Barbara Gengler | April 08, 2008
BUSINESS Process Management expenditure will buck the slowing trend in most categories of technology spending, analysts say.
One report says BPM has achieved mainstream status in the corporate world, because the software helps businesses run more efficiently.Forrester Research's study: The EA View: BPM Has Become Mainstream, says BPM is taking off because "it has become clear to a growing number of organisations that one of the best ways to improve operational performance is through the enhancement of cross-functional business processes".
Ken Vollmer, Forrester analyst and author of the report, says whether a company wants to integrate processes, co-ordinate human tasks or improve document processing, there are comprehensive BPM suites that address each of these requirements.
For example, integration-centric BPM suites are a good choice for integration-intensive process improvements efforts, while human-centric BPM suites are better for controlling the flow of work between individuals.
The study of more than 400 European and North American technology decision makers reports 60 per cent of companies already use BPM software and another 19 per cent plan to do so within 12 months.
According to Forrester, these adoption rates even surpass the usage of, and interest in, service-oriented architecture.
Forrester asked respondents to identify the software vendors they were using for BPM projects.
IBM came in as the most widely used BPM vendor (75), followed by Microsoft (70), Oracle (56), SAP (45) and Sun Microsystems (33). BEA Systems and EMC followed at 28.
BPM benefits included increased productivity of process workers (24 per cent); the ability to provide real-time visibility into key processes (18 per cent); and the ability to change processes quickly and easily (15 per cent).
Surprisingly, process optimisation came in near the bottom of the list, indicating a focus on real, pragmatic results (such as increased productivity) over more general goals (process optimisation).
Forrester's report also mentions BPM centres of excellence, which are playing a vital role in setting the level of enterprise satisfaction with these efforts.
Forrester calls the centres of excellence the "secret sauce" on the strength of dramatic evidence that they contribute to higher levels of BPM success.
The firm defines a centre of excellence as a "formally appointed and documented body of knowledge and experience on a particular subject area with the goals of providing expertise, managing governance practices and supporting projects associated with the subject area".
"Specifically 67 per cent of the enterprises that report their BPM efforts significantly exceeded their goals have a BPM centre of excellence," the report states.
"While only 14 per cent of the enterprises that report no BPM project success have a BPM centre of excellence."
The study indicates progress with BPM efforts across the board, but points out that large firms have more resources and are leading the way with production uses.
Among large firms (with $US1 billion-plus revenue), improvements in process cycle times and customer satisfaction are tied as the leading measures of success, each cited by 57 per cent of respondents.
Other measures of BPM success include increases in process volumes (48 per cent) and improvements in compliance (45 per cent).
A second study, in October 2007, finds that more than 85 per cent are either actively planning for BPM deployments or already have one or more BPM efforts under way.
Forrester says both studies confirm that BPM adoption has already become a mainstream activity in most enterprises and they validate the use of BPM software suites to improve the effectiveness of key processes.