Yield) shows how many products are completed correctly the first time, without rework or correction. Without these, there's no fact-based decision-making.

Maturity models (CMMI, BPMM, PEMM) define five levels. At the first level, processes are ad hoc, and success depends on individual effort. At the highest, fifth level, the organisation continuously renews itself iteratively and adapts dynamically to market demands. Moving up from the lower levels brings direct financial benefits: McKinsey research shows that companies with high operational and technological maturity achieve, on average, 35% higher revenue growth than their competitors. At the same time, systemic process optimisation, also supported by the international EFQM model framework, can deliver operating cost savings of up to 30% by eliminating unnecessary expenditure and waste.

The Hungarian reality of process management: why now, and why is this so urgent here?

The domestic market is under particular pressure. Labour shortages and wage pressures are forcing medium and large Hungarian companies to achieve growth through process optimisation rather than headcount expansion. This is also a critical issue for SMEs founded around the time of the regime change, now facing generational transition: without formalising the processes that exist only in the founder's head, handover or sale becomes unthinkable. Hungary's prominent SSC base (shared service centre sector) has also reached the point where using advanced process mining platforms, such as Celonis's Shared Services solutions or SAP Signavio Process Intelligence, is the only way to maintain competitiveness against lower-wage regions.

Deloitte's industry analyses clearly confirm that domestic centres can no longer offset rising wage pressure on cost grounds alone, and must therefore become digital innovation hubs. By applying intelligent technologies and automated process optimisation, these centres can achieve average direct process cost reductions of 25–30%, securing their long-term market position.

Process management and interim management aren't running on parallel tracks: the two fields meet precisely where an organisation is most vulnerable. A leader who can simultaneously spot process flaws and manage organisational resistance brings exactly the competency profile that Interim Ltd brings to every assignment. If your company is feeling a structural breaking point in its operations, but the internal team can't act both impartially and quickly enough, Interim Ltd's experienced specialists are ready to take the helm and hand back an organisation that's well-ordered and operating at a higher level of maturity.

FAQ

What's the difference between BPM, process improvement and workflow management?

The three terms represent different levels of abstraction. BPM (Business Process Management) is a systemic discipline: it identifies, models, measures and aligns an organisation's processes with its strategic goals. Process improvement fixes flaws in existing structures and cuts costs. Workflow management is the narrowest: it coordinates tasks and automates manual steps within a single functional unit. Anyone thinking at workflow level whilst solving a systemic problem will find their tools fall short.

When should you use Lean, when Six Sigma, and when BPR?

Lean delivers quickly visible results with low investment, and is strongest in manufacturing and logistics environments. Six Sigma is a data-driven, rigorous system requiring high levels of expertise (Black Belt, Green Belt)—slower, but precise. The combination of the two, Lean Six Sigma, targets synergy between speed and flawless quality in large enterprise, SSC environments. BPR can deliver breakthrough improvements but has a high failure rate and triggers drastic organisational resistance, making it suited to companies in crisis and M&A integrations.

Why do most process improvement projects fail?

Forrester Research identifies three recurring mistakes. The first: improvements aren't linked to the company's strategic goals, leaving them as self-contained actions. The second: the internal team lacks the necessary methodological capability. The third and most common: change management is neglected, and after the project closes, the organisation reverts to its old patterns. Siloed thinking compounds this: if individual departments optimise separately, the performance of the value chain as a whole deteriorates.

What is process mining, and what do companies use it for?

Process mining software automatically reconstructs how processes actually run from event logs and uncovers bottlenecks. Celonis is strong in large enterprise, multi-system environments, whilst SAP Signavio is SAP-centric and suited to medium and large enterprises. 89% of decision-makers see AI-based process mining tools as the biggest opportunity for competitiveness, whilst 47% cite a lack of expertise as the biggest barrier to adoption.

When is it worth bringing in an interim manager for a process improvement project?

When the internal team's capacity or methodological readiness isn't sufficient: when launching a new plant, managing an SSC migration, handling generational transition, or in a turnaround situation. An interim manager isn't a consultant: they take on operational responsibility, make decisions, and are personally accountable for results. Their external perspective is free from organisational blind spots and internal career politics. After a precise task specification, collaboration can begin within 48–72 hours, with no notice period or severance pay.