The way forward for
Business Process Management (BPM) involves better alignment
between what the technology vendors think is required, and what the
end users are actually looking to do with their solutions according
to a new report published by Butler Group
The market analyst believes that for business professionals
across the globe the core value of BPM remains as a solution for
building links and integration bridges between various IT
application systems.
In the report, ‘Business Process Management – Building
End-to-end Process Solutions for the Agile Business’, Butler says
that BPM is often brought in to a business to solve a particular
problem or provide facilities in a part of the business operation
where there is currently a technology gap or integration
shortfall.
This approach leaves the value-to-business model for BPM being
driven by the technology’s ability to allow business professionals
– process owners and business analysts – to
develop operational
processes that accurately reflect their business
requirements.
However, according to Andrew Kellett, Butler Group Senior
Research Analyst and co-author of the study, before there is an
opportunity to get carried away with the benefits package that
modern BPM appears to provide, he comments: “There is an underlying
requirement to deal with some of the baggage that comes with
today’s mainstream BPM products. For example, there remain serious
divisions between what the vendors see as the most important
components within their all-inclusive offerings, and the basic
function-driven approaches to BPM – application development,
modelling, and integration services – that business users say drive
their basic requirements of the technology.
“Furthermore, as the divide between the vendor and business user
view of the key elements of BPM appears to be widening, it is
interesting to find that many of the latest features which the
vendors genuinely feel add value to their product offerings are
viewed by the end-user community as little more than lightweight
bells-and-whistles.”
Butler concludes by saying that ownership and the business
knowledge of processes must remain with the users. In Butler
Group’s opinion, the way forward for BPM involves getting a better
alignment between what the technology vendors think is required,
and what the end users are actually looking to do with their BPM
solutions.