What is Business Process Management and why is it important to you?

It's confusing

A number of technology disciplines concerned with the improved management of business processes have been around for some time now. Areas such as Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), supplier enablement, process modelling, middleware…the list goes ever more confusingly on. In the past, however, it was almost impossible to pull these disparate systems together into a coherent entity primarily because the technology available was too limiting. Furthermore, the concept of automating or optimising business processes was new to many businesses and it was unclear if BPM was a business imperative or merely a description of technology tools.

Recently however, key technologies have evolved in such a way that it is now possible to support the rapid adoption and deployment of BPM solutions. A new breed of platform vendors are consolidating these disciplines into integrated suites known as BPM servers. In addition an industry consensus has taken root: businesses now understand that fundamental changes need to take place at an operational level in order to take full advantage of what BPM has to offer.

But BPM is a complex issue and understanding the subject is made all the more difficult by the melting pot of terminology and acronyms that have been used by analysts, journalists and solution vendors. However, things are changing for the better and so throughout the development of this site our aim is to clarify the situation and de-mystify BPM along with the issues that surround it.

Things are changing

A business imperative

The BPM market is maturing and, as it does, so does the agreed industry definition of BPM and the issues that surround it. The key principle to understand is that BPM is a business imperative not an individual technology – BPM is simply supported and facilitated by technology tools.

Although the term "BPM" is still used by some vendors to describe simply process modelling tools, the broader industry's use of the term has matured. The term "BPM" should not be used to describe solely the definition of business processes – business leaders should have a holistic view of BPM as a broad range of technology tools, business practices and management disciplines. However, implementing BPM within an organisation is completely dependent on technology and so requires business leaders to work hand-in-hand with technology leaders.

In order to deliver on this opportunity, consolidation is taking place across the software vendors who provide integration and middleware solutions: Niche "pure-play" vendors are being acquired by the larger platform vendors who are better positioned to deliver a complete solution or BPM "Suite". Many vendors are striving to build comprehensive BPM solutions, yet few have a cohesive and integrated solution to offer customers today.

So what does this mean for today's businesses?

BPM enabling technology has improved dramatically from niche technology tools to standards-based platforms which have greatly increased the potential for BPM to stretch to more parts of the business.

So how do businesses select the best possible BPM opportunities when there are so many options open to them? The answer can be found by interrogating business imperatives, identifying the best opportunities and assessing how BPM might help: