I've recently traded introductory e-mail pleasantries with Dennis Byron, author of the new ebizQ "Open Source Software in Integration" blog. Dennis is also the leading light behind IT Investment Research, watchers of the top 12 IT vendors, their partners, and the trends that affect them. I'm already a big fan, primarily because of Dennis' opinions about open source software and the FUD ("fear, uncertainty, and doubt") that plagues its supporters and benefits its detractors.
Anyway, electronically meeting Dennis got me thinking about BPM as an investment. Not in terms of buying stocks in BPM companies. That kind of investment analysis is not my strong suit, as a look at my investment choices before, say, 2000 would tell almost anyone. I mean viewing BPM as an investment in your business.
At both the highest strategic levels and at the deepest levels of granularity, business processes literally run the business. Whether that happens consciously and with the fully informed and engaged participation of all actors in the value chain is a separate set of issues. Whether formal, documented, and enforced or not, there are processes running every business.
Given that, anything that can improve control of those processes and their alignment with declared business goals and requirements is not only a good thing, but an investment in the success of the business. An investment that I would argue is more critical than almost any other, since just about every other business investment is itself driven by some set of processes that also needs management.
This means that before you start investigating specific BPM solutions, you need to get every decision-maker at your enterprise aligned with the idea that business processes are in fact critical resources that deserve effective management. This effort will itself benefit from the support of sound, proven processes – but that support is by no means essential. What is essential, however, is that someone who fervently believes in the business value of BPM must lead a sustained marketing and sales effort, if not an actual "charm offensive." Nothing less will get and keep all other critical stakeholders and influencers committed to the cause.
In addition, anything like meaningful ROI estimates for investments in BPM concepts and processes can only help persuasion efforts. Fortunately, lots of opinions and resources can be found right here at the BPM section of ebizQ, starting with the musings and observations of my fellow BPM-focused bloggers Kiran Garimella, Keith Harrison-Broninski, Sandy Kemsley, Joe McKendrick, and James Taylor. (If you haven't yet, you should definitely check out the recent roundtable podcast that included all of us opining about BPM in 2007 and beyond. You should also check out the article by ebizQ analyst David A. Kelly that instigated the whole thing.) Equally fortunately, there are also useful white papers and analyst reports to be found at ebizQ. Candidate and incumbent BPM vendors should be willing and able to support these efforts as well.
BPM is an investment for any enterprise, long before any money is shelled out for any particular solution. Understanding the criticality of that investment, and committing to it the personal and corporate resources necessary for its success, are challenges too many IT and business decision-makers underestimate. So make sure you and your colleagues don't – and let me know how that's working for you and your enterprise, to paraphrase Dr. Phil…
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.
