Business Process Management in Australia’s Telstra
1. Executive
Summary
Gartner
describes business process management as being the number one priority of firms
in the coming years. This is because business process management or BPM is
concerned with improving the company’s performance and levelling it to a brand
new level. However compared to when the first evolved it has come a long way.
This report will assess the BPM in Australia’s Telstra. It will provide a
‘as-is’ and ‘to-be’ mapping with respect to the company.
1. Introduction
According to Al-Mudimigh ( 2017) improving an
organization’s performance is the driving factor between all the top
authorities of any organization. Taking into consideration the Australian
market, the industry is witnessing a revolutionary change where we are seeing
new shifts in business strategies, processes and even the type of staff
required. This paradigm shift has occurred due to the fact that business
processes are gaining popularity as an effective tool for improving the
performance of an organization. For the
purpose of the case, we shall study the on-going process of BPM in Australia’s
Telstra Company.
2.1 Existing Case Study
The case study here is to analyze
the BPM in Telstra. According to Australia
Bureau of Statistics ( 2008) Telstra is Australia’s leading
telecommunications company providing full range of telecommunication services
to around 28 million Australians. Currently, it holds a statics of 17.7 million
in retail mobile services, 4.9 million in retail fixed voice services and 3.6
million in Broadband services. I found it the need to study it, because of
increasing competition and entry of new companies within the Australian market.
With so many companies owning technological advancement Telstra is facing stiff
competition from Opus, Vodafone, Virgin Mobiles, Aussie Broadband and more.
Recent developments from Telstra include LTE, e-health and the National Wi-Fi
system. It also provides wholesale television services to business customers
and subscription services to the nationals.
3. Business Process Management
Krause et al.,(2013)
explained in their paper that BPM or Business Process Management has gained
such a popularity these days that several processes are being developed
including the Total Quality Management (TQM), Business Process Reengineering
(BPR) and the Six Sigma. Many of these processes represent a holistic approach
instead of a single structured methodology of approaches. Applying these
processes involve assessing two factors: -as-is and to-be. These are
situational factors which states what position a company is now (as-is) and
what improvements needs to be done in order to improve its performance.
On the other hand Segatto et al., ( 2012) defines that Business Process
Management, stressing on the ‘process’ is a series of business processes from
one end to the other that uplifts an organization in many ways. It includes how
the company is working, different scenarios and how the whole process can be
optimized. However the importance on improvement it may lay, it is much more
than just improving the workings of an organization. It includes various
methods, technologies, approaches, concept that are applied to support the
improvement process. it is to be noted that BPM is an ongoing and never ending
process that is continuously carried out according to changing environment.
3.1 Why BPM
Rummler and
Ramias ( 2010)
defined in their paper that BPM is important because it aligns
the goals of the organization so that all execution, administration, control
and monitoring and others can be carried out effectively. In case of Telstra it
points out how the said processes are carried out and how it can change its
process to achieve the targeted goal. Apart from this, BPM has additional
benefits of reducing costs, generating more revenue, managing competitors,
improving customer satisfaction and increasing productivity.
3.2 Pillars of BPM
The three pillars of BPM can be identified as people,
processes and technology. People are always associated with the stakeholders in
the organization and sometimes the staff and the employee. Processes refer to
the steps the company is taking to keep itself operated and technological, is
all the technological processes that are used to increase productivity in an
organization ( Imanipour, et al.,2012) .
3.3 Approaches of BPM
Several approaches exist of BPM are
available that can be incorporated in the organizations. Some of the approaches
that can be used are:
·
The
technology based approach where analyzing and defining of the opportunities are
done in order to improve the profitability of the organization. This helps in
providing real time performance data and also provides an in-depth insight into
the business improvement process that is to be carried out as per the paper
presented by Bank ( 2011) .
·
On
the other hand Al-Mudimigh (2007) defines that a Content centric approach is also
undertaken. Sometimes the lack of right content and any kind of inefficiencies
may lead to delay in the business processes, which creates unnecessary burden on
delivery issues and even compliance and security. This approach mainly helps in
providing ways which could improve the stability level of the organization.
