What's going on with BPM?


News of the acquisition of BPMS vendors Savvion and Lombardi by larger players reminds me of the PDM consolidation that resulted in the new PLM market. Back then it was the end of one era and the beginning of another.

It may be the same ending and beginning for BPM. For a long time many have said that BPM is not a product but a methodology, an approach, for many an ideal. BPMS software attempted to meet the needs of process experts but was, in my opinion, bogged down in the mire of analysts requirements and definitions. Now, the market has an opportunity to redefine itself. I think it will along the following lines.

1. BPM will emerge as a clear methodology like Lean and Quality.

2. Software will be designed to orchestrate work and tools already in use by Lean, Quality, and BPM experts.

3. It will get a new name from analysts desiring to create a new market and sell more reports.

Hopefully this time around the market will actually have software that enables process improvement efforts rather than a tool kit full of the tools lying around. There are too many useful tools in use to consolidate on any particular tool. Instead, software is needed that is tool agnostic and orchestrates processes acting like a sort of data warehouse for process information. Not doubt, it will use a cloud document repository but I wonder if companies will feel comfortable leaving their priceless processes out in the rain.

I think the next year will be interesting.

What is going on in BPM?


News of the acquisition of BPMS vendors Savvion and Lombardi by larger players reminds me of the PDM consolidation that resulted in the new PLM market in the late 1990's. Back then it was the end of one era and the beginning of another.

It may be the same ending and beginning for BPM. For a long time many have said that BPM is not a product but a methodology, an approach, for many an ideal. BPMS software attempted to meet the needs of process experts but was, in my opinion, bogged down in the mire of analysts requirements and definitions. Now, the market has an opportunity to redefine itself. I think it will along the following lines.

1. BPM will emerge as a clear methodology like Lean and Quality.

2. Software will be designed to orchestrate work and tools already in use by Lean, Quality, and BPM experts.

3. It will get a new name from analysts desiring to create a new market and sell more reports.

Hopefully this time around the market will actually have software that enables process improvement efforts rather than a tool kit full of the tools lying around. There are too many useful tools in use to consolidate on any particular tool. Instead, software is needed that is tool agnostic and orchestrates processes acting like a sort of data warehouse for process information. Not doubt, it will use a cloud document repository but I wonder if companies will feel comfortable leaving their priceless processes out in the rain.

I think the next year will be interesting.

Are Things Getting Better?

Its a good question to ask, but extremely hard to answer. I don't know if things are getting better, but I do know that more and more people are considering working for themselves.

Over the past few weeks I have met with several people thinking of starting their own businesses. It is amazing to me that this would be the case, but desparate times calls for desparate measures.

Overall, if people are looking to create new businesses, then that is a good sign. It is also a bad sign. People have lost trust in big companies and are starting to loose confidence in big government.

It is more important than ever to be interested in efficiency. And not just using software to become more efficient, but to evaluate how things are done to reduce double entry and wasted time and effort.

Have you been looking for ways to improve? Need help? Call us.

I saw on the news this morning that a gun store owner sent a thank you letter to President Obama. It seems that since Obama became President, sales of guns has been booming. With each dip in the stock market, customers stream into his store, worried that things will get so bad they may need to protect themselves.

This is a bit disturbing to me. I hope that businesses are not falling prey to panic. I think that those who can hold on, figure out how to survive, we be better after it is all over. Of course, some will not survive.

Whatever happens, I think our world and our country will be changed. It is not the kind of change our country was seeking, but it will have an impact for many years to come.

Regardless, companies will still have to do more with less and be lean mean profit making machines. The question is, Are you looking at your processes for ways you can cut costs and drive profits?

I ask this question because the statistics show that companies are woefully ignorant of their processes, with less than 10 percent of them even written down. As the technology experts argue over whether a process is a process, we waste time that could be better spent figuring out how businesses can do business better.

Things that managers relegate to the cost of doing business column need to be examined to find cost savings. Things cannot stay at the status quo. We all need to be innovative, and not just in new products and services, but how we develop, manufacture, deliver and support those products and services.

We may not want to admit it, but in the cost of doing business column there is a lot of pork. Its time to get lean.

