Business process reengineering refers to the process of assessing and making changes to existing work processes and procedures to make them more efficient or to otherwise improve them. Often this involves taking advantage of new technology to simplify or streamline workflows.
The process is not an easy task since it may require changes to longstanding practices by employees who are reluctant to make them. It is contrasted with business process management and improvement, which involve working with existing processes, which do not make the fundamental changes that reengineering requires.
In fact the process can be time consuming, risky and expensive to undertake and requires buy-in from management and all stakeholders to be successful. When done effectively, however, it can reduce costs and make employees work both easier and more efficient and make significant improvements to the bottom line profit of a company.