The recent event from BPM CON II - Intelligent BPM for the Productive Enterprise highlighted something that I have posted about before - the importance of EA & BPM convergence.
Admittedly, everyone has a different view on what BPM and EA is and how value can be derived from each but as with most things, real benefits come from combining individual concepts, methods and tools rather than just working with them individually on a case by case basis.
This general principle of holism was concisely summarized by Aristotle in the Metaphysics: "The whole is more than the sum of its parts".
Reductionism in contrast, is sometimes seen as the opposite of holism. Reductionism in science says that a complex system can be explained by reduction to its fundamental parts. This sounds very much like the abstraction capabilities that Business Process Mangement and Enterprise Architecture provide.
No matter how you choose to define it, ultimately the focus should be on how both can be used to solve tactical business problems while executing a longer term strategic roadmap. But I digress.....
The BPM II conference had four vendors presenting their capabilities and approaches to how BPM & EA could be used.
- IBM focussed on describing how marrying the worlds of BPM and SOA could establish business networks that can respond dynamically to rising consumer expectations, reduce cost and time to change, improve business alignment with KPIs and performance measures.
- Oracle described combining BPM with intelligent integration techniques, including SOA, enabling customers to address tactical urgency - while incrementally building a foundation for strategic change.
- Metastorm presented an overview of how Metastorm offerings help customers achieve efficient and responsive BPM solutions for internal stakeholders, customers and partners. They also gave insights into their approach to 'See. Think Do.' provides a framework for a lifecycle BPM approach that simplifies design, deployment and updates.
- Software AG explained their approach to BPM and SOA and how they provide companies 'continuous improvement' for business processes that will improve business results. It s a technology discussion of how a cost-effective marriage of BPM/SOA lets companies scale benefits across their company and partner network.
As can be seen from the summaries, the focus was very much on BPM and SOA. Judge for yourself if they have cracked the BPM and 'Enterprise' Architecture convergence sweet spot. Personally I think there is still some way to go.
A copy of the slides and the recoding of webinar can be found here (simple registration required).
I would be interested to hear your thoughts on if/how vendors are meeting customers expections in this regard.
ZNPAX5R6TR8E
Leave a comment