Analysts widely agree that the growth rate of Business Process Management (BPM) software will continue in the double digits for the foreseeable future. Whether BPM deployments are making a significant contribution to a more customer-focused, process-centric management...

Andrew Spanyi is the managing director of Spanyi International Inc., a consulting and training company that operates in the field of organization and process design. He has worked with executive teams at global organizations for nearly two decades, assisting them in transforming the way they think about their business. He is the author of “Business Process Management is a Team Sport, Play It to Win!”

Taking BPM applications to the next level involves more than buying a good BPM solution. The technology is important, but two things will make or break a BPM deployment. The first is creating customer value through the company’s enterprise-wide business processes and the second is understanding and managing the processes at the organizational and actual process activity level. To accomplish these the mindset of the whole organization must change.

Andrew Spanyi is the managing director of Spanyi International, a consulting and training company that operates in the field of organization and process design. He has worked with executive teams at global organizations assisting them to change the way they think about their business. He is the author of ‘Business Process Management is a Team Sport, Play It to Win!’

OK – so you’re ready to deploy BPM for improved performance. Maybe you’ve even identified a candidate business process where the application of BPM principles, practices and technology is likely to yield business benefit.

So what should you do if you want to optimize your chances of success? First of all, in spite of what some might say, don’t start with technology! Starting with technology is most likely to result in the situation ‘Ready, Fire, Aim.

Sure – technology is the key enabler – but it is just that – an enabler.

You’ve no doubt noticed increased interest in applying Business Process Management (BPM) technology to solve business problems. With success stories appearing in trade publications with growing frequency, an increasing number of technical and business people alike are asking how to take BPM applications to the next level. Are you ready to take BPM to the next level? Before immediately saying, “Of course,” let’s consider the rapidly evolving BPM landscape.

Information technology has come under attack from many quarters since the bursting of the dot-com bubble. Yet another blow was struck recently in Harvard Business Review’s sensationally titled article, “IT Doesn’t Matter”†. The IT community, still smarting from a two year slump in business volume and an unprecedented slide in stock prices, was quick to rebut the article’s contention that IT may no longer be the basis for competitive advantage. The wave of rebuttals included comments by industry luminaries such as Bill Gates of Microsoft and Intel’s Craig Barrett, and even gave impulse to a book by Smith and Fingar, IT Doesn’t Matter – Business Processes Do.††