Process Reengineering
A radical redesign of core business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in productivity, efficiency, and quality by fundamentally rethinking how work is done.
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What is Process Reengineering?
Process reengineering, commonly known as business process reengineering (BPR), involves fundamentally rethinking and radically redesigning how work gets done to achieve breakthrough improvements. This isn't about making small tweaks to existing workflows. Instead, it starts with a blank slate and poses the question: "If we were building this process today, what would it look like?"
Michael Hammer and James Champy popularized the concept back in the 1990s. Their insight was straightforward: over decades, many business processes had accumulated layers of inefficiency, held together by workarounds rather than thoughtful design. Sometimes you just can't fix a broken process. You have to start over.
Today's process reengineering efforts tap into technology like AI-driven automation, robotic process automation (RPA), and cloud computing to completely reimagine workflows. Organizations typically turn to BPR when they need dramatic improvements in cycle time, cost reduction, or customer experience, not just minor gains here and there.
Key Characteristics of Process Reengineering
- Radical Redesign: BPR doesn't settle for tweaking what exists. It challenges the basic assumptions about why work happens a certain way and creates entirely new approaches.
- End-to-End Focus: Instead of optimizing isolated tasks, process reengineering examines complete workflows from beginning to end. This often means consolidating work that had been spread across multiple departments.
- Outcome Orientation: The emphasis shifts from activities to results. What does the customer actually need? Build everything around that.
- Technology Integration: Most modern BPR initiatives weave automation, AI, and digital tools into the redesigned process from the start.
- Organizational Change: Reengineering typically demands restructuring roles, teams, and responsibilities. Process changes rarely stick if people keep working the old way, which is why process documentation becomes essential.
Process Reengineering Examples
Example 1: Insurance Claims Processing
One large insurance company found itself taking 30 days to process claims through a convoluted workflow with constant handoffs between departments. After reengineering the process, they formed integrated case teams that handled claims from start to finish, cut redundant approvals, and brought in automated document processing. Claims now get processed in 3 days, a 90% reduction in cycle time.
Example 2: Order Fulfillment Transformation
A manufacturer's order-to-delivery process touched 12 different departments and dragged on for 6 weeks. Through BPR, they rebuilt the process around a single order management team with real decision-making authority, connected their systems to get rid of manual data entry, and automated inventory allocation. Orders now ship in 5 days, and customer satisfaction jumped 40%.
Process Reengineering vs Process Improvement
These two approaches tackle process problems in fundamentally different ways. Knowing when to use each matters.
| Aspect | Process Reengineering | Process Improvement |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Radical transformation for breakthrough results | Incremental optimization for steady gains |
| Scope | Entire process redesigned from scratch | Specific bottlenecks or inefficiencies addressed |
| When to use | Process is fundamentally broken or outdated | Process works but needs refinement |
| Risk level | Higher, requires significant investment and change | Lower, builds on existing foundations |
| Timeline | Longer implementation, faster results | Quicker to implement, gradual results |
How Glitter AI Helps with Process Reengineering
Documentation can make or break a process reengineering project. Before you can redesign anything, you need to understand exactly how the current process works. Glitter AI helps teams quickly capture existing workflows through visual documentation, making it easier to spot redundancies, unnecessary handoffs, and steps that add no real value.
When it comes time to roll out the new process, Glitter proves just as useful. Redesigned workflows only work if people actually follow them. With Glitter's screen recording and step-by-step guide features, you can build training materials quickly so teams can learn the new process without documentation becoming its own bottleneck. The result supports workflow automation and smoother adoption.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is process reengineering?
Process reengineering means radically redesigning business processes to achieve major performance improvements. Rather than making small adjustments, BPR rethinks processes from the ground up to cut inefficiencies and change how work actually gets done.
What is an example of business process reengineering?
A typical example is an insurance company that redesigned claims processing from a 30-day multi-department workflow into a 3-day process handled by integrated case teams, using automated document processing and fewer approval layers.
What does BPR stand for?
BPR stands for Business Process Reengineering. It refers to the management practice of fundamentally redesigning core business processes to achieve breakthrough improvements in productivity, quality, and customer satisfaction.
What is the difference between process improvement and process reengineering?
Process improvement makes incremental adjustments to existing workflows, while process reengineering redesigns processes completely from scratch. Improvement carries less risk and moves faster; reengineering takes more effort but can deliver transformative results.
When should a company use process reengineering?
BPR makes sense when processes are fundamentally broken, seriously outdated, or when incremental improvements have stopped delivering results. It also fits during major technology shifts or when competitors significantly outperform you.
What are the key steps in business process reengineering?
The main steps include selecting which processes to redesign, mapping the current state, analyzing root causes of inefficiency, designing the new process from scratch, implementing changes with solid change management, and measuring outcomes against goals.
Why do process reengineering projects fail?
Common pitfalls include weak executive sponsorship, poor change management, focusing too much on technology while neglecting people and process issues, letting scope expand unchecked, and failing to document and train employees on new ways of working.
How does process reengineering relate to digital transformation?
Process reengineering often sits at the heart of digital transformation. BPR provides the methodology for redesigning processes, while digital transformation supplies the technology, things like automation, AI, and cloud computing, that make new processes feasible.
What industries benefit most from process reengineering?
Industries dealing with complex, paper-heavy, or highly manual processes tend to see the biggest gains. Healthcare, insurance, financial services, manufacturing, and government agencies often carry legacy processes with substantial inefficiencies.
How long does a business process reengineering project take?
Most BPR projects run 6 to 18 months depending on scope and complexity. Design typically takes 2-4 months, while implementation and change management consume most of the remaining time as organizations work to ensure adoption.
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