Andrew S. Townley, Founder and Managing Director of Archistry Limited, announced today that the InfoQueue online community had published his latest article, "A Hard Look at the Organizational Implications of BPM". The article looks at the implications of deploying a Business Process Management (BPM) solution from both the technical and organizational perspectives and highlights essential organizational changes necessary when adopting BPM solutions.
BPM is an emerging set of technologies used by businesses to help automate and manage complex processes that involve both people and computer systems. "Many people seem to think that BPM is a way to automatically deliver 'business agility' because most BPM platforms focus on putting the business user in control of the process rather than the IT department," Mr. Townley said. "Actually, what it really means is that the business people become more like software developers, because you can't just change business processes that run the enterprise without a controlled process."
Business Process Management tools are also often associated with an organization's Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) initiatives, because the services of the SOA can then become building blocks for BPM processes. As a result, it is often difficult for an organization to accurately calculate the total cost of ownership (TCO) for both the BPM software as well as the solutions built with it. Mr. Townley added, "It is absolutely essential to understand that both BPM and SOA are strategic investments in new enabling infrastructure, and both have the potential to effect change everywhere. It isn't about a business vs. IT mentality; it's about putting the necessary tools, processes and technologies in place to empower the people that make the enterprise function on a daily basis. The point of the article is to expand the thinking around BPM and to a lesser degree SOA, so that business and IT leaders can make more informed decisions about these technologies."
InfoQ.com (Information Queue) is an independent online community focused on change and innovation in enterprise software development, targeted primarily at the technical architect, technical team lead (senior developer), and project manager. InfoQ serves the Java, .NET, Ruby, SOA, and Agile communities with daily news written by domain experts, articles, video interviews, video conference presentations, and mini-books. InfoQ launched June 8 2006. InfoQ's primary mission is to contribute to the evolution of the communities we serve.
Archistry Limited is a professional services firm based in Dublin, Ireland that focuses on helping clients deliver improved business performance and productivity through effective utilization of technology. Archistry's service offerings include enterprise IT governance, SOA planning and implementation guidance, information assurance and optimization and improvement of IT implementations. More information about Archistry Limited is available on the Web at www.archistry.com.
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