I am watching with great interest what is happening in our government to address the economic crisis. As a business owner I am concerned with credit and with cash flow. It is everyone's problem. I think that answers to our current situation are not partisan, but by nature should be bipartisan.

Like other business owners, I am looking for ways to cut costs and reduce overhead while also being innovative and creating new ways to deliver product and service. We are also looking for new product and service. We are focusing on what our expertise can do to help other companies.

I started a consulting company many years ago during the Clinton administration and right after the defense crash in the late 1980's. It was a challenge then to balance taxes and cash flow with innovative product and services. There were lots of people who were either layed off or were leaving corporate America to start new businesses. It was both scary and exciting. It was never dull.

Today it feels the same. People are starting up new businesses and established businesses are trying to be more efficient and productive. The problem is, as it was then, how can we do more with less?

At Ingenuus, I think we have the expertise to help other companies find ways to cut costs and improve productivity - even without automating processes. Of course automating processes is a great idea, but much can be done without formal process automation. One thing that can be done is to document and store process information and documentation in a process repository. Having a process repository makes evaluation and optimization of processes easier.

There is much that can be done, and I think companies will find a way. If we can help, give us a call.

Companies need to plan to succeed, even when times are tough. I have recently read several articles that described companies that survived downtimes as those who invested in the future, expecting to come out of the down time strong, ready to capture market share.

It is hard to think like that when cash is tight, credit is difficult, and customers are harder to get and even harder to keep. I know that I struggle to keep the big picture in mind and not get discouraged.

I do know that it is best to not simply hunker down and conserve, but to seek for ways to be better at what we do. My friend, we shall call him Frank, owns and operates an HVAC business. He is doing OK, but cash flow is a problem for him too in these lean times. Instead of simply hunkering down trying to cope with tight revenue streams, he is investing in software that will help him improve cash flow. It will help to automate many of the tasks involved with job management and fee collection. He found an adequate solution with the features he needs at a reasonable price.

Now that is a forward looking approach!

Because I am helping him do this project, Frank can easily evaluate how this investment will help him with cash flow and job management. So what does that actually save him? Well, it reduces and in some cases eliminates things that drain cash. That makes cash flow to the bottom line.

How does that translate into another business? Currently companies are laying off workers hoping that a reduction in salaries and benefits will drop to the bottom line almost immediately. The employees left have to do more with the same amount of time, and in most cases have to work overtime. In some cases contractors need to be hired to cover the gap. These additional salary expenses are less than before because they do not incur additional benefit expenses.

But what if you could make those remaining employees more productive? What if you streamlined your processes eliminating non-value added tasks and automating time consuming repetitive tasks? Well, you might need less overtime, and maybe no contractors. More money to the bottom line. But even better, when times get good again, then you will be ready to do more with less, increasing your profits as your business grows again.

Yes, you can spend money to make money, but you have to smart in how you do it.

Times are tough. Companies are seeking to cut costs and conserve cash. Why would now be a good time to invest in software?

Lean times are a great time to get more efficient and become better at what you do. Using software to help that can position you for growth and expansion in the future when times are better. One of the tried and true methods for cutting costs is laying off workers, which many companies are doing right now. That means that all the employees left have to do more with less. That is where software can help.

In particular, that is where business process automation software can help. By automating and streamlining business processes, you can actually empower your employees to do more. If the project is affordable, i.e., doesn't cost millions and take 2 years to deploy, then you could be realizing savings almost immediately.

Check out our explanation of cost cutting here: http://www.ingenuus.com/perspective-costcutting.html

If you are thinking about cutting costs using business process automation software, you owe it to yourself to take a look at our product and pricing. You will not find our level of capability for less cost.

You may have noticed a change on our website and in the name of this newsletter. We used to say Ingenuus was "driving efficiency". We still believe that to be true. But we also know that in tough economic times companies want to know how their vendors are helping them be more profitable. So we are "driving profitability".

We are explaining how Ingenuus technology and approach can help companies see real dollars drop to the bottom line. And, we want companies to realize that making changes now will reap huge benefits when the economy gets back on its feet.

Check out our website for new information on cost cutting and BPMplus. I think you will be surprised.