InfoWorld made it official this morning – this week is the last print issue they will run. There were rumors going around the Internet over the weekend, apparently catching some employees by surprise. But InfoWorld is trying to make this a “no big deal” kind of announcement. The official line is the brand is not going anywhere, they’ve merely stopped “killing trees.” They’re still going to continue with their on-line publication and events.

This may be the harbinger of things to come. I’ve been told I’m one of the few who still likes getting my news in the morning from a print newspaper. Apparently TV, radio and the internet is shrinking newspaper circulation and many are predicting that newspapers will soon succumb as well. A recent internal study down by ebizQ showed that while predicted growth for online advertising is somewhere between 18 and 20 percent for next year, projected growth in print media advertising is around 1.4%. So online publications are more lucrative, less expensive to produce, and deliver more up-to date information. And yes, it does kill fewer trees, which is good news for the environment.

But none of this comes as a surprise to us at ebizQ. We've been an on-line only publication for 9 years. Guess you can say we were way ahead of the trend. Looks like we’re going to have to work harder to stay ahead when all the print media starts to join us. So I’m going to let you in on an ebizQ sneak preview. We are expanding our community and our coverage with our new ITGumbo blog network. We already have some bloggers posting, and if you’re interested, you can sign up and start your own blog. We will be offering cash prizes for best blog, best entry, and most commented entry. Check it out.

And thanks for helping to make us a trend setter.

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Preparing for a webinar next week on Enterprise Mash-ups gave me an opportunity to ponder the subject of mash-ups at more length. Frankly, my first reaction to the term was that renaming existing concepts with cool Web 2.0 jive was what you needed to do to be cool these days. “Composite applications” just wasn’t a term Web 2.0ers would use. But after more research, thought, and reflection, I have come to a new appreciation for the potential power of mash-ups in the enterprise.

I distinguish mash-ups from composite applications in the following way. Composite applications are composed of a collection of, or orchestration of different components or services that can be common and reusable across different business functions. Examples are accessing information in different systems on customers, products, inventory, pricing, or doing common functions such as pricing, credit checks, loan calculations, etc. A composite application can be a completely automated business process or function.

While mash-ups are comprised of different components or services, they have additional characteristics that make them a distinct class of composite application. Mash-ups always include a user interface. In fact, what mash-ups are all about is the rich, interactive, multi-media user interface that can seamlessly combine different capabilities. Such as: Google maps linked to customer addresses. Another distinct feature of mash-ups is the user interface can be customized. Information can be visualized in different formats, including tables and graphs. The potential of mash-ups in the enterprise is to provide an SOA approach to desktop productivity, by providing access to enterprise data in a managed and consistent manner. This approach addresses the issue of inaccuracies in desktop spreadsheets due to out-of-data downloaded data.

So as I now see it, enterprise mash-ups hold real potential benefits for organizations. From the executive level, it enables faster, easier, cheaper access to information, enabling managers to make better, quicker decisions based on more timely and accurate information.

From an IT point of view it gives IT control and manageability over IT assets while providing end users with customizable reporting capabilities. This makes it easy for end users to create exactly want. In fact they can usually do it themselves more easily than they can explain to IT what they want. They’re actually more satisfied doing it themselves, and IT no longer has to do it. It’s a win-win all around.

So despite the fact that I would not identify myself as a Web 2.0er looking for some cool new lingo, my original skepticism about mash-ups has transformed into a new appreciation as to their potential in the enterprise.

Tune into the webinar and join the discussion on Mar 28th at 2:00 ET.

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We have another great line-up of presentations for the 2nd day of BPM in Action. The day starts with Janelle Hill’s keynote on BPM technology. She called it From Best- of-Breed Tools to BPM Suites to Business Process Platforms. I call it a primer on BPM technology. This was the first time I’ve had the pleasure of working with Janelle. For those of you who don’t know her, she is extremely knowledgeable and great to work with. This one is a must see. Please feel free to pass along the link to others in your organization. The session will be available for archive viewing after the live event is over.

At noon, we have a case study on how the Babcock and Wilcox company uses BPM to Improve Sales Performance and Productivity. This is a good session to attend if you’re looking for some proof points on how BPM technology can help you improve business performance. There’s also some very valuable information on their experience on deepening the partnership between business and IT and the benefits they received. This case study is an opportunity to pick up some best practices for your next BPM initiative.

At 1:00 ETJoshua Greenbaum, Principal, Enterprise Applications Consulting will interview Richard Sides, SVP Information Technology, Preferred Meal Systems Incorporated. They will talk about Richard's experience in creating a business process platform strategy. Josh is a long time IT expert and a former Hurwitz Group colleague. Josh and Richard are sure to have some good tips and advice for you so take the opportunity to ask some questions.

The last session of the conference is the live panel session that I will be moderating and I’m psyched about this one. I have Dr. Bruce Silver, who is a noted expert on BPM and also the author of a BPMN course which recently launched. You can find out more about it by checking out the Resource Center in the show. I also have Dr. Jeffrey Sterllings – a fictional character with real world expertise. Stephanie Wilkinson and Steve McDonald will also be on the panel to talk about how companies are using BPM technologies to solve different types of process problems.

All sessions include live Q&A so you will have the opportunity to interact with the experts and get your questions answered. You also have the opportunity to talk to reps and other visitors in the show and the virtual booths. A few visitors today said the show was "cool". Check it out! . And while you're there, stop by the ebizQ booth and say hello.

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Our second virtual conference and trade show launches today. We’ve been VERY busy putting this all together. As chair of the conference I’ve had the opportunity to hear all the sessions. Our keynotes are great. Over time I think we’ll get more archive viewers than live. Ken Vollmer will give a great business oriented primer on BPM. After hearing it you’ll want to pass the link along to your boss or business manager.

At noon ET you’ll hear how Johnson & Johnson used BAM as a starting point for optimizing their business processes. First measure then optimize.

Then at 1:00 ET Sandy Kemsley is leading a panel. I recently met Sandy in person for the first time at the Gartner show in San Diego. While I was in vendor briefings 10 hours a day, Sandy actually got to go to sessions. At the parties, she was greeted enthusiastically by her readers, one of whom described her style as “bare naked blogging”. Well, that pretty much describes Sandy. Tune in to hear her bare naked panel which is likely to be a lively discussion on Enterprise 2.0. Come as you are. Clothes optional.

Be sure to visit the virtual booths. It's not quite like Second Life where you can spend a whole lot of time bumping into walls and other people, but you can interact with visitors and vendors.

There's also a Resource Center with a lot of links for different kinds of BPM training. Definitely work a look see. Stop by the ebizQ booth and be sure to say hi!

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On Mar 7th at 2:00 we're going to have a lively panel discussion on how to support different business requirements for human, automated and collaborative processes. Dr. Bruce Silver, an expert in BPM and BPMN will be participating and sharing his research on tools requirements. Also, due to the unique capabilities of a virtual tradeshow, we will actually have a fictional character on the panel, Dr. Jeffrey Sterllings, a mildly eccentric IT and management guru, and main character of The Power of Process: Unleashing the Source of Competitive Advantage.

I must admit, when Kiran Giramella told me he was writing a BPM novel was skeptical. But after reading the book I would highly recommend it to anyone who either wants to understand BPM and how it can be used in the business, or needs to help their boss or business manager the benefits of BPM. It’s actually a good read, and as an added bonus, has some good soup recipes. 6 lucky attendees will also get the opportunity to win a copy of the book.

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