Enterprises should implement business process platforms
to adapt to the rapid changes in business, rather than buying and
implementing an entirely new software infrastructure, said analyst
Gartner.
As enterprises emphasise business processes, they need to
establish a business process platform, specific to their needs, to
enable business process creation, deployment and monitoring using
service-enabled applications.
In a Gartner survey of more than 1,300 chief financial officers
respondents identified business process improvements as the number
one business priority in 2005.
Pressure for greater profitability, faster innovation and growth
requires enterprises to be more agile. That means doing things
better, not just cheaper and faster. These pressures force a move
towards business process improvement and integration, said
Gartner.
Gartner said technologies such as service-oriented architecture
(SOA) and service-oriented development of applications (SODA) have
advanced to the point where IT organisations can see flexibility in
building sustainable orchestration into business processes without
affecting stable business processes.
In a similar way, the whole set of application software within a
business needs to become a flexible platform that supports the
ongoing evolution of business processes. Gartner refers to this
platform as the “business process platform”.
Technology providers are now addressing the issue. Suppliers
such as SAP and Microsoft have recently announced business process
platforms with the goal of making IT more adaptive to change.
“This level of flexibility does not have to come at the expense
of moving to a completely new business application solution. It can
come through using legacy environments through the use of
service-oriented architecture,” said Gartner analyst Yvonne
Genovese.
“A business process platform encompasses these applications, a
business service repository to be used for content, and an
integrated composition platform of tools to enable
composition.
"Users must make choices on how to source the business process
platform, but, ultimately, it will be specific to the needs of the
enterprise," she said.