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To become and remain successful and rise above the competition, businesses must continuously improve and monitor their processes. Failure to do so may result in big financial losses, lower investment capital, reduced motivation in employees, and fewer satisfied customers.
This is why more and more companies worldwide are adopting business process management (BPM) applications in different flavors. BPM tools are designed to manage workflows in a consistent, repetitive model, providing an instrument for collaboration among all team members.
A great example of how critical process optimization is for a business’s long-term success can be found in the book “Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You” by John Warrillow. The book emphasizes the importance of creating a scalable and self-sufficient business model, which resonates well with the principles of BPM.
According to the report led by Market Research Future, the BPM market is expected to grow to approximately USD $28.3 billion by 2030, with a 12.40% CAGR.
The major factors fueling this market growth include the increasing number of companies from different industries that are aiming for cost efficiency and process optimization, investment returns from BPM software, and business coordination and control.
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Note that business process management is not limited to large enterprises. In fact, small and medium enterprises account for the largest market share in terms of organization size segment.
Any industry that adopts the mentality of process optimization and has the resources to define and manage processes (or outsource that) fits well in the BPM target bracket.
Let’s take the 10 largest industries in the US as a practical example. Note that every industry is represented by both large enterprises AND a myriad of small family-run businesses or startups reaching the same conclusions as they grow.
1. Real Estate
The real estate industry covers a broad set of providers dealing with acquisition and property sales, renovation, and construction work, among others.
The data from the National Association of Realtors® shows that 4.28 million existing homes were sold in 2023. Every organization involved in the process follows protocol around gathering information from other parties and providing the outcome for purchase (or the next participant in the workflow).
Complex processes around expensive purchases or development initiatives should be as optimal as possible—or otherwise, you’ll end up with an 8-figure (or larger) investment that doesn’t generate the ROI you expect.
In terms of property acquisition, experienced vendors have comprehensive workflows they go through to determine the land quality, the history of the building, different factors around moist or humidity, how safe the area is, average prices, upcoming trends that would value the property in the next 5 or 10 years.
“BPM success in real estate or any other industry is actually about using automation to weed out the tedious or distracting processes and enabling employees to interact with customers or perform tasks more effectively.”
– Ben Farrell
Visiting the town hall to research development plans in the coming years may uncover different surprises—say, a prison build nearby or heavy construction work that will render living there unpleasant.
Similar factors will play out in the selling phase—but generally speaking, business process management will provide the right tooling to manage processes, track status, and delegate initiatives to different parties during the separate stages in the funnel.
2. Professional and Business Services
A 2015 survey by BPTrends shows that 96% of companies had some form of documented processes in 2015. Surviving without maintaining institutional knowledge in a persistent form is barely possible, which is why companies of all business segments keep documenting and structuring processes in various forms.
Accounting, legal services, marketing, PR, and some forms of engineering or innovation services (like biotech) fall into the same category.
Processing invoices, handling contracts, calculating VAT, generating billing reports, monthly statements, and conducting marketing research for campaigns—a small fraction of day-to-day activities larger agencies or firms deal with.
Automating these and providing the right workflows to follow minimizes the margin of errors, increases productivity, and enables less senior talent to work independently by following established workflows.
Taco Bell is a prime example of a company that went from losing money to being worth $1.98 billion in 30 years by re-engineering its core processes. Employing the right management talent (in-house or through management consulting) combined with the right tooling can turn a business around for good.
3. State and Local Government
State and government systems handle a lot of the operational activities required for a city or municipality to exist and thrive. The BPM benefits for multiple departments operating under a complex legal framework are worth the implementation hassle.
The educational system, police forces, courts, and other municipality-regulated services like construction planning or introducing new traffic lights are handled by service workers in the state or city administrative facilities.
The concept of e-government has picked up adoption over the past decades. Countries like Estonia are leading the race here – with 99% percent of all public services being available 24/7 online.
Due to the complexity of state and government jobs and the broad number of cases to follow, this has been regulated by tons of law books and internal clauses handling all sorts of scenarios. After all, this should be applicable to millions of people (or even a billion in some cases).
The Department of Defense (DoD) has also used a BPM toolkit to reduce the large volume of paperwork and simplify procedures with American military service members. This also reduced the number of hoops required to obtain classified information (previously performed via a third party accessing sensitive details).
