Unveiling the Distinction between Supporting Processes and Primary Processes

Let’s dive deeper into the fascinating world of business processes and shed some light on the key differences between supporting processes and primary processes. Understanding this distinction is crucial for optimizing business operations and achieving organizational success. So, let’s embark on this knowledge quest together! 

Supporting Processes

Supporting processes, as the name suggests, serve as the backbone of an organization. They provide crucial support to the primary processes, ensuring the smooth functioning and efficiency of the business as a whole. These processes are not directly involved in generating revenue but play a significant role in facilitating the execution of primary processes.

Supporting processes encompass a wide range of activities and functions that are vital for the day-to-day operations of a business. Examples of supporting processes may include procurement, IT support, human resources, or administrative tasks. These processes are usually designed to streamline and support the primary processes, enabling them to operate seamlessly.

The goal of supporting processes is to optimize resources, enhance productivity, and create a conducive environment for the primary processes to thrive. By efficiently managing these supporting functions, organizations can enhance their overall operational effectiveness, cost-efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

Primary Processes

On the other hand, primary processes are the core activities that directly contribute to the value creation and revenue generation of a business. These processes are at the heart of an organization’s operations, and their successful execution is pivotal to achieving business objectives.

Primary processes are often customer-centric and revolve around delivering products or services to meet the needs and demands of the market. Examples of primary processes can vary significantly depending on the industry and nature of the business. They may include manufacturing, sales, marketing, product development, or customer service, just to name a few.

Unlike supporting processes, primary processes are directly tied to the revenue generation and growth of an organization. They are the focal point of strategic planning, as they directly impact customer satisfaction, market competitiveness, and long-term business sustainability.

Now is contract management a supporting process or a primary process? I find it can be both. It depends on the nature of your organization.

Arjen van Berkum

Arjen van Berkum is a columnist, keynote speaker and motivator, with an eye for business ecosystems, innovation and disruption. In addition to his work as technology and contract management evangelist, he is a visiting lecturer at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft).