For vendors, BPM is a value add-on to ERP packages, but business needs more FOR GARTNER, this is "the" year for BPM. We are told enterprises that aggressively pursue BPM this year will double their chances of becoming industry leaders by 2010. "Organisations that begin their transformation for BPM during ... 2007 will be rewarded by industry dominance in 2010," it said in a November 2006 BPM prediction for the current year.

Convergence is also a major theme. "Having a process architecture and aligning BPM initiatives with service-orientated architecture (SOA) initiatives are key activities to undertake in 2007."

This is largely the local view, too. Interviews conducted in support of this feature generally supported Gartner`s views: BPM is the way of the future and it will converge with SOA and enterprise architecture (EA) going forward.

There was some caution that BPM could cost the unwary money without providing a return on investment. "It is possible to spend a great deal of money on BPM without any tangible benefit," says Business Connexion`s Rodney Hood. "It is difficult to quantify the benefits of BPM since many are intangible. However, the issues and costs that will be encountered in the event of interruption or failure of critical business processes, will abundantly clarify the necessity for effective BPM," Hood adds.

VIRGIN TERRITORY

It is clear that it`s still early days for BPM in South Africa. John Olsson, marketing director at Ability Solutions, says that "companies not pushing BPM will not notice any real disadvantage in the short term. The large ERP vendors are driving BPM today as a value-add to their software - the applications market is basically saturated and they need something to differentiate themselves from each other. BPM solutions will by default be an integral part of all future ERP applications," Olsson adds.

Gareth Holton, at nVisionIT, says the benefits of effective BPM are undeniable, but "it is highly unlikely that companies that do not have such solutions will fall behind. Whether explicitly defined or not, the business will be perfectly capable of operating effectively if its processes are running smoothly," he says.

TAKE ONE, TWO, SME

This is particularly true of small and medium businesses. "Unless they have particularly complex and numerous business processes, SMEs (small and medium enterprises) are unlikely to benefit from BPM initiatives," says Holton. "That said, a BPM exercise for an SME need not involve technology expertise. It could be a matter of simply mapping processes on a flip chart and identifying any problems," he says. "Process automation in the SME, again unless it has complex or numerous processes, is unlikely to be cost-effective. It is in larger and more complex companies that detailed mapping becomes necessary; it becomes a question of economies of scale."

But Olsson demurs. He says SMEs should view BPM in a positive light. "South Africa has not seen the full economic impact of the AIDS pandemic and as many competent people are removed from the workforce, BPM will provide a crutch and assist newcomers in following existing business processes and reducing mistakes."

IMPLEMENTATION

IT-enabled BPM can be implemented in any number of ways. To Holton the key is ensuring that BPM strategy is dictated by business needs "and not technology availability or choices". Context is king: "The business and its processes needs to be analysed individually in explicit detail while being contextualised as a part of a larger whole. Once this analysis is complete, it is possible to examine processes, identify inefficiency and adjust as necessary," Holton explains.

Hood adds that "it is important to avoid so-called `analysis paralysis` where operations grind to a halt by keeping key people away from their line business by focusing them exhaustively on process analysis." In contrast to Holton, he warns that examining every process and document exchange in minute detail will not deliver value.

For this reason Ravi Maharaj, of the IQ Business Group, advocates starting small. "Find an area in the business that best reflects the intricacies in the organisation, strategic, operational and infrastructural," he advises. "Bring your best people together and focus on finding the best BPM solution for that area. Knowing what won`t work and why is just as important as knowing what works and why. Creating a foundation that considers people, process and system issues and constraints is vital," he adds.

THE ALPHABET SOUP THICKENS

So much for BPM. What about SOA and EA? At its basic level, the SOA allows BPM to be presented in a user-friendly fashion, says Olsson. Holton adds that SOA at its broadest "exposes information for easy access. BPM delivers a consistent way of doing things; it is a question of efficiency and effectiveness".

Holton continues that the visibility BPM brings to business processes lets users rapidly identify and resolve bottlenecks and problems. The introduction of technology-driven processes can also eliminate tedious or repetitive manual processes and duplication. "This isn`t just theoretical, either - it actually works," Holton enthuses. "The advantage of SOA is that it allows for the easier deployment of BPM initiatives given the fact that it makes underlying technology systems (which enable or support processes) more accessible."

Hood adds that SOA provides the underlying services that enable business processes. "Effectively, SOA refers to the structure of the underlying technology systems that support business processes. Prior to the introduction of the concept of technology systems structured as services, it was necessary to hard code (programme) any changes to underlying systems should changes to business processes be made. SOA, therefore, enables companies to benefit from greater flexibility and the ability to respond more rapidly to changing market conditions by being in a position to quickly change business processes as necessary," he explains.

Hood notes that EA is a high-level concept that ensconces the entire technology infrastructure of the organisation, including strategic, operational and technical processes. "In effect, EA will list processes but not define them. As a specialist subset of EA, BPM does define the processes - alignment of BPM with EA is obviously essential," he says.

Olsson adds that EA helps breach the traditional data and applications silos in companies. "BPM makes use of the capabilities of a well-designed EA to have simple access to everything from anywhere - with the appropriate security precautions," he notes.

DIVERSITY IS BEST

Holton says that companies often make use of a diversity of systems to manage processes. "Typically these systems live independently of each other, and where processes (and systems) overlap with regard to functionality, the work is duplicated." Successful BPM leads to solutions that integrate these previously isolated systems, allowing them to communicate and share information with other systems, thus eliminating redundancy of work and streamlining the business process. The result will be the ability to provide the right information at the right time to the right people according to predefined business processes," says Olsson.

There are many companies staking claim to the BPM space, but Olsson identifies SAP, Oracle and Microsoft as the "Big 3". Holton also pegs Microsoft and then adds that local company SourceCode has achieved worldwide success with its K2.Net product, "which allows clients to adjust and change processes without any development expertise. This is a noteworthy achievement, since business processes should be flexible in order to adapt to changing circumstances," he observes.

Gartner cautions that many BPM vendors are small and have only limited resources. It says it is 80% certain no more than 25 of today`s 140 vendors will be around next year, meaning there is a real imperative to choose right.

USER-FRIENDLINESS IS KEY

Looking at the future, Olsson predicts BPM will be made more user-friendly from the operator, manager and designer perspectives. "It will also become much more flexible to allow companies to implement near-real-time changes to their processes when required. Holton adds that markets are volatile - "keeping up with change effectively is impossible without BPM. The future is, therefore, bright for BPM."