Is it possible that the famous words - "Plus ca change, plus c'est la m^eme chose" (the more things change, the more they stay the same) - penned by the 19th century French novelist/philosopher/epigramist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in his journal Les Gu^epes could apply to technology - any technology - today?
It's a sentiment many might have when it comes to modern business process management, says Fred Churchville, associate editor the online community, SearchSOA.com's e-publication, Embrace Intelligence in Your BPM.
"Some vendors may suggest that intelligent BPM is a radical approach to managing business processes while independent analysts insist that this is simply the natural evolution of BPM," he adds, and maintains that while the capabilities of BPM technologies may change, there are certain tenants of BPM and managing business rules that always stay the same.
As a result, companies that seek to embrace all the latest and greatest BPM trends may be doing their enterprise significant disservice.
"No matter who is right, it appears that one thing remains consistent: the BPM technologies you choose to purchase and business rules you implement should always be a decision based on business needs, not on a desire to have the latest and greatest technology," Churchville says.
The e-handbook examines the debate around BPM vs. intelligent BPM, attempting to nail down the differences, and determine exactly where iBPM technologies should - or shouldn't - be utilised by businesses.
BPM experts appear to agree that the line of demarcation between BPM and iBPM is fuzzy. Clay Richardson, a principal analyst at Forrester Research, views the two terms interchangeably, arguing that while there may be new use cases, like mobile or doing BPM in the cloud, and vendors may have added a few new capabilities and analytics functionality, there are certain tenants of BPM and managing business rules that simply don't change.
BPM guru and founder of the Boston-based Holly Group consultancy, Steve Weissman, concurs, stating that whether or not you choose to stick an "i" onto your BPM, consistency is critical in the establishment of business rules.
Weissman maintains that the decision between iBPM and BPM should not be an either/or decision, but rather one that determines what the best use case is for each. Organisations, he says, should not feel pressured to chase after iBPM if resources don't allow for it.
"It all comes back to what problem you're trying to solve," he adds, and warns against trying to define the business problem in terms of the technology.
Churchville agrees, emphasising that technology purchases should be based on needs. "Learning to first assess business needs will be the best guidance to process management and rules," he says. "So before jumping onto the BPM trends bandwagon, be sure to prioritise your business requirement needs."
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