From Keith Swenson....
"'Business Process Management' is, as the name implies, about management of business processes. A business process is not managed by a software engineer. A "business process" is not a program. It may be supported by a program, but the business process is the thing that the organization wants done. You might say that the business process is the goal of the program, but not the program itself. A business process is managed by a business person: someone who understands the "business" and decides upon a strategy for doing that business, evaluates how well the business is going, and decides on how to change the process in order to meet changing conditions. The software engineer might manage the software, but a business person manages the business process."
My Thoughts...
It seems as though that it is more important for pundits to "own" the definition of BPM than provide a definition that is easy to understand and work with. So they are attempting to come up with their own definition of BPM. Many of them talk in terms of software.
BPM is about managing business processes and they can be managed without software - using paper.
If I am truly managing my business processes, I know how a process works. I can map it out and I can explain it to someone. I can have workers follow the process and I can put manual checks in place to be sure that processes are followed. I should be able to pass an ISO audit, although it could take a week or so to do it.
If you thought that implementing BPM software would do this for you, you are wrong. You have to be able to tell the software what you want it to do. So, you have to be able to map it, explain it, follow it, etc. Only, then can you configure it to manage your business processes.
While this economy is attempting to improve, it is a good time to make your own improvements so that you may grow even faster.
Your Thoughts...
How will you take advantage of the current economic conditions?
Well said. I was going to write a similar blog, but I think I will just point to yours. :-)
Managing one's processes should be software, or technology, agnostic. Installing a BPMS alone without a strategy, a methodology, stakeholders, management buy-in, etc. will not fix the organization's critical business issues.