Reengineering for business option value

Abstract

Business process reengineering (BPR) is following a typical maturity cycle as a business fad. Some of the more radical and flashy elements are omitted as the basic principles integrate into common sense and business and engineering school curricula. The ways of evaluating benefits become more precise. This is illustrated by three case studies, in which the benefits are classified into customer perceived value, cost savings and business option value. The latter is not a direct consequence of an implemented reengineering project, but a set of new abilities that an organization must exercise separately as a part of a strategy process. This provides a conceptual link between reengineering and some of its critics arguing for a more proactive approach to value creation. The lasting contribution of the reengineering movement is the insistence on using both technology and organizational change together.