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(An IDC whitepaper authored by analyst Dennis Byron outlines the benefits of freestanding BPM and straight-through processing. Key excerpts from this analysis appear below.)
Access the complete whitepaper |
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Enterprises want choices. They want choices when it comes to parts suppliers,
transport providers, and professional services organizations. They want options when
it comes to hiring and contracting out. They want back-ups to their back-ups to make
sure they can meet their goals. |
So, not surprisingly, when it comes to business process management (BPM) software, they want choice. They want their BPM product to provide choice at least two ways: freestanding from other packaged software offerings and loosely coupled relative to the technology stack.
These users tend to be larger enterprises with complex service and/or product lineups, often in services industries. If you are in the group that wants or needs your BPM software freestanding and loosely coupled but the BPM product is not a suite, you might get more choice than you can support. You will need to choose your own rules engine, modeler, integration server, business intelligence software, event processor, and so forth, and make sure they all work together.
In studying BPM market issues, one of the key things to look for are typical expectations of both end-user line organizations and the IT operations groups that have to make those expectations happen. |
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IDC research indicates that the following are the most urgent changes that IT departments feel they have to make in their enterprises:
- Real-time or near real-time monitoring of business processes
- Integrated access of information and data
- Better-connected processes
- Better collaboration
When studying BPM market issues, we feel it is important to look at the typical
expectations of end-user line organization as well. Other IDC demand-side research indicates that the following are end users' major expectations:
- Applications that better fit business processes
- Improved access to relevant information and data
- Better systems for communications and collaboration
In other words, when combining IT's priorities with end-user demands, BPM moves to
the top of most enterprises' lists. When combining IT priorities with enduser demands, BPM moves to the top of most enterprises' lists. In studying BPM market issues, one of
the key things to look for are typical expectations of both end-user line organizations and the IT operations groups that have to make those expectations happen.
How Are Enterprises Buying BPM?
Given that everyone in an enterprise is "buying into" BPM, how are they "buying
BPM"? They have different, potentially conflicting choices. They can buy it
"freestanding," or built into packaged applications, databases, or operating software.
They can also buy BPM features a la carte via a series of point products or as an
integrated suite. IDC finds that:
- About 33% choose to buy underlying BPM technology freestanding. Another third buy this technology bundled into packaged applications, databases or operating software (and the final third do not use application deployment software at all for BPM or any other purpose)
- Of those choosing freestanding, the split between preference for "point products"
and "middleware suites" is 50:50, literally and statistically.
Additionally, we find:
- Most users find themselves choosing between the two BPM extremes (i.e.,
getting their BPM out of the box in an ERP system at one extreme, or totally
building their own BPM solution) and go with freestanding BPM software that is
pre-integrated into a BPM suite.
- Freestanding BPM software is better if your process flows change constantly,
and are such that you need to be independent of any particular OS or database
or other parts of the technology stack.
- Being independent and freestanding is especially important where the business process set is constantly changing because it involves as much activity outside the enterprise—with customers and suppliers—as it does within.
- It makes sense to deploy a BPM suite even if you only have a "point product"
BPM need initially because the suite approach simplifies subsequent upgrading.
These findings illustrate the two big questions users will want to ask themselves
before they even begin to talk to BPM software suppliers: freestanding or bundled,
point product or suite. And the findings illustrate, given the fairly even split among
users even of different size (refer back to Table 2), that it all depends.
We believe:
- It depends at a conscious level on how the BPM software is going to be used.
- It depends, on a possibly subconscious level, how the user feels about the
coupling of his or her BPM solution to the IT infrastructure stack.
The second part of this decision process basically asks, "Do I want to let a systems or
software vendor own me?" It results from answering a series of supporting questions
before you even talk to a software supplier, not the least of which is: "If not tightly
coupled to the IT infrastructure stack, what operating software, architecture, and
database relationships are available with the BPM software under discussion?" The
answers are meaningful to both line-of-business and technical staff. From both sides
of an organization, the answers can lead to both cultural inhibitors to instituting BPM
(e.g., if the IT shop is J2EE-centric but the desired BPM product only runs on
Windows) and to unimpressive return on investment (ROI) calculations and other
unexpected or undesired results.
To help answer these questions it is often best to get a firm handle on what the
enterprise or organization will be doing with the BPM solution. This does not (always)
paint an enterprise in a corner but can help it get past some of the easiest decisions
faster, meaning the IT staff and line management can spend more time thinking
through the hard decisions. |
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