The best business process management (BPM) tools to level up your workflows

BPM Tools

Business process management (BPM) is one of the most difficult tasks a manager can face. You may be wondering how to effectively design, model, execute, monitor, and optimize business processes that will reap more benefits than the current ones?

No matter your background and what process you need to change, you can be sure that business process management is a demanding commitment. Even though adopting BPM tools cannot guarantee success, not using appropriate BPM software is almost a guarantee of failure.

Therefore, we will support your BPM endeavor by introducing you to the best available business process management tools.

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What is a business process management tool and how does it work?

Business process management (BPM) tools are software solutions that help you design, model, execute, monitor, and optimize business processes, supporting you as a manager in all steps of business process management.

BPM processes typically fall into one of three categories:

  • Integration-centric: Business process management integrates software solutions throughout the entire organization. 
  • Human-centric: Processes focused on human-related workflows. 
  • Document-centric: Organizing physical and digital assets.
What Is Business Process Management

Business process management makes sense in the following areas:

Process optimization

No matter how efficient your current process is, there are always ways to improve it. You may want to reduce the time it takes to produce a certain asset or wish to reduce overall costs. Approaches such as process automation or process standardization can help you optimize current business processes.

Process automation

Business process automation is one of the most effective ways to increase efficiency. Instead of manually repeating a process over and over again, just let your business process management software do the work.

Process standardization

Process standardization involves establishing the best business process management practices. Instead of doing repeat processes randomly, establishing fixed steps will save time and reduce costs while minimizing failure rates. 

Process optimization, automation, and standardization are highly interrelated and cannot always be separated.

What is an example of an effective BPM? With the help of chatbots such as atSpoke, Handshake can answer internal requests through artificial intelligence, allowing its IT department more time to focus on important matters at hand instead of serving numerous internal requests.

handshake business process management
Source: atSpoke

Important features of business process tools 

How does a BPM tool work? Business process management (BPM) tools come in many forms so you can choose the tool that offers the most valuable features for your specific needs. 

Some of the most commonly adopted BPM software features include:

  • Drag-and-drop design solution: Most BPM tools offer intuitive solutions, such as drag-and-drop design tools that allow you to easily set up and visualize all workflows.
  • Business process modeling: How should your new process be structured? Make sure to use business process management tools to visualize your new plan.
  • Integrations: Most BPM tools have numerous integration options so you can rest assured that they will fit into your current ecosystem.
  • Role-based access control: Depending on your level of data security, you might consider role-based access controls to prevent data leakage.

Whether you require advanced reporting and analytics, workflow management software, content marketing tools, or online proofing tools, the right business process management platform will combine all the important BPM tools required for your business processes. 

Benefits of using a BPM tool

The question remains, why should YOU use a business process management system to optimize your business processes? In the following section, we summarize the most common benefits of using a business process management software:

benefits of using a BPM tool

Time savings

Regardless of whether you need to design a new product or to serve current customer requests, time is a scarce resource in all aspects of a business. The right BPM tools help you automate processes and free up resources.

Reduced costs

If your team can handle tasks more efficiently, you will automatically save costs. Use as many automation business process management tools as possible to reap maximum benefits.

Higher quality and more consistent output

If you want to offer higher quality and consistency throughout your company’s outputs, business process management software and workflow management tools are the solutions.

Fewer failure rates 

Through automated and standardized processes, your failure rate will decrease, adding to the bottom line of your business.

All businesses can profit from the multitude of benefits that the right BPM tools offer. In the following section, we review the best business process management tools that can help you save time and costs while increasing the quality of your outputs. 

30 business process tools you should check out 

What is the best BPM tool? The following business process management platforms cover a wide range of purposes. Here, we give you an overview of 30 of the most commonly used systems. 

Filestage for review and approval of digital assets

filestage bpm for review and approval of digital assets

Filestage is an online proofing software and one of the most powerful BPM tools for streamlining your content approval process. Filestage offers a centralized platform that enables users to share files with team members and external stakeholders, to leave and discuss feedback in real-time, and approve digital assets in minutes. 

Filestage has multiple automation features to reduce time spent on document business processes, free up internal resources and improve team collaboration. By streamlining your content review and approval process, you will increase the quality and consistency of all digital content. 

Therefore, Filestage is the perfect tool, not only for the marketing and design teams but for all departments that regularly produce digital assets.

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Aeneis for universal BPM solutions

Aeneis for universal BPM solutions

Aeneis from Intellior AG offers a universal business process management solution that is highly customizable for different organizations and user scenarios. 

