-
blog search
-
most recent posts
post calendar
categories
BPM and business processes get social
Wednesday, July 7, 2010 by Neil Ward-Dutton
Following a significant amount of effort ove rmany months, Angela Ashenden (our Principal Analyst focused on Collaboration) and I have finally finished what I think is a landmark report looking at the phenomena of Social BPM and Social Processes.
In the new MWD Strategic Insights report (which you can find here) we explain in detail how aspects of collaborative and social software can add value to BPM – to what is, at its heart, an inherently collaborative activity – to make BPM more open and inclusive. We also show how collaboration technology is being woven into the operational platforms that come with many BPM toolsets, enabling operating process instances themselves to unfold in more collaborative, dynamic ways (we call these ‘Social Processes’).
Lastly, we look at how many of the capabilities that BPM platforms deliver – for example the ability to audit and monitor activity as it unfolds – are adding value to scenarios where formal processes and BPM platforms aren’t the best fit as the ‘front end’ to be used by workers, where less formal collaboration technologies hold sway.
There’s no doubt in my mind that the historically separate technology stovepipes that grew up around interpersonal collaboration and process management / workflow are merging, and the result is actually very positive for both ‘sides’. We’re seeing organisations take advantage of the blurring of technology boundaries to deliver more concrete results more quickly.
As I said over at CIO UK (As BPM goes mainstream, so the bazaar overtakes the cathedral):
“To me, the biggest value of the former [BPM] philosophy [one which favours openness and inclusivity over formality] over the latter [one which is very structured and scientific] is the way that where the latter approach to process change tends to focus everyone’s minds on the quality of the design of an improvement, the natural outcome of the former philosophy is improved quality of the ultimate outcome – that is, the acceptance of the change or improvement by those people it impacts on a day-to-day basis. A beautifully-designed process improvement is one thing, but if it’s not accepted then you’re screwed. And in knowledge work and service improvement scenarios, where people are the product, acceptance is all.”
Posted in BPM, Collaboration
Pingback: EA, BI and IT Quotes « Adam Deane