Legacy business process management (BPM) is all about streamlining business processes for maximum efficiency and value, looking at how processes are operating, identifying areas for improvement, and building solutions while making sure the infrastructure of the business processes is solid.
Robotic process automation (RPA) - which has been around for at least two decades - is all about operating processes as a human would and, by automating more routine tasks, freeing employees to do more creative, value-delivering tasks.
Now the two are increasingly being brought together to deliver unprecedented automation throughout the organisation. So, for example, companies like Pega, which earned its stripes in the BPM and CRM arenas, is now positioning itself as a major RPA player.
The move towards the meshing of the technologies was underlined recently with two separate announcements. First off the mark was IBM, which has joined forces with RPA-specialist company Automation Anywhere to deliver a new set of capabilities to IBM's portfolio of digital process automation software.
A few days later, Appian, a global provider of low-code application development and BPM software, announced it was extending its partnership with Blue Prism by adding Blue Prism's RPA capabilities to its platform.
"Appian and Blue Prism are leaders in their respective markets, and this alliance brings our customers the best of both worlds. We've aligned the products and companies well, and implemented successfully together at major client locations," said Appian CEO Matt Calkins.
According to Calkins, the new product offering, Appian RPA with Blue Prism, brings together low-code application development, BPM, and robotic workforce software for the first time as an offering from a single vendor. "This gives organisations a one-stop-shop for all their enterprise automation needs, especially those that require the highest levels of auditing, security and scalability," he said.
IBM and Automation Anywhere's new joint solution, which is scheduled for release in the third quarter of 2017, will enable organisations to use Automation Anywhere's RPA platform that handles repetitive, task-based business processes, to create software bots to execute tasks within the larger, complex business processes managed by IBM's software.
IBM says this collaboration is intended to help companies drive new efficiencies by delivering solutions that assist employees with routine, data-intensive tasks. This will make it easier to improve processes across enterprises and free employees to focus on more creative aspects of their jobs.
IBM believes the new offering will be particularly relevant in industries such as banking, financial services, insurance and healthcare, where employees routinely have to manually complete tasks within business processes.
"The ability to smartly process and manage data is fast becoming a competitive advantage," said Denis Kennelly, general manager of IBM Hybrid Cloud solutions. "The combination of the Automation Anywhere and IBM process management platforms provides a powerful new way for companies to streamline business processes so employees can spend less time filling out forms and more time working with customers."
Mihir Shukla, CEO and co-founder of Automation Anywhere, said the integration of the IBM and Automation Anywhere technologies will help companies better manage almost any part of a business process with speed, efficiency and reliability, and enable them to become true digital enterprises.
"It takes business process management to a new level," Shukla concluded.
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