BPM makes more cents to local market

Experts focused on the global rate of successful business process management (BPM) and related enterprise architecture, are in agreement and complimentary over the progress made by the domestic market as a whole.

On completion of the South African Annual BPM Conference '09, held recently in Johannesburg and Cape Town, specialists said despite having to face the realities of a worldwide economic slump, the local business community continues to demonstrate a higher level of maturity and leadership in the application of BPM.

“What we have found, in our attendance of various global process events, is that South African customers compare very well (to international counterparts). In fact, there are certain areas where they demonstrate leadership in applying a full life cycle approach - from strategy definition, analysis and design, implementation and to measure performances,” said Dawie Jacobs, Managing Director, Collaborative Process Integration (CPI) South Africa.

IDS Scheer is an established and internationally recognised provider of BPM software and is also respected in the global industry for its ongoing contribution to industry.

The company hosted the conference, together with its South African partner CPI. Besides CPI as a premium value added reseller of the acclaimed ARIS range of BPM product and components, companies like Software AG, USU, triVector and Southpaw solutions sponsored the event.

Jacobs, and other senior executive representatives from IDS Scheer AG, including Dr Helge Hess, Senior Vice-President ARIS Product & Solution Management, and Boris Sobocan, Country Manager South Africa, IDS Scheer, believes the local market is in a very powerful position to extract maximum benefit from BPM in the advancement of business.

“I think that it is developing more and more, especially in these tough times. I think companies understand that it is not a cost, but an investment. At the end of each project, you will see the return on your investment,” said Sobocan. “In the past, people would spend on infrastructure, the purchase of new computers or networks to try and solve the problems, for example. But this is not the case anymore. One has to understand the business first and then invest in the right information technology. Spend is seen more along the lines of an investment than a cost.”

A view shared by Jacobs. “From a BPM perspective, companies now understand that one of the few business strategies that can ultimately save money is in the definition of their processes in the most efficient way in order to improve business performance.”

Effective balancing of the books and technology application aside, another important idea to emerge from the conference was the notion that in terms of hands-on, day-to-day business process management and infrastructure use, South African decision-makers do understand the nitty-gritty of BPM and its role in commerce and trade.

“Process management is connected with services-orientated architecture and the general idea is still the same - you have to understand your key processes and you have to understand your objectives and you have to continue optimisation of the processes,” explains Dr Hess.

But, what is the value of process management in practice?

To illustrate, IDS Scheer representatives point to a procedure implemented by the company called ARIS Value Engineering, which begins with an understanding of key success factors of a customer's business.

While process management in relation to specific business requirements is open to interpretation, the crux of the matter is that it is important to see a link between the overall business objectives and the process of the customers.

Experts concur that success in BPM application is achieved when objectives defined in the beginning of the process are realised at the end of the BPM initiative by way of evaluating business process performance management.

“We like to use a maturity model for process management. This means an organisation can find itself involved in five different phases, the first of which is described as an opportunistic approach where you just want to pick the low hanging fruits, and there is a specific project or initiative that is connected with process management. So, at the end of that maturity model you have a clear picture of your organisation, where your objectives are reflected with KPIs,” Dr Hess continues.

“You have established a measurement process and you are able to monitor your processes. It depends where you want to be - which, essentially, means phase five. The question is: 'What is a relevant phase for you?' Of course, we say the first phase is not sufficient as it is purely an opportunistic approach, so it will not help you to optimise your business in the long-term,” he adds.

A key point raised is that this combination is fundamental to the alignment of IT investment with definition of objectives. Ultimately, it leads to a more effective, streamlined connection between technology and business.

Going forward the prediction is that while economic conditions will continue to prove to be a challenge to the further establishment of BPM in business, the outlook is positive due to the prevalence and adoption of leading technology and higher levels of innovation.

“I think currently one of the biggest challenges is the current economic environment from a cost perspective. If I look at business user requirements and the business people that we work with, there's a huge recruitment and need for enabling solutions like ARIS. Although the business user is seeing the short-term value, I think the real long-term value and return on investment is derived where companies adopt an integrated business process management approach, implement it and be able to measure their process performances,” says Jacobs.