BPM, Collaboration and Social Networking

Sandy Kemsley

Kemsley Design Ltd.

www.column2.com

Agenda

Defining BPM and social software Collaboration within BPM

Designing processesExecuting processes

Impacts of social software on BPM Barriers to adoption Future innovations and impacts

What is BPM?

A management discipline for improving cross-functional business processes.

The methods and technology tools used to manage and optimize business processes.

Model

Automate

Monitor

Optimize

What’s in a BPMS?

Process modeler Repository Execution engine System integration (web services) Work-in-progress management Monitoring and analysis Simulation and optimization

What is Web 2.0?

Consumer-facing social software Software as a service Harnesses collective intelligence

through user-created content Lightweight development models

permit mashups

Web 2.0 Examples

Gmail: rich interface and constantly upgraded feature set Wikipedia: content contributed by many authors Google Maps: open API allows

combining with many other web apps

What is Enterprise 2.0?

Enterprise-facing social software Business purpose rather than purely

social:Social interaction to strengthen weak

ties within organizationSocial production to collaboratively

produce content SaaS or on-premise

Enterprise 2.0 Examples

Beehive, IBM’s internal social network for locating other IBM employees with similar work/research interests

Intellipedia, US intelligence community’s collaboratively-created, cross-agency library of intelligence information

Collaboration, Social Networking and BPM

Drivers for BPM and Enterprise 2.0

Changing user expectations Trends towards greater collaboration Lack of agility in many current BPMS

implementations

Collaborative process modeling Multiple people participate in

discovery and modeling of processes Captures “tribal knowledge” Internal and external participants Technical and non-technical

participants Example: Lombardi Blueprint, SAP

NetWeaver BPM with Google Wave

Collaborative process execution

User can “step outside” structured process + create ad hoc collaboration

Audit trail and artifacts captured within BPMS audit log

Eliminates uncontrolled (unaudited) email processes

Examples: HandySoft, ActionBase

BPM and Social Networking

External communities of practice Provide idea exchange, tools Augment or replace internal BPM center of

excellence May be vendor specific/sponsored Examples: IBM BlueWorks, Appian Forum,

Software AG AlignSpace Internal discussion forums and collaboration

linked to specific process models or instances within BPMS Examples: Appian, Global 360

Impacts of Enterprise 2.0 and BPM

Social/Cultural Impacts

Participatory culture for collaborative modeling Business must commit resources IT must allow business to participate

Comfort level for collaborative execution Users must feel comfortable deviating from

predefined structured process Management must allow sufficient autonomy

Technological Impacts

Standardized RSS/Atom feeds for repurposing data and user-created dashboards

IM/SMS/microblogging for process alerts

Rich user interfaces (AJAX) eliminate desktop installation

User-created mashups

Economic Impacts

Shift from (perceived or actual) high BPMS costs to lower-cost alternatives

RIA and lightweight development models lower development costs

Software as a service BPMS lowers capital costs

Barriers to Adoption of Enterprise 2.0 and BPM

Perceived loss of management control over processes

Lack of understanding/trust in lightweight development models/tools

Risk of data loss or security breach with SaaS BPMS

The Future of BPM, Collaboration and Social Networking

The (Enterprise 2.0) Future is Already Here Many BPMS vendors incorporating some

Enterprise 2.0 functionality RIA configurable user interfaces Lightweight integration RSS feeds Design collaboration Runtime collaboration SaaS

These are facilitating change in BPM

What To Expect In The Future User tagging of process instances, for

later retrieval or to highlight unusual instances

IM and other synchronous communication integrated for real-time collaboration

Goal-oriented shift in process responsibility from management to knowledge workers

Questions?

Sandy Kemsley

Kemsley Design Ltd.

www.column2.com