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Capgemini pulls it together for BPM
Monday, March 14, 2011 by Neil Ward-Dutton
Last year, I was doing some research on the current state of support for BPM initiatives within the consulting / systems integration (CSI) community – looking particularly at the larger players (Accenture, Deloitte, Capgemini and so on).
I’d come across a number of cases where BPM projects had turned out to be tougher than they might have been because the incumbent CSI provider had failed to really understand how they could add value. From what I was seeing, many smaller and more specialised local firms were doing great work supporting business’ BPM needs; but the larger players just weren’t “getting it”.
Now things appear to be turning around. Recently Pegasystems launched a major BPM systems integration partner programme, and it’s now working with some of the biggest CSI providers to get their people educated and projects underway. Last week we also got an announcement from Capgemini that they’ve created a specialised global business line around BPM (and partnering with Pega is one of the first things they’ve done).
This is a welcome move. Back when I was doing my CSI research I spoke to a senior contact at Capgemini I’ve known for some time, and I asked him if there was anyone I could speak to to find out about the company’s BPM capability and strategy. To paraphrase, his response was something along the lines of “it depends – do you mean BPM as in custom application development? Or BPM as in packaged application implementation? Or BPM as in process outsourcing? I can introduce you to people in any of these areas. Which bit of BPM are you interested in?”
It was at that point I thought “I’ll leave this for now… and come back later“. Perhaps I should pick the phone up again soon…
What’s your experience with big CSIs and BPM implementations? Do you think it’s a good thing that the big CSI providers are waking up to the opportunity?
Posted in BPM
11 Responses to Capgemini pulls it together for BPM
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Having owned and operated a small (40-person) boutique BPM systems integration firm in the late 1990′s, my perspective might be a bit biased, but I have found that the large SIs and the large vendors’ professional services groups tend sell a much more customized solution than is best for the client. They are incented, of course, to increase their billable hours, and a great way to do that is to completely rewrite the front end of a BPMS instead of exposing it directly to the client (not that I ever see that…much). Unlike boutique firms that don’t have the manpower to put an army on the job and keep them there for years, the large SIs want to be in there for the long haul.
In some cases, having a long-term onsite services partner is good for a client: if they need a highly customized solution that can only be modified by the specialized staff of the SI, or if the SI offers support and maintenance services as well as implementation. However, the current generation of BPMS and ACM systems that are being applied to today’s business processes require much less customization than their predecessors, and their use may be hampered by the conflicting goals of the large SIs.
I think some cultural changes will be required at the large SIs in order to start delivering successful BPM projects.
Thanks very much for the knowledgeable comment (as always) Sandy!
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. In private I’ve had conversations with CSI representatives who admit that their business models for systems integration mean they’re addicted to a “custom app dev gravy train” – and they don’t know how to embrace the models that BPM tools bring to the table.
It’ll be interesting to see how new initiatives develop; it’s something I’m hoping to dig into in the coming months.
Hi Neil:
Do you know if this was backed by Capgemini Holland? These guys as a country unit are very strong in BPM field with close connections with University’s Research and Development. They introduced some interesting new concepts like DEMO, process Mining among others, thus this can be a competitive advantage.
I’m not sure Alberto, but I’ll endeavour to find out! If I find anything I’ll be sure to let you know. Thanks for commenting!
Alberto does bring up a good point – I’ve actually noticed that several companies i’ve worked with have strong offices in Holland (deep talent pool or deep expertise). Maybe something about the software culture there or the consulting culture really works well for thinking deeply on whatever the subject matter is.
I tend to agree with Sandy’s comments. Being from the BPMS product side of the equation, I find that the large SI’s want to be all things to all people. They try to boil down the entire ocean for a cup of chowder. Whereas the smaller firms realize they have limited resources and have to be very focused to be truly successful.
I agree with Sandy. As an owner/operator of a boutique BPM services firm myself, I’m also biased. (Blog post forthcoming). As Sandy points out, SI’s aren’t incented to keep it small, or standard, or in the box. Smaller firms have less conflict over this, in general. But specifically, as a boutique firm, we work hard to engender a culture where we do not make ourselves indispensable – it is our job to turn over the keys to a working car – not to a car that requires a mechanic to tune every day. We fundamentally believe that there will always be a market, a demand, and a need for deep expertise in BPM, and that’s where we intend to be. And more importantly, it isn’t our goal to be a huge company, we’re okay with being a boutique firm.
If you need to staff 500 to 1000 people… how do you get to that deep expertise throughout in less than a year?
Before Lombardi was purchased by IBM, I often saw offshore companies advertise – in writing – that they had 500+ trained consultants on Lombardi. Not just one company mind you, several of them. Maybe it isn’t obvious to the outside world, but when you know exactly how many trainers Lombardi employed, it was precisely impossible for there to be that many trained resources at companies that had only purchased 2 weeks of training in the entire lifetime of their firms.
If you can’t trust a big company to be honest about how many knowledgeable people they have – something pretty mundane – why would you expect them to be honest when it really is against their interest? I think people look past these dishonesties too easily. We should take them seriously and call them on the carpet for it. Let’s just say I, personally, was not surprised when one of them got caught up in accounting fraud.
Capgemini is a good company with a lot of good people. But I wouldn’t count on good press releases and marketing material to make them BPM experts. I still feel like the only firms I’d trust are boutique firms.
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The key confusion in the reactions above is typical. To clarify:
1. As an SI we don’t “sell” BPM as such. We solve business issues, and will use BPM as one of the elements in the mix.
2. We often deal with clients that are international and want to align processes over countries, which requires a powerful SI
3. And although our approach is to enable the client in building up it’s own BPM capabilities, many larger companies like us to help them out on a longer term, which requires more delivery power.
All the above often quite unlike the approach and abilities of BPM niche players. We all have our niche…
Roeland
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