The Changing Face of the Business Process Management Industry
Nathaniel Palmer, Business Process Management, Inc.
When I hosted my first BPM conference 20 years ago (then the "International Business Process Summit"), both the attendance make up and presenter roster reflected the diversity of the IT industry at the time (which is to say, a notable lack of any). Yet it is either ironic or instructive (or both) that some of my top rated speakers and most enthusiastic attendees were women.
During a time when the field of business process re-engineering was shifting towards more IT-centric thinking and focus, there was likely shrinking rather than growing diversity. I recall one of the turning-point events we held, in 2001, where the new wave of BPM (and for the first time by the name, versus "BPR" or "BPI" or other) had indisputably arrived. It was at that time when I recall the question was first asked of me, "Why aren't there any women here?"
At that time, I was deeply offended. In part because I actually prided myself vis-à-vis my events for being both cutting-edge and inclusive. At that point in my career I had spent the last 5-8 years split between the (male-dominated) world of workflow and re-engineering and the (more evenly split) field of Knowledge Management (KM). But the moment in my own career, as well as that event specifically represented a convergence of the two. Yet what was arguably the most diverse BPM conference ever held, was still rather parochial by KM industry standards.
My colleague who hit me with this question for the first time (but sadly not last) was indeed a long-time collaborator from the KM space. She rightly pointed out was holding back BPM at the time, and some ways is still in affect. Yet the industry has indeed changed quite a bit, and the real transformers I have worked with in the last 5-10 years have almost all been women. As a whole, the industry for BPM and the tech industry in general, continue to present a somewhat imbalanced profile. But among the visible leaders at the top, as well as the most promising newcomers I have had the privilege to work with, that picture is skewed in the opposite direction.
This I believe is an entirely positive trend, both for BPM and the career path for women. For both to be viable, but in particular for BPM to succeed as positive force in business, we needed to shift from a discipline that relied upon heavy, repetitious methodology plus the heroics of all-nighters and impossible project schedules �" to an emphasis on innovation and collaboration. It has become an industry and a discipline that looks a lot more like the Knowledge Management of 10 years ago, and not entirely (or at all) by coincidence.
Today BPM is about the best way to deliver superior customer experience and enable effective teams. Technology in BPM is leverage point, a vehicle for delivering business objectives and measurable outcomes. It is not longer, as it perhaps never really was but that too many had assumed, about changing the business to accept technology. It should never have, as too often BPR (business process re-engineering) had become, and excuse for eliminating jobs or cutting staff. It should be vehicle for business growth, not cutting costs.
Today BPM is indeed increasingly viewed as revenue positive �"it's no longer about (at least not just about) saving money, it's about making money. The customer literally pays for the BPM initiative. Otherwise, payback comes only from cutting costs, and inevitably that means through staff reduction. Yet few organizations today can afford to lose any more. Instead they must find vehicles for growth �" by brining new products and services to market faster, and finding new ways to deliver value to customers.
This has indeed shifted the point of gravity for supporting BPM from operational areas that have been (or remain) cost centers, to new and existing revenue centers. To leverage this in your own career, to become a business process professional within your own organization, it is important have assessed where you are and where you're going relative to your role with the customer.
Ask yourself not only if, but how your work will improve the customer's experience. Who benefits from the new process or system you are involved with? What metrics provide the best measurement of success? Are the terms (vocabulary) consistent and mutually understood? Will the users of the process measure success the same as other stakeholders and/or sponsors? And ultimately, how do you engage your customers' perspective in the understanding and definition of the business process?
The answer to these questions will ultimately determine the success of any BPM initiative, as well as your role in it. The BPM industry of 10 years ago seemingly cared very little about them, and the results were apparent. It is the changing face of the BPM industry, indeed the very faces of the individual that now define it, which has made the difference, and for the better. This is why I believe this is the most exciting time for BPM overall and the new opportunity for digital transformation that it offers. This will be apparent in our next event, 20 years after our first, at BPM in Banking, Finance and Insurance, September 29 �" October 2 at the Doubletree Chicago Oak Brook.
About the Author:
Rated as the #1 Most Influential Thought Leader in Business Process Management (BPM) by independent research, Nathaniel Palmer is recognized as one of the early originators of BPM, and has the led the design for some of the industry's largest-scale and most complex projects involving investments of $200 Million or more. Today he is the Editor-in-Chief of BPM.com, as well as the Executive Director of the Workflow Management Coalition, as well as VP and CTO of BPM, Inc. Previously he had been the BPM Practice Director of SRA International, and prior to that Director, Business Consulting for Perot Systems Corp, as well as spent over a decade with Delphi Group serving as VP and CTO. He frequently tops the lists of the most recognized names in his field, and was the first individual named as Laureate in Workflow. Nathaniel has authored or co-authored a dozen books on process innovation and business transformation, including "Intelligent BPM" (2013), "How Knowledge Workers Get Things Done" (2012), "Social BPM" (2011), "Mastering the Unpredictable" (2008) which reached #2 on the Amazon.com Best Seller's List, "Excellence in Practice" (2007), "Encyclopedia of Database Systems" (2007) and "The X-Economy" (2001). He has been featured in numerous media ranging from Fortune to The New York Times to National Public Radio. Nathaniel holds a DISCO Secret Clearance as well as a Position of Trust with in the U.S. federal government.
Opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of WITI.
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