Killer app: an application that dominates competition, or becomes industry-standard; a highly acclaimed successful and popular computer application; tech talk for the eternal search for the next big idea. These are some of the definitions you can find on the Web for a phrase often bandied about by the IT community.
800 and e-mail
The toll-free 800-number began as a way for citizens to suggest inflation-fighting ideas as part of US President Gerald Ford`s Whip Inflation Now programme. However, the reversed billing idea ended up revolutionising how companies provide customer service, how people shop, and even created a major source of new business for resource-poor countries like Ireland.
E-mail, a basic tool created by scientists, has redefined the way and the speed with which people communicate.
These are examples of killer apps: new goods or services that revolutionise society, and wipe competitors off the map. Look at the effects of other killer apps such as the steam engine, the cotton gin, the compass, eyeglasses, and Ford`s Model T.
Enter BPM
In today`s digital age, killer apps are appearing faster and with greater frequency than ever before, transforming the way we do business. At the same time, the need to alter the way IT and business units relate to one another has never been clearer. And that`s where the concept of business process management (BPM) comes in. BPM refers to aligning processes with an organisation`s strategic goals, designing and implementing process architectures, establishing process measurement systems that align with organisational goals. BPM should allow full transparency of business processes for them to become auditable and visible for internal and external participants, making them compliant with many existing pieces of legislation.
The Aberdeen Group offers the following definition: BPM is about the reality that business processes are complex, dynamic and intertwined throughout an organisation - and, beyond the firewall, to its partners and customers. To effectively automate and manage cross-functional processes requires a new approach and supporting tools that reflect this reality - BPM is that approach.
From a purely technological perspective, BPM is not that new.
Victoria Vaksman, MD, Tilos Business Solutions
BPM allows processes to be modelled and then dynamically maintained as business requirements are refined or modified, in relation to changing user and business needs. BPM is a change management and system implementation methodology that aids the continuous comprehension and management of business processes that interact with people and systems, within and across organisations. It involves improving operations across the entire enterprise based on an understanding of the methodologies and requirements of every facet of the organisation.
From a purely technological perspective, BPM is not that new. Rather it is a convergence of a number of existing technologies and approaches, with its primary roots in the process management capabilities of workflow tools. However, it also includes capabilities that derive from process modelling, application integration, process monitoring, rapid application development tools and analytical systems, that allow the analysis of not only data but processes as well. More than just a sum of these parts, BPM brings together all these technology elements into a single platform that manages the lifecycle of a process from definition, through deployment, execution, measurement, change and redeployment.
Most importantly, it involves a fundamental adjustment of how people think about the way businesses are run, and IT systems, applications and infrastructure are structured. This is because BPM promotes a "process-centric" view of business where the management of end-to-end processes is separated from the underlying applications, their connections and data. This independent process layer provides a complete view of all the activities necessary to execute a particular business process and it can manage the flow of these activities whether they involve different applications and people, or a combination of both. It therefore complements existing and future investments in applications, content repositories and data integration tools.
The benefits to business are vast and varied, but the promises of consistent quality, cost reduction and increased productivity have the potential to impact business in a manner that befits a "killer app". Already the US economy is feeling the effects of process-based business which is enabling organisations to do more with fewer staff, and with the backing of superior customer service.
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