Whether you need to improve your process modeling, your document management, compliance management, or the way your IT department works, the modular structure of Aeneis helps you to customize improvements. With this business process management software, you can start small and only pay for the modules that you use.

You can contact Aeneis’ customer service for a demo version and pricing information.

Adonis for all BPM stages

Adonis for all BPM stages

Regardless of whether you need to design, model, execute, monitor, or optimize your business processes, ADONIS has you covered. Its process modeling assistant gives you the right BPM tools for quick and easy business process modeling notation,while the analytic business process management tool simplifies the execution and monitoring phases. 

Additionally, you can use graphical BPM tools, dashboards, and simulation mechanisms to detail your plans. ADONIS fits perfectly into your current ecosystem due to its rich integration and migration possibilities and works for organizations of all sizes.

The ADONIS business process management Suite is a completely free bpm solution.

Appian for low-code BPM automation

Appian for low-code BPM automation

Many people think that deploying business processes requires a strong IT department to navigate all of the necessary changes. With Appian, you can streamline and automate complex business processes without in-depth coding knowledge. 

A solution that combines low-code and customizable automation options is not common; Appian is one of the few business process management tools that balance these needs and was therefore awarded in both categories. Appian offers customized solutions for a wide range of industries.

Contact Appian’s customer service team for a free trial and pricing information.

Asana for enhanced collaboration

Asana for enhanced collaboration

The organization is one of the biggest hurdles for efficient collaboration; it is not always clear who should do what, when, and why. The more cogs are in the wheel, the more complicated the entire process becomes. With Asana, you can structure your teamwork more efficient.

Thanks to Asana’s customizable lists, your teams can stay up-to-date on all tasks, as well as easily view the prioritization and deadline for each project. Task management is simplified when all team members are in the loop and do not need to be briefed individually.

Individuals and small teams can start using this business process management software for free, while larger organizations can choose between different pricing models.

Bizagi for intelligent process automation

Bizagi for intelligent process automation

Since 1989, Bizagi has supported companies as they digitally transform business processes. Bizagi helps to optimize and automate a company’s business processes to save time and money. The software can help a wide range of companies achieve their goals, including the financial sector, manufacturing, healthcare, education, and many more. 

Bizagi offers a modular approach to business process management. While its modeler helps you create and optimize workflow diagrams, the Studio program allows users to design, automate and transform processes with minimal coding required.

Contact Bizagi to find out more about its performance-based pricing model.

BIC Process Design for BPM analysis

BIC Process Design for BPM analysis

With BIC Process Design, you gain the necessary business process management tools to create and implement successful business processes. The integrated tools are not only useful but also easy to use, making the bundle even more attractive. 

BIC Process Design delivers a full overview of operations and which areas need further improvement. Through the BPM tool, you can make easy changes in each and every workflow directly. Additionally, with BIC Process Design’s analytical tools, you will have all the tools necessary to restructure your operations.

You can contact BIC Process Design’s sales team to get a free demo as well as pricing information.

Bitrix24 for efficient collaboration

Bitrix24 for efficient collaboration

Bitrix24 offers project and task management, process management, and project collaboration to help your organization stay connected. No matter if you are in the marketing or HR department, or whether you serve as a project manager or customer service agent, with Bitrix24, you can organize your team members in different projects and workgroups. 

Bitrix24 offers cloud-based service solutions for small teams as well as on-premise solutions for corporations. The software includes a wide range of tools for collaboration, project management, CRM, and website purposes.

The basic version of Bitrix24 is free, while special plans start at $19 per month.

Bpanda for easy BPM planning

Bpanda for easy BPM planning

Bpanda is your companion when it comes to planning and visualizing BPM processes. Its intuitive interface offers an overview of the entire process landscape, allowing you to find and improve weak spots. 

Even if you have never used business process management software before, Bpanda can work for you. You can create intuitive flowcharts that allow you to perfectly communicate your vision across teams and enterprises. Moreover, the collaboration and workflow management features help you unlock your team’s full potential.

Contact the sales department to get pricing information for Bpanda.

FlowWright for business process automation

FlowWright

FlowWright utilizes graphical workflow representations and employs business intelligence metrics to deliver a solid product. Even though FlowWright is one of the most intuitive automation tools available, it features a multitude of technical customization options. For instance, this BPM software can be used as a cloud-based solution, on-premise, or as a .Net hosted environment with AWS and Azure. 

