Tag Archives: bpm

Effektif BPM, Blueworks Live and the Right Context

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I’ve been interested in Effektif BPM since its launch earlier this year.

Scott Francis and Bruce Silver’s view that the tool was like the process automation bits of BlueworksLive made me more interested. BPM Tools quite often need access to data, integration or documents. Migrating all these things to the cloud can a barrier to adoption in many businesses. The idea of a lightweight process engine focused on organising humans and creating visibility seems to me like a natural slice of functionality to take into the cloud.

It’s Uncanny

I have yet to see the tool but, if the screenshots from this presentation are anything to go by, the resemblance between Effektif and the process automation pieces of Blueworks is uncanny.

Here’s a screenshot from the presentation and below it a process application that I made as a demo to a client this afternoon. Judge for yourself:

Effektif BPM Business Travel Screenshot

Blueworks Live Business Travel Screenshot

But Context is King

Bruce Silvers hopes that Effektif might bring increased focus and success to the story:

This looks to me a bit like the automation piece of IBM’s Blueworks Live – the part you don’t hear that much about – but obviously Effektif has a greater incentive than IBM does to expand its capabilities into the BPM/case mainstream.

via Scott Francis on the BP-3 Blog

But, I think that Effektif will more successful than IBM in getting traction with this collection of features for a different reason.

IBM embedded these capabilities in BlueworkLive which is essentially a process discovery tool. It’s used by process improvement teams and business analysts. Obviously, the process automation features need everyone in the organization or at least the value stream to be users of the tool. Most people didn’t buy Blueworks with this use-case in mind. They licensed it to only their six sigma black belts to provide them with the best tools available.

IBM put these features into the wrong tool.

In IBM BPM, these features would have been a powerful set of capabilities to deal with ad-hoc processes. In BlueworksLive, they are still a powerful set of capabilities but trapped in a process analysis context where they can not prosper.

People buying Effektif are looking for a BPM solution in the cloud. They are looking to empower their business users. So, hopefully, Effektif will provide a better context for the process automation features of BlueworksLive than Blueworks itself has done.

It will be interesting to see what the future brings.

Notes from Impact 2013 :: Smarter Process and the Confused Story of Case Management and BPM

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As part of newly announced ‘Smarter Process’ initiative, IBM recast quite a bit of their BPM market positioning at Impact last week. Probably the most problematic part of the IBM BPM technology story has been the relationship between their various BPM products.

Two years ago when IBM merged Websphere Process Server and their newly acquired Lombardi Teamworks product into the IBM BPM product, I think most people expected a similar rationalisation of IBM BPM and Filenet-based Case Manager in near future.

Smarter Process perhaps begins to take us closer to a technology vision which coherently emcompasses both IBM’s BPM story and their case management story. But, really there were three different aspects of this story at the conference and it might be worth considering them separately.

The High-Level View

The marketecture for the first-time explicitly included Process Management, Business Rules and case management as first-class and co-equal capabilities in the Smarter Process portfolio. Here is the slide that was used on the main stage and in almost every BPM session at the conference:

Smarter Process Marketecture

Rules, Process and Case — ODM, BPM and Case Manager — Right across the middle of the slide.

This message was well-received if not well-understood. Here’s Sandy Kemsley’s take on it:

The Case Manager stuff went by pretty quickly, and wasn’t included in my pre-conference briefing last week, but I think that it’s significant that we’re (finally) seeing the FileNet-based Case Manager here at Impact and on the same marketecture chart as BPM and ODM. I’m looking forward to hearing more about the level of integration that they’re going to achieve, and whether the products actually combine.

via Sandy Kemsley

It’s interesting that the Case Manager materials were not included in the pre-conference analyst briefing a week before the main conference. That’s probably indicative of how quickly IBM’s thinking is evolving in this space.

Detailed View

Starting last year at Impact with IBM BPM 8.0 and culminating in this year’s 8.5 release, IBM has been investing making it easier to include documents into your BPM processes.