·
The
process automation approach is also taken up for BPM in which information
technology system and equipment’s are used to support the automation in the
organizational processes. This helps in solving expectations and reality
problems in business strategies and also increase the process efficiency at
various levels.
3.4 Risks and Implementation
As with all business process, risks are involved. The implementation
procedure must be followed so that it does not crosses the budget allocation.
The processes must not also lead to inefficiencies and delays which may cause
because of lack of understanding the process.
4.1 As-Is Mapping
As per Gartner (
2011) As-Is mapping tells us about the current state of an organization,
its culture, its environment and its capacities. In layman terms if we want to
improve the situation of a company, we first need to know how the current state
of the organization is. This will help us assess the future or what is to-be
done in the organization. As-is business mapping helps in providing an accurate
picture of the organization’s process and it helps visualize the process
breakdowns and the risks that are involved.
The current state of Telstra seems to be following a lengthy
and traditional working procedure. The organizational structure is too
complicated and hence there are delays in the decision making processes.
Although in terms of technology, Telstra is well equipped, providing faster
networks to the clients, the main internal structure of the organization is not
looked into. Especially with its stakeholder’s relations, Telstra fails to
perform, when there is a debate and discussion among them. This split between
Telstra also is a problem since it goes beyond the T3 prospectus guideline. As
a result of which, the networks are not often upgraded leaving room for
competition to enter the market. This has created a chain reaction in impacting
the prices of Telstra. The customers are happy with the sudden decrease in
prices, but the company is running on cut costs and in some cases below the
cost, just to capture the market and demoralizing its competitors. In the as-is
scenario, there is a strong need for balance in all of its operational
processes ( Karim,et al.,2013)
4.2 To-be Mapping
Segatto et al.,(2013)
explained that the to-be mapping process is referred to the future state of the
organization, which also represents the ideal working situation in the way we
want the organization to be. It is the model that we strive to achieve through
the business processes. In order to achieve this to-be stage a strong team of
business managers and quality development managers is required. The first and
foremost would be to create a proper stakeholder guideline, by which they are
able to come to a decision, which enhances the productivity with minimum
debates and discussion. The network prices then needs to be efficient by
creating a price evaluation factor. Competitor management is also needed in the
end to identify gaps in the market and the prices of the network.
4.3 Intention of BPM by Telstra
In the case of Telstra, it would mean on-time deliveries of
decisions within the organization and correct pricing of networks so that it
creates profitability as well as maintaining a balanced customer satisfaction
level. It would create lesser competition and the creation of innovation
business strategies.
4.2 Analysis: Good, Bad and the Ugly
The good part of the process is that
it will help create more CSR in the organization. Ethical practices will be
promoted and stakeholder balance will be achieved.
The bad part is a debatable
scenario, where the prices need to be evaluated. Since they have lowered their
prices extensively, they might need to increase them, so that they do not fall
beyond the cost prices, which is happening now.
There is no ugly process as such.
4.3 Advantages and Disadvantages
The advantages are many. The stakeholders would be more
interested in the value of the company, with price evaluation profitability
would be maintained. There is also a decrease in competition that is noted
especially in areas of VoIP and Web Hosting. This would lead effective time and
business management Rummler and Ramia (2010).
The only disadvantage sited here are the increase in prices,
to maintain balanced profitability level.
5. Conclusion
It is important to note that every
business has its own set of business process and own way of working. The
findings in this report can be taken by other companies as well as Telstra to
improve areas which lack proper management. Overall it has clarified how
business process mapping works and how effective it can be from all levels of
operation. The advantages and the disadvantages are also discussed. A number of
potential implications were also identified, like the price factor which needs
further discussion. Here it is applicable to Telstra, but with other
association, there may be more. Hence for all organization a mapping is
required which is critical in identifying problems so that proper solutions can
be developed.
References
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Banks, G. (2011). Successful reform: Past lessons, future challenges. Paper presented at the productivity commission.
Gartner. (2010) leading in times of transition: The 2010 CIO Agenda.
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