Following protocol strictly is crucial and that’s why process management is integral to scaling the efforts over time.
4. Finance and Insurance
“Our survey shows that the financial services sector leads the way in adoption of Business Process Management software and approaches: 65% of financial services decision-makers that participated in the survey stated that their organization had launched a BPM initiative of some description, while 52% anticipated that greater emphasis would be placed on BPM over the next year.”
– Nicholas Kitson, Head of Business Process Management, Global Financial Services Unit, Capgemini
Banking, investment, and insurance are some of the areas of work with complexities introduced on a daily basis.
This entails different legal regulations, currency exchange rates, alignments based on GDP, annual interest rates, the stock market itself – and lots of other investment projections that keep the system running and operating successfully.
Many of the aforementioned industries rely heavily on machine learning (an AI segment) to handle large volumes of historical data and perform analysis for essential services—approving loans, calculating mortgage rates, handling refunds after car accidents (to name a few).
Errors in this department can lead to massive losses or lawsuits that cost a fortune. Handling business processes internally in a professional manner and keeping them up to date is the responsible and mature action to take.
This is one of the leading reasons why professional business process management is deployed in large corporations. An industry-specific BPM tool has the incentive to get certified for compliance reasons, ticking off all essential boxes for data protection and privacy, complying with existing regulations in the field. Relying on an automated system to adhere to standards by minimizing the margin of error has a serious upside in terms of successful growth in operations.
5. Health Care and Social Assistance
The healthcare industry covers the government-regulated activities around running hospitals, clinics, dentists’ offices, social care.
The insurance industry plays closely with healthcare to determine the allowed procedures covered by the country (or state), services covered by individuals, and the distribution of resources accordingly.
With COVID-19, a lot of these processes get adjusted on a weekly basis since governments also calibrate the allowance which all medical institutions have to follow.
There are other tangible segments that should be considered as a part of this segment. For instance, take accessibility – liaison with local governments for wheelchair ramps or parking spots for disabled individuals. Different insurance fees for different classes too (depending on their income). Accessibility regulations for institutions running web properties – including web visitors with braille readers.
Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, Italy’s largest pediatric hospital, reported incredible results after deploying a BPM platform for their healthcare-related services.
For 6 months, the application helped physicians and nurses to reduce the operational and paperwork overhead and increase the essential time as experts they need to allocate by close to 60%. Combined with the automatic email planning for medical exams, human error was brought down significantly, and “the quality of data and reliability of the pathway scheduling have been seriously improved.”
Needless to say, maintaining a complex set of processes is inevitable. And using the right business process management software can save thousands of hours of manual digging and guesswork.
6. Manufacturing of Durable Goods
Durable goods are meant to last for a prolonged period of time – at least a year. This is why vehicles, furniture, kitchen appliances, electronic devices form a significant segment generating a decent chunk of GDP for most countries.
Manufacturing requires factories, producing goods following established (and complex) processes, maintaining qualities in warehouses, being shipped through a myriad of logistic companies.
In times of crisis, cost efficiency is paramount. Even though layoffs are the last resort, increasing operational efficiency and retaining productivity while having to cut costs is a consideration large enterprises may need to go through.
A BPM project led by Leonardo for Iron Ore resulted in a headcount reduction of 30% due to process standardization and productivity improvements, in addition to added benefits while finding offshore opportunities for managing work remotely.
ERPs, or enterprise resource planning platforms, represent one of the integral process automation and management categories of software that almost every business relies on for their day-to-day. Additionally, management operations find other BPM applications instrumental for selecting vendors, following low-end product costs (motherboard, chemical elements) across the world, and negotiating shipping fees at scale.
7. Wholesale Trade
Wholesalers are the bridge between manufacturers and business properties like retailers, restaurants, gas stations, other factories, construction companies, chemical firms, and clothing businesses.
There is an expected decline in the global wholesale market from $48761.6 billion in 2019 to $48477.8 billion in 2020 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of -0.6%. This is primarily due to the economic slowdown across countries brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak. The recovery of the market will not be until 2023 at a CAGR of 5.9%, reaching $48883.25 billion in 2023.
This required optimizations and improvements across different segments – from employee efficiency to reducing paperwork, limiting the margin of errors, and finding more cost-effective resources, to name a few.
Logistics is integral to the wholesale ecosystem since shipping often happens internationally, including aviation, shipping, truck transportation, trains, and local shuttles.
