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Think about your processes. Think about your process diagrams. Everyone has done a ton of work eliminating boxes (process steps) and trying to speed up and improve how those boxes get executed. Great. What about those diamonds? How much work have you done improving the decisions within these processes? If the answer is "not much" then you are pretty typical but you are also missing some great opportunities.

• It's hard to personalize a transaction for a customer unless you make some transaction-centric decisions in the process
• It's hard to use analytics to improve the process unless you can change the decisions that drive it
• It's hard to ensure enterprise consistency across processes unless the decisions are managed across them
• You're assuming that agility comes from rearranging the boxes when it might need to come from changing the decisions, especially in a core process that does not change much
• You could have trouble when a regulator comes around and asks you to explain how you picked a branch in your process if your diamonds are too opaque- being able to explain just your process is not enough.

So automate and improve those diamonds.

Technorati Tags: agile, business process management, business rules, decision automation, personalization, predictive analytics

Posted by jtaylor in Business Process Management • Business Rules • Decision Technologies |Digg This|Add to del.icio.us

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