IBM has included and iteratively improved a CMIS Connector to allow documents to manipulated in a content repository from BPM. With new 8.5 release, this connector will be tested against Filenet, Sharepoint and Alfresco but is likely to work with any repository that supports the CMIS standard. There is also functionality to trigger process activity based on events in the content repository.

The big news in 8.5 is that they have added a local repository that can store documents against process instances. This is not a full-power ECM but cheap and cheerful way to support some documents in your processes. The cool part is that you develop against the local document store using the same CMIS connector that you would use to develop against an external store. You simply need to migrate the documents and change the endpoint in the connector to scale up to a full-power ECM (like Filenet).

For me, this set of functionality starts to tell a story at the feature level about how IBM can start to get IBM BPM and Case Manager working together. Get started with one product and grow up into the other as your need grows.

Middle View

If the marketecture and low-level features are both starting come together, what about the story in the middle?

Frankly, there is more work to do. While some of the elements are starting to arrive, all the components are not there yet.

But, don’t take my word on it. Here is Bruce Silver’s take:

Case management. Everyone – IBMers included, I think – expected some kind of merging of BPM and case management to be announced. It still didn’t happen; lingering warlord bickering over revenue recognition is the rumor. Unlike last year, none of the BPM analysts had the heart to ask IBM about it publicly. The IBMers seemed just as miserable about it as we were. Grade: Inexcusable

via Bruce Silvers

First Projects and The Power of Complaints

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Last week on his Theo Priestley suggests a great place to start with Case Management (and I would add) BPM implementations — Complaints and Enquiries Processes.

He writes:

Complaints is perhaps one of the best processes to actually tell you from a customer’s perspective what is actually wrong with your organization, not what you think is wrong with it. Whether you like it or not, the customer has their finger on the pulse of your broken processes more than you do. And implementing an automated solution, whether simple workflow or full-blown case tool, will give you that much needed insight and tracking in order to support further process improvement and widen the scope for solution implementation.

via IT Redux

I could not agree more.

In fact, that blog post was published 1 day before I was speaking at the IBM Technical Academy in Athens about Modexe 180.

Modexe 180 is a light-weight case management solution for complaints management built on top of the IBM BPM product set. It’s something that we have been developing at Modexe — based on the work we have been doing with our clients.

I could write more about it but it’s probably easier if you just read about it from the Modexe website or from here.

I’m sure I’ll be writing more about it soon and, if you are interested, I’d love to talk with you about it.

Forrester Wave for BPMS 1Q13 :: Not about technology?!?

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The Forrester Wave for BPMS, 1Q2013 is out today.

And, this blog post will not be about the contents of the report since I’m unwilling to part with $2,495 to read it. If anyone at Forrester wants to get me a copy, I’d be happy to offer my thoughts.

But, Clay Richardson’s accompanying blog post is interesting in its own right.

It’s not the technology …

For me the most interesting passages of Clay’s post are:

Whether you’re looking to enter into BPM from a dynamic case management (DCM) perspective, a human workflow perspective, a smart process perspective, or a straight through processing perspective is really only one piece of the puzzle. The other big piece of the puzzle focuses on building out sustainable practices that continue to deliver real business value and transformational benefits over an extended period of time.

[Later, he continues]

Historically, Forrester has tracked BPM software across three different market segments: document-centric BPM suites, human-centric-BPM suites, and integration-centric BPM suites. However, through market consolidation these three segments are merging into a single BPM suite offering that can cover three different work patterns: dynamic case management (DCM), human workflow, and straight-through processing. Increasingly we see BPM suites moving toward the provision of a single design and development environment that support multiple process patterns and use cases.

via Forrester

This passage and the blog post in general seems to suggest that Forrester is taking the position that implementation is as important and perhaps more important than the technology.

I’ve long thought that It’s not the technology but how you use it that’s important. I’m just glad the analyst community is catching up.

Bonitasoft and Current BPM Market Trends

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Theo Priestley on his ITredux blog published a great interview with BonitaSoft’s Vice President of Marketing, Mac MacConnell. There is lots of interesting elements to the conversation and its worth a read in its entirety.

Here are some highlights …

Where is the business coming from?

