When the PC was new, lots and lots of enthusiastic entrepreneurs went out and got computers, and either spreadsheet or "business" software. They then enthusiastically entered every bit of data about their businesses into said software, and generated some fine-looking forms and statements, which they then enthusiastically took to their accountants. Who promptly, and likely with varying levels of enthusiasm, discarded and/or recycled them, explaining to their clients that the time to have a chat was before buying and employing that hardware and software.
When physical records were all companies had to worry about, they often hired librarians to oversee cataloging and archiving of those records. Those librarians often had training and credentials in library science, research and information-storage methodologies, and related fields. In fact, many enterprises still employ such experts, to great and good effect. However, when electronic records began to rise in prominence, many enterprises, even some run by otherwise fairly intelligent people, left the cataloging and archiving methodologies for those electronic records in the hands of…IT people. Who largely ignored the existence of those librarians, or the potential value of what they knew and know. (This is not "archival" knowledge; I recently had a conversation about this very topic with an incredibly knowledgeable librarian at a non-IT high-technology company where you'd think they'd know way better.)
I believe there is a lot of useful BPM-related knowledge hidden in a lot of brains and bodies at a lot of enterprises, knowledge that is not being used to drive, inform, or support BPM efforts adequately, if at all. I believe there are a number of reasons for this, some understandable, but none of them good or completely justifiable. They include and range from simple cluelessness on the part of those who should be most qualified to "connect the dots" and the appropriate people, to political myopia. Sadly, but often understandably, much of the fault lies with technically focused people who don't understand interpersonal politics well enough to assign them their deserved weight in any business decision dynamic. Increasingly, however, significant fault lies with business-focused people who don't understand or want to accept the critical roles IT plays in making their businesses run.
But I'm not here to find fault or assign blame – until or unless someone hires me to do so. Diplomatically, of course. (The G-rated version of my favorite definition of diplomacy is "the ability to tell someone to 'get lost' in such a way that they look forward to the trip.")
Meanwhile, though, those of you trying to pursue or support IT-enabled, human-centric BPM at your enterprises would do well to heed the lessons of past mistakes and IT-business misalignments. Even if you don't think the politics of a situation do or should affect things, consider how illogical it is not to at least explore every potential source of useful, already proven knowledge, policies, or processes. Perhaps fortunately, compliance, governance, and risk are driving more BPM decision-makers to collaborate more closely with human resources, IT, legal, line-of-business, and other personnel, to try to figure out how best to cope with shifting regulations and requirements. These developments won't necessarily make all of these people work well together, but if it gets them all around the same table, it's at least a promising start.
For further reading, I would point you at any of several previous posts in this space, and at the post from Neil Ward-Dutton of Macehiter Ward-Dutton on "Sustainable SOA and 'closed-loop' thinking" in the "Software Infrastructure for Business Value" blog at ebizQ. I also encourage you to comment on this subject, and to write to me and tell me whether your enterprise is leveraging knowledge, or leaving it behind.
Michael Dortch has been an analyst, 'information entrepreneur,' speaker, and writer about IT and 'the real world" for the past 30 years. After almost 10 years at the Robert Frances Group (RFG), Michael begins a new position with Aberdeen Group in September.
Dennis Byron is an analyst with ebizQ, focusing on Open Source Software as well as Business Process Management technologies.
