As James Henderson mentioned in a previous blogpost < https://mindzie.com/2022/09/09/the-rise-and-future-of-process-mining/>, Process Mining eventually needs to result in improvements in the operation. The way to get there is often tactical – change a process – but the operation is where benefits from improving processes need to be found: fewer errors, less resources used, and happier customers. No gain, no glory, and therefore such tangible business value should be in focus when implementing process mining in your company.
The result of applying process mining if often improved efficiency. In my 2021 book on process mining, Successful Process Improvement, available on Amazon <https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B096XJ8CK7/ >, you will find effectivity, reliability, and conformance besides efficiency.
As for effectivity, unfortunately, cases get stuck in processes more often than we might think. It is estimated, by IT analyst Gartner, that this is the case for a staggering 10% to 20% of customer questions. Gartner concludes that stalled customer questions are a good Key Performance Indicator as it reveals weaknesses in both customer interaction and internal business processes. I fully agree.
Reliability is important because we want a case to come out of a process as we intend. For example, we do not want to pay phantom invoices, an invoice that is meant to get us to pay for things we did not order, like the registration of our internet domain names in a Maltese registry. When invoices like these have been passed on to our internal fraud officers, the fraudulent invoice has been handled as we want.
Conformance is important because we want process steps to be carried out as intended. As the world becomes more complex, we need this for our business processes, but increasingly auditors and authorities also require this.
In Successful Process Improvement, this is discussed in detail. You will also find Key Performance Indicators for these process improvement aspects. Besides, you will find many methods, tips, and tricks to ensure your process mining implementation does result in operational benefits.
Erik-Jan van der Linden
Strategic Advisor at Mindzie
www.mindzie.com
Process Mining Simplified