BPM in Action

Let’s see, what have I missed lately?

Oracle and BEA: In January, the two companies finally reached agreement on Oracle acquiring BEA. As my Aberdeen Group colleagues wrote, the deal has multiple implications, not the least of which involve the synergies between BEA’s BPM strengths and Oracle’s SOA-related offerings. The BEA AquaLogic platform is basically a mash-up of an SOA platform and BPM tools. Oracle’s SOA solutions and emerging Fusion Middleware should combine well with BEA’s offerings. Now, all we need is a road map for how BEA’s Project Genesis and its focus on “Dynamic Business Applications” links up with Fusion Middleware – and those actual applications Oracle sells these days…

Sun and MySQL: Also in January (busy month), Sun acquired MySQL. As my Aberdeen Group colleagues and I wrote, that deal has some interesting implications for the BPM-related areas of business intelligence (BI) and analytics. That’s because Sun can combine MySQL software with its Open Solaris operating environment, its high-performance hardware, and offerings such as those from partners such as Greenplum. (Sun and Greenplum have already developed a pretty nifty data warehousing/BI appliance.)

What it all means (at least so far): Beyond the specific companies mentioned and their current competitors, these deals are also evidence of the continuing convergence of BPM with BI, analytics, and SOA-related efforts. These are also increasingly affected by the growth in range and functionality of open source technologies such as MySQL, OpenSolaris, and the core of Greenplum’s database management software, PostgreSQL. BPM decision-makers must pay close attention to relevant developments, in the marketplace generally and within their own enterprises. Alignment of these efforts is a sure step towards maximizing the business returns of all of them – and failing to align them almost guarantees frustration.

More soon. Really.

(P.S.: I’m writing a survey-driven Aberdeen Group study on SOA performance. If you’re involved in SOA decisions or initiatives, please take 10-15 minutes to take my survey, and help yourself to some free Aberdeen Group research. Thanks.)