Provisioning relies on storage facilities being built, rented, or acquired thanks to the construction and real estate industries.
You end up with tons of international accounting and legal frameworks for goods that can or cannot be shipped across the board – due to FDA regulations, blacklisting chemicals, or disallowing the import of certain goods for various reasons.
Implementing a set of business process management systems is what makes all of this possible—through software tooling, hardware devices, and operational management on top of that.
8. Retail Trade
The retail ecosystem selling direct to consumer encompasses a broad variety of businesses—grocery stores and larger supermarkets, gas stations, drug stores, furniture showrooms, hardware stores, clothing shops, toy shops (to name a few).
Capgemini’s report demonstrates that 96% reported a positive return on investing in Business Process Management, with 55% even concluding ROI at least twice their initial investment.
According to Brian Girouard of Global Consumer Products and Retail at Capgemini, understanding the relevance of business process management has yet to mature in the retail industry compared to the other industries. Their research study shows that in five consumer products and retail decision-makers, there are only fewer than one who believes that BPM should be among the managerial-level agenda.
Retail is also a truly competitive industry, and 85% of retail and 79% of consumer products companies plan to use intelligent automation for supply chain planning by 2021. Race to the bottom and price gauging makes the survival of the fittest a daily challenge. Ensuring competitive prices, reducing logistics fees, finding low rent, high-density offers for new stores, and securing loyal talent are common challenges businesses struggle with.
Liaising with other businesses for logistics and quantity management is combined with additional tooling, strict processes, and best-practice checklists to make everything happen.
9. Manufacturing of Nondurable Goods
Nondurable goods face their own challenges unlike other business segments covered so far. Time-sensitive materials and products don’t last too long – which is why shipping as much as possible and selling them in a timely manner is integral.
Manufacturing labor productivity decreased by 2.1% in the first quarter of 2023, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Food, some beverages, paper products, and a lot of clothing and footwear products fall into the same category. Businesses have to maintain order requests and available supplies in-house carefully, provide very specific environments for both production and storage (plus shipping), deal with billing projections based on lost or expired goods, and be smart with reusing or refurbishing materials for leftovers.
This determines a number of different segments around logistics, production, regulations (FDA or governmental), trade, real estate that would be impossible without the right automation and software stack for business process management.
In a research by Capgemini, there are reportedly three types of BPM software implementation levels within the manufacturing industry and these are the following:
- individual process transformation
- agility layers on top of legacy applications
- end-to-end transformation
Each of these levels corresponds to the different segments of the nondurable goods industry with which different applications are suitable for business development.
The bottom line is that the renovation and optimization of existing processes are more important than ever—which is where powerful software applications and management practices are needed.
10. Information
The broad information industry includes most Internet-based data distribution platforms, media outlets, and publishing. And implementing a BPM software can resolve integral problems for every organization.
Data embargo for press releases, hiring talent, managing journalistic efforts across the globe, monitoring myriads of data sources for the latest news, aggregating humongous loads of data, handling data centers and data replication systems, and peering up with most of the aforementioned ecosystems tends to be a software-first job in many places.
Even the more old-school, traditional media businesses are forced to transition to innovative models and tap into the global school of thought. Scaling resources and aggregating information, recruiting expensive talent through applicant tracking systems, scaling management processes for growing businesses, and funded startups rely on a network of process management solutions.
Let’s not forget social media, either. An enterprise architect for a large German automotive business reports that “The power of social media is rapidly increasing, which means that it will become a focal point for all mass-market businesses. Market trends will be dictated by social media trends, and the public view of a company will be determined by its social media interaction.”
Automated tools for content scheduling, brand monitoring, aggregating data through different sources, and analyzing competitors have been around for a while—representing separate tools required for BPM purposes in established organizations around the world.
BPM Trends This Year
When selecting the right business process management software, CIOs and business professionals approach that with a forward-thinking mentality.
What are some recent trends to look after in the new year?
- Generative AI in Process Management – with GPT engines all over the place, integrating the latest AI algorithms in BPM tools can rapidly increase productivity in assessing, suggesting, designing, and expanding processes.
- Green BPM – with zero-emission policies, low impact applications rank high on executives’ lists.
- BPM as a strategic tool – instead of merely a management software, BPMs are now used to determine strategic actions and define roadmaps for larger organizations.