At the start of 2013, conversations have begun to shift, especially in Europe and North America. There is an expectation that we will shortly enter a new era of municipal, federal and potentially global regulation. Managers are looking down the road and researching techniques and technology to manage this new environment. “Compliance” and “audit trails” are the buzzwords of the day.

via ITredux

I agree that Compliance is a big driver in the BPM market but I am surprised that he has only seen an uptick in compliance activity in 2013.

This trend started a couple years ago in the UK with the Northern Rock failure and the nationalisation of banks like RBS. Since that time, most of the activity I see in the BPM market is in the Financial Services and Public Sector with Regulation and Compliance as key themes.

I wonder if the difference in timing has to do with the types of organisations that adopt open source software versus IBM BPM (where I work most of the time) ….

How to deploy BPM?

[Businesses] are still approaching BPM as a solution for a specific process or department. Some BPM gurus and BPMS vendors will argue that this is short-sighted.

I disagree. I cringe when I hear about organizations undertaking monolithic BPM initiatives. The best indication of future success is having a process owner (department head) call BonitaSoft, after seeing BPM work well in another department, and say that they would like to share similar progress. BPM works best when people are pulled to it because they see its transformative power, not when it is pushed upon them in a massive undertaking.

via ITredux

What a great point and largely spot-on.

But, the problem with the centralised, enterprise-wide ‘Let’s Platform BPM technology’ approach is more fundamental than lack of evangelists with successful projects behind them. Simply put, it is almost impossible to roll out a global BPM platform and not have the project lead by IT.

After all, they are the guys who platform technology.

So, to make the same point more broadly, a global roll-out of BPM technology by IT is likely to look and feel like any other global technology rollout in your organisation.

I have seen the global rollout approach go well and I have seen it go poorly.

But, this approach doesn’t play to any of the strengths of BPM as a class of technology. Afterall, BPM should be about the business.

Reviewing your Technology :: Do I have the Right Product?

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Over on the BPM and Enterprise Architecture blog, Harald van der Weel has a post discussing how to structure a BPMS vendor assessment.

For me, the most interesting part is the first two line:

Conducting a BPMS selection is logical step before acquiring a new BPM stack.

Re-assessing an earlier choice on periodic basis however is less common.

via the BPM and Enterprise Architecture blog

Having a process problem and, therefore, wanting to conduct a survey of BPMS tools is a classic and easily understood use case.

But, the merit of periodic re-assessments is, for me, a more complicated question.

More Harm than Good

Re-evaluating your technology stack is often considered good IT practice but the chaos of constantly looking to the future can often stop you from making the most of what you have. In some ways, constantly changing your platforms is as destructive to never changing your platform.

A better way to schedule technology reviews is to use business events. There should always be a business driver to force you to look at new alternatives, if not then stay with what you have and build it out. Periodic reviews because its ‘what happens every two years’ are likely to be tedious for business leaders looking for the business value.

Here is a partial list of business events that could drive a re-evaluation:

  1. New or evolving business requirements can not be met by the current system without significant investment
  2. Product Roadmap is moving away from the requirements of the business
  3. Product going out of support

The hard thing about these events is that most of the time they are not concrete, black-or-white situations so judgement is critical.

Technology reasons to trigger a re-assessment should still be couched in the business terms. The technology team should find a way to express the problem in business terms. For example, inflexible and old-fashion APIs is not a good reason but high development and maintenance costs to work around those APIs might be.

Ultimately, your business should drive your technology decisions and speed is of the essence. Technology reviews often feel like ivory tower exercises. They need to feel like part of the solution.

Savvion’s New Home – The Aurea Website

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Just over 4 months have past since Trilogy Enterprises Investment Arm acquired 4 businesses from Progress Software to form a new business, Aurea Software.

The new Aurea website sports a chemistry motif (the science nerd in me likes it) but is otherwise pretty minimalist.

