As reported here at ebizQ, Lombardi, a leading provider of BPM solutions, has forged an alliance with a company called Gordian Transformation Partners. (According to legend, whoever could untie the Gordian Knot would become king of ancient Asia Minor. Alexander the Great, legend continues, when stymied by the failure of traditional knot-untying processes, took a different approach – he cut the knot in half with his sword. A straightforward, if unexpected solution to a knotty problem, and a great metaphor for BPM challenges.)
Under this new alliance, the companies will combine Lombardi's Blueprint collaborative process planning tool and Teamworks BPM suite with Gordian's expertise in process transformation and business performance improvement. Gordian has also joined Lombardi's Certified Partner Program, which provides assistance with honing partner BPM skills and identifying revenue opportunities.
Frankly, I am enthusiastic about this alliance, and expect to see more of them among BPM and BI solution vendors during the next 18 months and beyond. BPM and BI solution vendors tend to have expertise that is more focused on their solutions and horizontal business needs. Specialty consultants such as Gordian, in contrast, tend to have deep, focused, business-centric expertise in one or more specific markets. The combination means that companies focused on specific businesses can work with a knowledgeable partner to craft custom-tailored, finely tuned BPM and BI solutions from proven technological elements.
This is a win for all concerned. The BPM/BI solution vendor doesn't have to become another Accenture or IBM Global Services to compete effectively for business in particular markets, but can partner with "boutique" business experts instead. And such business experts don't have to risk getting drowned out or ignored when seeking to ally with a much larger and more broadly focused technology partner. Users, meanwhile, can acquire integrated, focused combinations of technology and expertise that help get them closer to true BI and business knowledge management (BKM).
The biggest potential obstacle? Expertise can still be relatively expensive to deliver and share, in part because it almost always involves putting people who command high hourly rates in front of other people who command high hourly rates. This may explain why the Lombardi-Gordian alliance seems focused primarily on so-called "Fortune 500" companies.
The next frontier? Figuring out how to combine software as a service (SaaS) with "expertise as a service," then to deliver both using IT instead of planes, trains, and automobiles. This is a hot emerging area with a lot of potentially important themes, variations, and players. I suspect I and my ebizQ blogmates will have more to say about it and related subjects, soon and more and more often. So do stay tuned…
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.
