I wrote recently that business process management (BPM) is a value proposition, not a technology. I will discuss that perspective more on June 18 in a webinar that is part of the ebizQ Process Management virtual conference; the conference runs all day June 18 and I speak at Noon ET (subsequently available for replay).
I used IBM Flowmark as an extreme example of how users continue to deploy and maintain legacy software to manage workflow and processes and do not necessarily use just software with BPM in the name and announced this decade to do BPM. That usage and commitment of maintenance dollars by you is just as much a part of the BPM market as any new license dollar to the extent a 'free market' is a decision to do x instead of y. The announcement on June 17 that Adobe will build in the Alfresco open source content management software is another reminder of how users really interact with suppliers in a free market (as well as an example of the growing trend by the established supplier community to embrace the open source development model).
Here’s the PR explanation of what Adobe and Alfresco do together:
“Adobe LiveCycle ES is an integrated family of software for automating processes that help businesses and governments more effectively engage with customers, citizens, partners, and suppliers. Alfresco uses the innovation of open source to provide a highly scalable enterprise-class content management system. Through the addition of Alfresco’s content management technologies to Adobe LiveCycle ES, customers can rapidly develop and deploy content-rich engagement applications that blend data capture, information assurance, document output, process management and content services.”
Uncharacteristically I agree with the PR hype if you take out a few of the adverbs and adjectives. Classic Adobe content/document collaboration capabilities plus the LiveCycle "process functionality" built under Adobe’s foundation software make it a Top 20 BPM provider along with companies like AT&T/Sterling, BMC/Remedy, EMC/Documentum, Fujitsu, Vignette and others not typically thought of as on a BPM software supplier list.
As for the Alfresco connection, it was the Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0 connection and the open source development model that steered Adobe toward the London-based company about which we have written frequently under the ebizQ OSS tab. Adobe, like Microsoft one of the last holdouts for a proprietary development model, is moving rapidly to embrace open source. Note that under the OSS terms and conditions relevant to this deal, this does not mean LiveCycle is being open sourced. The trend is that open source is rapildy becoming just the way software is built because now Adobe has access to the rapid development iteration that happens with products like Alfresco. Adobe's decision is not a philosophical or legal/political statement; it is just good business and a reason you should look at open source development if you are not already doing so.
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.