Additionally, FlowWright’s toolkit can be used entirely from a web browser and be accessed from any device, without the need for plug-ins. FlowWright can also be integrated into both internal and external systems.

The Starter offer is available at $14 per user per month with 100 users minimum. 

IBM BPM-Software for cloud-based BPM

IBM BPM-Software for cloud-based BPM

IBM Business Process Manager on Cloud is a cloud-based subscription service that helps you automate and manage all of your processes. This BPM software provides a full lifecycle business process management environment that enables you to plan, develop and test new processes with low start-up costs and fast ROIs. 

The service consists of useful features, including design tools, appealing interfaces, and safety precautions such as disaster recovery. As one of the most successful companies on the market, IBM is a strong partner that offers customized BPM solutions to perfectly cater to your requirements.

Contact IBM sales for a free trial and pricing information.

iGrafx for robotic process automation (RPA)

iGrafx for robotic process automation (RPA)

iGrafx is a powerful business process management platform that supports robotic process automation (RPA) and workflow automation. RPA is more than a buzzword; it is an intelligent way to emulate human interaction with a computer through the use of bots. The bots use the same interface a human would. 

This makes iGrafx extremely efficient, as bots do the redundant work, producing automated workflows and reducing human errors and overall costs. Moreover, this business process management software can be integrated into your current system without the need to invest in new infrastructure.  

Different iGrafx tools can be bought separately. iGrafx® FlowCharter® starts at $692.

Inubit BPM for all BPM stages

Inubit BPM for all BPM stages

The Inubit BPM suite is a BPM software developed by Virtimo that assists in all BPM stages. Whether you need to design, model, execute, monitor, or optimize your processes, Inubit offers plenty of tools to streamline your business processes. Additionally, its interface options can be easily integrated into virtually all environments. 

Since Inubit BPM runs on a network of multiple computers, it offers a high number of features. Furthermore, Inubit is scalable through a multitude of add-ons that offer best-practice solutions for a wide range of applications.

Contact the Virtimo sales and marketing team to get prices and demo this BPM software.

Integrify for automated business transformations

Integrify for automated business transformations

In 2021, more workers will work from home, making workflow automation even more necessary. Integrify offers a cloud-based workflow automation solution that caters to a wide range of application possibilities.

The goal of Integrify is to automate as many business processes as possible so that you can free up internal resources on a large scale. In addition to low-code and intuitive tools that you can use from the get-go, Integrify also offers a huge number of customization options. 

Integrify offers flexible subscription-based pricing models; options and contact details can be found on its website.

Kissflow for a digital workplace

Kissflow for a digital workplace

Kissflow brings your company into the 21st century by offering a digital workplace. Regardless of whether you work on project or task management, Kissflows delivers a single BPM platform, with which you can optimize, manage and track all of your work. 

This software is a smart combination of low-code process and project management tools and offers enough customization options without requiring in-depth coding knowledge. Kissflow consists of a variety of single tools that can assist various departments and organizations – such as HR, procurement, and even educational institutions – to digitize all of their processes.

The Kissflow Digital Workplace is available at $390 per month.

Monday for customized BPM

Monday for customized BPM

Monday offers specific BPM tools that provide custom-made solutions for a wide range of industries. The tools are specifically designed for project management, marketing resource management, CRM and sales, remote work, software development, creative tasks, construction, IT, and HR. 

Monday’s project management tool allows you to work on campaigns, organize tasks and measure the outcomes in a single interface. Repetitive work can be reduced through the automation platform. Furthermore, Monday gives you plenty of customization options.

The Basic bundle starts at $24 per month.

Nintex for process standardization

Nintex for process standardization

NIntex helps your IT department bring digitization to the next level. With the Nintex Workflow Cloud, you can standardize and digitize your forms and workflows as well as automate business processes. Nintex is one of the industry leaders in BPM and has helped big players such as Amazon to increase its ROI by 800% through eight million optimized workflows. 

Nintex can also help your company to easily transform manual, paper-based, and repetitive work into digital forms and workflows.

Nintex Workflow starts at $875 for ten workflows.

Orchestly for standard operating and business procedures

Orchestly for standard operating and business procedures

If your organization has a lot of routine business workflows or standard operating procedures (SOPs), Orchestly might be your first choice when it comes to automating, managing, and optimizing these routine workflows.