- Customizable BPM solutions – implementing a BPM software always involves a set of business requirements, but adhering to deeper customizations is a plus.
- Customer-centric BPMs – now used to improve CX, churn, and NPS scores as well.
- Hyperautomation – integrating not just GPT, but other AI and machine learning models, RPA, and omnichannel support across other solutions in the organization.
- Deep dive of processes – are you documenting the processes outside of the tool? How are processes related to one another? Do you measure time spent or number of people required to get a job done?
The BPM Ecosystem Will Keep Growing
The graph above shows the size of the information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) market worldwide from the year 2014 to 2018. The graphical data also shows that 198.billion U.S. dollars was spent on BPM globally in 2018.
The evolution of the business segment will keep exploding over the coming years. With COVID out and companies like Microsoft or Twitter announcing remote working as the norm, on-site management and collaboration will be reduced, leading to the need of automating more processes and cross-checking workflows in a well-organized manner.
This covers a broader segment of the most popular business and public ecosystems relying on process management software implementation. The further you dive into the growth aspect of any business, the bigger the need for additional process management solutions to effectively scale your business further.
What about small businesses?
Most BPM systems out there target the enterprise segment. With compliance requirements on one hand and legal regulations to adhere to one another, serving small businesses is a larger undertaking that hasn’t been fully covered yet.
This is one of the reasons we built SaaS BPM as a BPM software serving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), agencies, and professional firms in the service industry. Aside from being really affordable (starting at $29/mo), it’s versatile, with clients also expanding to the restaurant or passenger transportation industries.
Regardless of the technical suite you’re using now, consider switching to an established, industry-grade solution that refines your processes over time. The further your business grows, the larger the impact on onboarding and training talent efficiently, managing sick leaves, building more complex processes across different parties.
Documenting and automating business processes is the logical step toward building a solid foundation for the years to come.
Process Maturity as an Operating Model Foundation
Private equity sponsors evaluating portfolio companies in global industries increasingly recognize that business process management capabilities serve as a leading indicator of scalability and exit readiness. A company with mature, documented processes commands higher valuations not because of the documentation itself, but because that maturity signals reduced key-person risk, faster onboarding cycles, and cleaner integration pathways for strategic acquirers.
The operating model conversation in portfolio operations has shifted. Where deal teams once focused primarily on financial engineering and revenue synergies, the emphasis now extends to operational repeatability. Can the business deliver consistent outcomes at twice its current scale? Can it absorb a bolt-on acquisition without eighteen months of integration chaos? These questions cannot be answered by looking at EBITDA alone.
Why Process Maturity Matters to Sponsors
Global industries present unique challenges for portfolio operations teams. Geographic dispersion, regulatory variation across jurisdictions, and supply chain complexity create environments where undocumented tribal knowledge becomes a liability rather than an asset. When a regional manager in Southeast Asia handles customs compliance differently than the team in Central Europe, the resulting inconsistency creates audit exposure, margin leakage, and quality variance that compounds as the business scales.
Process maturity addresses these challenges by establishing a shared operational language across the portfolio company. This does not mean rigid standardization that ignores local market realities. Rather, it means clarity about which processes must remain consistent enterprise-wide (financial controls, data handling, safety protocols) and which can flex within defined parameters to accommodate regional requirements.
For sponsors pursuing buy-and-build integration strategies, this distinction becomes critical. Each acquisition brings its own process legacy. Without a clear framework for evaluating incoming processes against the platform company’s operating model, integration teams face an endless series of ad-hoc decisions that delay synergy capture and frustrate management teams on both sides of the transaction.
The Four Dimensions of Process Readiness
When assessing a portfolio company’s BPM capabilities, operating partners should evaluate four distinct but interconnected dimensions. Each dimension contributes to the overall operating model strength, and weakness in any single area can undermine progress in the others.
Process Maturity refers to how well the organization understands, documents, and governs its core workflows. Immature processes exist only in the heads of long-tenured employees. Mature processes are documented, version-controlled, and subject to periodic review. The distinction matters because mature processes can be improved systematically, while immature processes can only be improved accidentally.
Repeatability measures whether the same inputs consistently produce the same outputs across different teams, locations, and time periods. A process might be documented but poorly followed, resulting in variance that erodes margin and customer satisfaction. Repeatability requires not just documentation but also training, monitoring, and accountability mechanisms.
