TOPIC:

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As Connie Moore <a href=" www.digitalclaritygroup.com/the-future-o...gement-bpm-software/ ">writes here: "Ever wonder why the business process management (BPM) software market is so small? And more importantly, will it ever grow up? Or is BPM software perpetually stuck in the role of a small pup instead of running with the big dogs, like analytics, collaboration and content?" What do you think?

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Well... As long as the "BPM word" is exhaled (in one go) with <em>(workflow)automation</em>, <em>going </em><em>digital or heck, processmapping (ouch!)</em>, I fear nothing will change; it's just not sexy. It's for nerds. Analysts.</p>
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But... As soon as the average business user gets <em>daily operational value</em> out of it, therefore <em>saving tons of time</em> and (organizational) structure is finally <em>a deriviate of process</em>, things will definitely change. But perhaps we should name that <strong>Collaborative Business Process Knowledge Management </strong>by then... Or simply Process Based Management (as Roger Tregear puts it so nicely) .</p>
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Process will always be a crucial aspect of Enterprise Software, but the focus has shifted to insuring that the Human Interactions engage customers and employees. The velocity of change to UI technologies, especially Mobile, is staggering and shows no hint of slowing, so IT attention is rivetted on tools and techniques for presenting and gathering information.</p>
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This is my premise for why the pure BPM market stays small. The BPMS is just crucial but dull middleware.</p>

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You've heard the joke - AI is what they call it until it works, and then you call it [search, configuration, facial recognition, etc.]</p>
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Maybe BPM is what they call it until it is a market, and then you call it [CRM, Social Media Management, etc.] </p>
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More seriously, for anyone building a business from scratch, BPM market is plenty big. And because it isn't on everyone's radar as the next hot spot, you actually have time to develop a business and build out your capabilities. Good stuff.</p>
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Good point and in my opinion until the vested self interest to maintain status quo of large suppliers and the so called independent analysts are exposed the BPM message will likely remain in a corner. We need real research on just how the next generation software works that focuses on supporting people and their business operations ie BPM thinking. It is also essential there is total transparency on fees paid to the researchers/analysts by vendors/suppliers.</p>
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It is just a question of time for this necessary shift but will BPM be recognised as the driver? I hope so....</p>
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BPM is a niche, and a specialized one at that. Everyone has content and there's lots of ways to do that, but the ECM market has seen the prophecy of it being "infra" fulfilled even though it marginalizes expertise in that space. Fast, easy, performant search anyone?</p>
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Analytics and collaboration are flavors du jour with the latter doing five year pendulum swings for about twenty years now. Analytics will ebb soon as well as ROI doesn't line up with the cost most are expending.</p>
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BPM, "discipline" aside, is much more subjective and is further splintered by BPMS platforms from all the vendors. The higher, more holistic "process improvement" holds substantially more potential, but few businesses or organizations have the political will or tenacity to see it through.</p>
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Just my tuppence.</p>