Whether you are looking for a powerful content approval platform, you need to streamline your onboarding procedures or you want to make your purchasing requests more efficient, Orchestly is an outstanding choice. An award-winning BPM platform, it can be used by multiple departments to make your entire organization more profitable.

In addition to a free version, the business version is available at $7 per user per month.  

Prime BPM for business users and process experts

Prime BPM for business users and process experts

With the Prime BPM suite, you can perform business process mapping, analyze, improve and monitor all of your business processes. Business users can make day-to-day activities much more efficient while process experts will have all the tools at hand to further optimize processes. For instance, you can create libraries from scratch or use best-practice libraries as a starting point. 

This BPM platform helps you monitor all of your processes and identify the most critical pain points in real-time. From big tasks such as change management to smaller projects such as improved customer service, Prime BPM has the solutions.

For product and price inquiries, you can contact Prime BPM’s customer service. 

ProcessMaker for low-code digital process orchestration

ProcessMaker for low-code digital process orchestration

With ProcessMaker, you do not need to rely on the IT department to manage your processes. ProcessMaker offers powerful yet intuitive tools to build meaningful processes thanks to its low-code BPM platform and campaign management tools. 

Its process automation helps eliminate manual tasks, data silos and bottlenecks that can threaten entire projects. The interface is easy to use due to its drag-and-drop functions and crystal clear visibility. ProcessMaker can help your company become paperless in 2021.

The standard version of ProcessMaker is available at $1,495 per month.

Process Street for simple workflows

ProcessStreet for simple workflows

With the Process Street workflow software, you can create procedural documents in seconds – thanks to its intuitive keyboard shortcuts, drag-and-drop features, and simple interface. You can easily create workflows, run processes and then share them with all stakeholders involved. 

Enhance your workflows with conditional logic, which adapts according to the changing circumstances facing your team. Moreover, you can also streamline the approval process and integrate over 1,000 of the most commonly used apps, so that you can be sure that Process Street integrates well with your current ecosystem.

The basic package is available at $12.50 per user per month.

Signavio for easy business transformation

Signavio for easy business transformation

Signavio is a powerful platform and BPM suite that supports you in transforming all of your processes with the right tools. Its Business Transformation Suite will lead you through the entire restructuring process and even warn you in real time if problems should occur. This all-in-one platform is highly customizable and incorporates a variety of useful tools that help you optimize process documentation, automation, or analysis.

Get in touch with Signavio to discuss your organization’s needs and to receive a quotation and the demo version.

SmartProcess for process management, workflows and quality management

SmartProcess for process management, workflows and quality management

Everyone working in business process management knows that managing stakeholders is paramount. With SmartProcess by CWA, you will have one of the best BPM platforms that helps you visualize and communicate your new workflows. SmartProcess allows you to easily model processes, manage documents, and establish an approval workflow. 

No matter if you need workflow software for complaint management, audit or real-time risk management, SmartProcess provides BPM tools for multiple applications.

Get a demo for free by contacting CWA about the price of SmartProcess.

Sensus for advanced network technology

Sensus for advanced network technology

While most of the software solutions in our list are multi-purpose BPM tools, Sensus is much more specialized. Sensus offers solutions for smart cities to build up physical and digital networks. 

With the help of Sensus’ technologies such as FlexNet®, Sensus RF, and other technologies such as ZigBee, you’ll be able to both provide and receive timely and accurate information from your network. Sensus is more than just a cloud-service BPM tool provider, it offers the right hardware and BPM software to create an actual, physical network.

Get in touch with the Sensus’ customer support department to discuss a customized solution that’s right for you.

Symbio for digital transformation

Symbio for digital transformation

Symbio is a globally operating business process management service provider that specializes in digital transformation. It offers a wide range of turnkey BPM software solutions that help your company save money and time by streamlining processes. 

This BPM software provider is mainly focused on industries such as the automotive, banking, finance, insurance, high-tech, travel, and hospitality industries as well as media and entertainment. Symbio’s experts help you develop a customized solution and work with you so you can make the most of it.

Contact Symbio to get more information about the pricing structure and service solutions.

Tallyfy for simplified process improvement

Tallyfy for simplified process improvement

According to Tallyfy, a process must be simple in order to be scalable. The process needs to not only sound good on paper but actually be actionable and evolvable over time. Therefore, Tallyfy offers a simple way to document, run and improve all of your business processes. 

With Tallyfy, you can create reusable blueprints, launch unique processes and track all of the results. Tallyfy works for a wide range of departments, including marketing, customer support, finance, HR, R&D, IT, sales, operations and many more.