Aurea Savvion Screenshot

Some points:

  • The navigation on the menu is just the 4 products that were purchased from Progress. There is no hint here of a strategy or direction. I don’t think that is surprising. It’s still early days.
  • The site is quite small – around 10 pages. Again, once the direction of the business is set, I would expect more material.
  • The main call to action is to existing customers – To upgrade to platinum support. Selling to the base is standard operating procedure in a buy-out situation. Upselling existing customers to increase cash flow is the right place to start. Innovation and growth are luxuries at this point.

In other words, it’s the website of a business in transition, still waiting to re-emerge.

BPM Market Size – Kofax Version

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Kofax and Forrester research have released some interesting numbers on BPM market size.  Like most vendor sponsored research, its a fairly ego-centric view of the universe.

Apparently, there are three main areas of the BPM market – Multichannel capture, BPM and, most intriguingly, Smart Process Applications – and all are set for a solid growth over the next three years. Obviously, Kofax is the market-leader in all three.

Here are the headlines:

kofax Forrester BPM Market Size

via Kofax

The Capture and BPM segments seem to be more or less what they say on the tin.

BPM is defined as:

The BPM market includes traditional BPM, dynamic case management, and integration centric BPM solutions. Forrester states that it is in a late growth phase and focused where business processes are considered chaotic, broad, and burdened with content. 

via Kofax

So, the BPM line is probably is pretty good proxy for the current BPM and case management markets.

The Vertical Smart Process Application Market

Interestingly, the ‘Vertical SPAs’ market seems to be industry specfic applications that require the flexibility of a BPM solution.  I assume, since Kofax is considered a market leader in the Vertical SPAs, that most of this sector is not new vendors but existing BPM vendors that have industry specific assets or expertise to deliver processes faster.

This interpretation reflects what I see in the market with most BPM vendors trying to sell solutions, not technology, with various degrees of success but capture tends to be an established market with different buying trends and vendors.  A more accurate picture of the competitve marketplace is probably to group BPM and vertical SPAs together and leave Capture as a separate market.

I’m sure that many of the Capture vendors would like to reposition themselves in the BPM and SPA market but in reality few have made the transition.

 

Appian’s 4Q12 Results and Trends that should Matter

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I’m a keen watcher of Appian.

As one of the last pure play BPM vendors and an early innovator, their financial results could be indicative of the bigger trends in the industry. I’ve blogged before my pleasure at their success and my frustration with their lack of transparency.

Their 4Q12 headlines are all pointing in the right direction:

  • Q4 was a record performance and 2012 was a record year
  • Total Q4 orders for 2012 doubled from Q4 orders for 2011 and grew more than 40% over Q3
  • In 2012, Appian achieved record highs in terms of total orders, total revenues, license orders and license revenues
  • 2012 was a year of 98 new customers — 1/3 of which opted for a cloud deployment
  • Opening new offices in Paris, Melbourne and Singapore

All stellar growth, all relative numbers so there is no real way to figure out how well they are actually doing in absolute terms.

Some questions that would interest me:

  • The significant uptick in Cloud deployments is an predictable trend but without knowing the absolute number of customers, its a number without context. It’s not the directionality of this trend but its acceleration that’s interesting.

Are cloud and on-premises licenses a like-for-like comparison. The results make it sound that way but I would have expected smaller average order size on the cloud orders …

  • What does their churn look like? How much of this software is shelfware and how much is supported by successful implementations?

  • How many customers (or even what percentage) are using Appian’s highly-innovative mobile offerings as part of their solution? Or, put differently, how much of the mobile solution is driving thought-leadership but not results?

Opentext BPM Roadmaps

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Connie Moore at Forrester tweet a good chunk of her product briefing with OpenText today.  Some good stuff in there.

OpenText BPM – How’s it going to work?

Cloud and Social – When is it coming to OpenText BPM?

What’s it mean?

Back in February and based on their earning’s call, I guessed that the BPM product roadmap might look like:

  • 2012 will be a year of product development to bring the products together and create a coordinated roadmap
  • The combine BPM product line will be integrated with the rest of the Opentext business in 2013

From these tweets, I’d say that’s still pretty accurate.

I see the announcement that they will enter the social BPM space in Q1 as being the end of the ‘banging the products together’ phase of the roadmap and the point where they are starting to build new features.