For more than 30 years, Business Enterprise Mapping (BEM) has partnered with over 300 organizations across 60 industries on six continents to map 25,000 business processes and uncover more than 750,000 improvement opportunities. These initiatives have helped clients rethink how they create value, solve problems, and manage work—by focusing on one powerful truth: those who do the work are best equipped to improve it.
At the heart of BEM’s success lies a uniquely powerful methodology: the Perigon® Method. Designed and refined over decades of hands-on experience, Perigon is more than a set of tools—it's a systematic approach to process mapping that develops ownership, accountability, and lasting organizational improvement.
Why Perigon® Is Different
While many organizations struggle with disconnected workflows, siloed departments, and poorly understood customer value, the Perigon Method addresses these challenges through an integrated and empowering approach.
Perigon is built around four key components:
1. Perigon Delivery
A highly structured implementation methodology that engages employees through guided workshops to define and improve their business systems and processes. Each session delivers tangible outcomes that align with enterprise goals.
2. Perigon Playbook
This dynamic, three-dimensional process manual documents everything needed to own, operate, and continuously improve a process. It includes workflows, data, knowledge, and detailed task instructions—an operational guidebook tailored to the enterprise.
3. Perigon Instruction
Delivered through hands-on, interactive workshops, Perigon Instruction equips teams with the knowledge and skills to apply the methodology themselves. The process culminates in Perigon Certification, empowering clients to become self-sufficient improvement specialists.
4. Perigon Tools
A comprehensive suite of templates, stencils, matrices, icons, and best practices enables consistent, high-quality process mapping and analysis. These tools support deep organizational insight and sustainable performance gains.
The Power of the Perigon® Method
The real strength of Perigon lies in the outcomes it drives. It doesn’t just help companies document how work is done—it transforms how work gets done.
Perigon empowers organizations to:
- Establish consistent, effective, and aligned business systems.
- Engage employees in process ownership and improvement.
- Rapidly identify, prioritize, and implement high-value improvements.
- Integrate customer requirements into operational execution.
- Develop and monitor meaningful performance metrics.
- Drive sustainable change through cross-functional collaboration.
The result? Tangible improvements in productivity, customer satisfaction, cost efficiency, and strategic alignment—along with a more agile, responsive enterprise.
A Method for Improvement Professionals
Perigon is ideal for professionals looking to elevate their process improvement capabilities. Unlike traditional mapping tools like swim lanes, which only offer a limited view of workflows, the Perigon Method offers a holistic, systems-based approach.
The Process Mapping for Process Improvement course is a five-day online training program that teaches the Perigon method and provides participants with the skills to:
- Define and map business systems and processes in real time.
- Engage stakeholders to capture and improve their own workflows.
- Understand customer value and process benchmarks.
- Identify hidden inefficiencies and performance gaps.
- Sustainably improve business performance and deliver ROI.
Certified Perigon Practitioners emerge from the course as high-value contributors with a unique and strategic view of their organization. They bring:
- Expert facilitation and problem-solving skills.
- Broad understanding of organizational operations and weak points.
- Knowledge of improvement priorities and performance metrics.
- Cross-functional insight and peer credibility.
- A powerful ability to visualize and act on the big picture.
Eight Ways Perigon Delivers Greater Value
Perigon doesn’t just produce better maps—it produces real, measurable business benefits. Here are eight ways it transforms organizational performance:
1. Improved Employee Loyalty
By directly involving employees in process improvement, Perigon creates ownership and engagement. This bottom-up involvement drives long-term employee satisfaction and loyalty.
2. Greater Customer Loyalty
Understanding customer wants and embedding those requirements into processes ensures consistent delivery of high-value solutions—building long-term competitive advantage.
3. Stronger Business Partner Loyalty
As outsourcing becomes more common, aligning internal processes with those of key suppliers enhances collaboration and strengthens strategic partnerships.
4. Revenue Growth
Perigon improves the processes that lead to customer acquisition, retention, and upselling. Whether through new customer segments or better service delivery, refined processes boost top-line results.
5. Expense Reduction
Inefficiencies in materials, labor, overhead, and support services are exposed and eliminated through process analysis—reducing operating costs across the board.
6. Lower Asset Costs
Organizations that fail to optimize their processes often overinvest in equipment, systems, or technology to compensate. Perigon helps get more value out of existing assets.
7. Reduced Working Capital
Improved process reliability and tighter supplier-customer alignment reduces inventory needs and enhances cash flow through more predictable operations.
8. Reduced Enterprise Risk
The Perigon Playbook provides detailed documentation that strengthens operational control, supports compliance, and ensures continuity in the face of disruption.
Conclusion: A Smarter Way to Improve
At its core, the Perigon Method is about unlocking human potential. By giving employees the tools and authority to improve their work, organizations gain not only better processes, but stronger cultures and smarter operations. Perigon turns process mapping into a strategic capability—one that empowers teams, aligns systems, and delivers results that matter.
Whether you’re an improvement professional seeking a better methodology or an organization looking for more effective ways to transform how work gets done, Perigon is a powerful catalyst for performance, innovation, and growth.