Standardization captures the degree to which common processes have been harmonized across business units or geographic regions. Full standardization is rarely desirable or achievable, but sponsors should understand where standardization exists, where it should exist, and what barriers prevent it.
Integration Complexity assesses how easily the company’s processes can connect with external systems, acquired entities, or new technology platforms. Companies with high integration complexity face longer timelines and higher costs when implementing new ERP systems, onboarding acquisitions, or connecting with customer or supplier systems.
Process Maturity Assessment Framework
The following framework provides a structured approach for evaluating portfolio company process readiness. Operating partners can use this during diligence, 100-day planning, or annual operating reviews to identify improvement priorities and track progress over time.
| Dimension | Level 1: Ad Hoc | Level 2: Developing | Level 3: Defined | Level 4: Managed | Level 5: Optimized |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Process Maturity | Processes exist only as tribal knowledge; no documentation | Key processes documented but not maintained; documents often outdated | Core processes documented with owners assigned; annual review cycle | Process documentation integrated with training; change management protocols active | Continuous improvement embedded; process metrics drive strategic decisions |
| Repeatability | Outcomes vary significantly based on who performs the work | Some consistency within teams but variance across locations or shifts | Standard operating procedures followed; exception handling defined | Quality metrics tracked; deviations trigger root cause analysis | Statistical process control; predictive identification of variance |
| Standardization | Each business unit operates independently with different processes | Shared services for some functions; core operations remain siloed | Enterprise process standards defined; regional variations documented | Center of excellence model; standardization roadmap actively managed | Global process ownership; local execution within defined parameters |
| Integration Complexity | Manual data transfer between systems; no API capability | Point-to-point integrations; each new connection requires custom work | Integration middleware in place; documented data schemas | API-first architecture; self-service integration for common use cases | Event-driven architecture; real-time data synchronization across ecosystem |
Applying the Framework in Portfolio Operations
This framework serves different purposes at different stages of the investment lifecycle. During diligence, it helps identify operational risks that may not surface in financial analysis. A company showing strong revenue growth but scoring at Level 1 or 2 across all dimensions may struggle to sustain that growth or integrate acquisitions effectively.
During the first 100 days post-close, the framework helps prioritize operational initiatives. Most portfolio companies cannot address all four dimensions simultaneously. The operating model conversation should focus on which dimensions create the most immediate value or risk mitigation given the investment thesis.
For platform companies pursuing buy-and-build strategies, the framework becomes an acquisition screening tool. Bolt-on targets with mature, well-documented processes integrate faster and more completely than those requiring process archaeology before integration can begin.
Common Patterns and Pitfalls
Certain patterns appear repeatedly across global industries portfolio companies. Recognizing these patterns helps operating partners avoid common mistakes and accelerate value creation.
Documentation theater occurs when companies create extensive process documentation to satisfy compliance requirements or investor requests without actually using that documentation to manage operations. The documents exist, but employees do not reference them, and no mechanism ensures they remain current. Portfolio operations teams should verify that documentation connects to actual work practices rather than accepting its existence at face value.
Premature standardization happens when companies attempt to standardize processes before achieving sufficient maturity and repeatability. The result is standardization around bad processes, which then become difficult to change because they have been elevated to enterprise policy. The sequence matters: first achieve maturity and repeatability within individual business units, then standardize across units.
Integration debt accumulation describes the tendency to defer integration work in favor of short-term operational demands. Each acquisition adds another layer of technical and process complexity. Without deliberate integration investment, this debt compounds until the company’s systems become nearly impossible to untangle. Sponsors should budget integration resources as part of acquisition planning rather than treating integration as optional post-close work.
Practical Next Steps for Operating Teams
Moving from assessment to action requires clarity about priorities and realistic expectations about timelines. Process transformation in global industries typically requires 18 to 36 months to achieve meaningful capability shifts, though targeted improvements to specific high-impact processes can deliver results within a single quarter.
Operating partners should work with management teams to identify two or three processes that matter most to the investment thesis. For a company where the value creation plan depends on margin expansion, order-to-cash and procurement processes warrant early attention. For a platform company preparing for acquisitions, customer onboarding and financial close processes should reach Level 3 or higher before the first bolt-on.
The goal is not perfection across all dimensions but rather deliberate progress that supports the specific value creation objectives for each portfolio company. Process maturity serves the operating model, not the other way around.
