It is interesting. We are still at a place where the acronym BPM doesn't necessarily mean something to everyone even in IT and much less on the business side. This is not that unlike where CRM was in 2000.
I joined a company (Firepond) which was in the CRM space in January 2000. We took the company public (pre-bubble), tried to take on Siebel, and ended up having to restructure to keep the core business. But, when I left in mid-2001, I remember having CRM on my resume and getting asked what that meant and having to explain what we did compared to Epiphany or Siebel or other applications. Now, I can just say CRM to almost any business or IT person, and they know instantly what I am talking about.
I perceive us to be at a similar place with BPM. The software vendors have consolidated a little bit - from hundreds to dozens. The big players (IBM, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft) have all started to focus on the space. The EAI players (or others like Filenet) with strong install bases have developed solutions. Companies are starting to have VPs of BPM and post jobs that include business process management in the title. Additionally, you start to see lots of vertical or geographic consulting groups come up to focus on BPM.
Over the next few years, we will likely continue down a similar path to CRM:
- More and more companies will adopt BPM as it moves from tactical to strategic and from early adopters to the average company
- BPM will move to become a key component of outsourcing
- BPM will be offered as a managed service (SaaS) along with as a traditional application
- Value propositions will grow and companies will use BPM to drive transformation
- Process architects will be a core role
- Companies will wrap BPM solutions around their existing ERP implementations
- Standards will become normal
- Training and certifications will become normal
- Vendor consolidation will happen
I could go on, but the point that I wanted to make here is that this is a great time to be part of this movement. You aren't on the bleeding edge. Companies and technology have proven themselves. People have worked through the sticky parts of how this works with Six Sigma and how to use it.
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