The Tallyfy basic model is available at $12.50 per member per month.

TACTIC for process and project management

TACTIC for process and project management

TACTIC by Southpaw Technology offers multiple BPM tools for a wide range of purposes. The integrated workflow engine allows you to downstream tasks automatically. With the built-in Workflow Editor, you can customize your workflows in granular detail by including automation, approval, and conditional steps. Additionally, all workflow reports are located on a single dashboard, giving you a bird’s-eye-view of your processes. 

Furthermore, this business process management software includes asset management software solutions to store and track your files, as one of only a few BPM software tools to do so.

Contact Southpaw to get a quote and further information on

Wrike for tailored business processes

Wrike for tailored business processes

Wrike offers a modern and highly customizable BPM tool that suits the needs of most organizations. Wrike does not regard an organization’s departments as individual silos but promotes cross-functional solutions through shared tasks, folders, and projects that help departments collaborate on repetitive tasks. 

Wrike also offers excellent document collaboration tools that can benefit your entire company. Additionally, Wrike provides tailored solutions specific to each department’s needs, so that your marketing, design, operational, and IT teams can achieve their full potential. This BPM tool not only helps standardize processes but also makes individual projects successful.

While there is a free subscription plan available, the professional suit starts at $9.80 per month per user.

WorkflowGen for process-driven, low-code solutions

WorkflowGen for process-driven, low-code solutions

WorkflowGen offers a single low-code platform to manage all of your digital processes – the perfect solution if you want to further streamline your integration-centric BPM. WorkflowGen has many integration possibilities and easily interacts with Office 365 and G Suite’s collaboration tools. 

Thanks to WorkflowGen’s GraphQL API, webhooks, and Node.js integrations, you have a variety of customization possibilities for your processes. With WorkflowGen, you are able to automate the maximum number of processes in order to save time and money while simultaneously freeing up valuable resources.

Get in touch with WorkflowGen to receive a quote.

Zoho Creator for digital BPM solutions

Zoho Creator for digital BPM solutions

Zoho helps businesses create a digital work environment with its intuitive low-code platform. Zoho Creator offers a platform to help your business become digital, regardless of your own requirements or even your level of coding expertise. 

From simple call logs to highly complex ERP systems, Zoho is highly customizable and fully in line with your current processes. Moreover, this business process management software offers a versatile ecosystem composed of easy process builders and code editors as well as pre-built templates – everything in one affordable package.

Zoho Basic is available at $10 per user per month.

How to choose the right BPM tool for your business

After reviewing the many business process management (BPM) tools available today, you might feel even more confused. How can you be sure which BPM tool will transform your processes? In this section, we provide several questions to consider that will help you choose the perfect BPM tool to improve your processes.

Before you invest in a new BPM tool, you must first identify and analyze the process or processes most in need of improvement. 

We divide the BPM phases into the following stages:

What are the 5 steps in the BPM process

Design – Model – Execute – Monitor – Optimize

During the design stage, you might ask yourself which processes most need improvement, while the business process modeling stage requires all of your creativity to devise new solutions. Both of these stages are essential in choosing the right BPM tool.

Questions to consider during these stages include:

  • Which weaknesses should the tool address? Which processes should be improved?
  • Which functions must the tool have, and which are optional?
  • How many people use the tool – both now and in the future? 

As a workable result of the model stage, you should create a comparison list of your favorite tools and then evaluate and test them in the execution phase. 

The execution phase will put your plan into action so that you can evaluate whether your previously established top two or three tools will achieve the needed benefits.

Obviously, in order to know that your new processes are better than the old ones, you will need to monitor the outcome and compare the results and Key Performance Indicators. If a tool brings the needed benefits, you can start standardizing the process into your real-life business applications.

Finally, during the optimization phase, you restart the entire process again to search for continuous improvements.

In case you want to dive deeper into choosing the right BMP tool and how to integrate business process improvement (BPI) methods into BPM and more, feel free to check out this guide by Jotform.

Conclusion

As we have seen, finding the right business process management (BPM) software can yield a lot of benefits.

You do not need to turn your entire business upside down to achieve success; it is not unusual to start small and find tangible areas to improve. Your team, which is busy working on day-to-day tasks, is the best source of inspiration when it comes to process modeling and continuous improvement.

We hope we have given you some valuable insights as to how to use business process management tools to better streamline your workflows, increase productivity, free up internal resources, and, in the end, positively impact your bottom line.