"BPM is dead." Really?? No, I don't think so. In fact, we're seeing more innovation now in the technology of BPM than at any time in the past several years. Big Data, real-time sense and respond, predictive analytics, goal-driven and "adaptive" processes, social BPM, mobility.... The list goes on. Wait, you say, that's not really BPM. But what you mean is they are missing from the current generation of BPM Suites.
BPM took center stage on Day 2 of IBM Impact, which used to be a SOA/BPM event but somehow seems to have morphed into a cloud/social/mobile/collaboration event. Wait, isn't that Lotusphere? It was sometimes hard to tell. The key BPM feature touted on Day 1 - identifying other process experts at runtime and contacting them right away by instant messaging - I know I saw on the Lotusphere main stage back before Y2K.
Often the Gartner BPM conference seems to me the same-old same-old, but I have to say I am getting some valuable new perspective at this year's event in Baltimore. The new wrinkle this year is what Gartner is calling iBPMS, the "i" meaning intelligent. It's really shorthand for a number of new technology-based capabilities that have been swirling around the edges of BPM for a couple years, but which have now graduated to the Magic Quadrant checklist: adaptive, predictive, sensor- and event-aware, rule-driven, context-aware, real-time, social, mobile, cloud-based, maybe even gamified.
It was a longer wait than I expected, but in BPM 7.5.1, IBM is now providing real BPMN 2.0 support. I haven't had a chance to play with it yet or look at the documentation - I think GA is later this week - but I got the briefing from the team. And I have to say, I am very happy with what I saw. In a recent post, I talked about what "
It took a bit longer than we hoped, but the program at bpmNEXT 2013 is now set. bpmNEXT, which takes place March 19-21 at Asilomar Conference Center on the Monterey Peninsula, is not your typical BPM conference. It's a technology showcase spotlighting the next generation of BPM software innovation. No how-tos, best practices, or case studies, just a fast-paced series of demonstrations of new capabilities that are transforming the BPM (and surrounding) landscape.
It boggles my mind that we are still having this debate, but there it is: Is BPMN compatible with ACM? The latest round started with a paper presented by Keith Swenson at a BPM conference, stirred up by Sandy Kemsley's review, and kicked into full riot by an ebizQ comment thread. The supposedly winning argument from the ACM side is that a doctor - the purported archetype of an ACM user (really?
I'm just back from bpmNEXT. From my perspective as the event organizer, it could not have gone any better, and the tweets seem to agree. Malcolm Ross @mrappian Great time at the #bpmnext event this week.. looking forward to next year Steinar Carlsen @steinarcarlsen #bpmNEXT - Thank you @bpmswatch and @nathanielpalmer for organizing a great BPM and ACM thought leader conference - http://www.bpmnext.com Miguel Valdes @miguelvaldes Back from #bpmnext. Amazing conference, speakers and discussions.
Because so many people were set back by weather-related issues in the past two weeks, we've extended the early bird discount for bpmNEXT registration until November 19. bpmNEXT is an exciting new event I'm hosting with Nathaniel Palmer next March 19-21 at Asilomar, near Pebble Beach in California. The event will showcase leading examples of the next generation of BPM-related technology - social, mobile, predictive analytics, the "internet of things", decision management, process mining, and more.
This week IBM hosted a special analyst event in San Francisco focused on their BPM/ODM portfolio. ODM is the unification of IBM's acquisitions in business rule and business event technology, and was given equal billing with BPM at the event. That was surprising given the near-complete absence of information about case management, which seems significantly more in need of unification with BPM than does decision management. There were not many new feature/function announcements - most of that occurred last spring at Impact - but with a new executive team in place for the portfolio, there was a definite change in the air.
I'm probably the last to chime in on the new Gartner iBPMS Magic Quadrant. Adam Deane's hilarious sendup cannot be topped, and Scott Francis's uber-thoughtful three-parter is also excellent, but possibly takes it more seriously than it deserves. Both are well worth reading. Here is my take. Many of us, at some point in our careers, have suffered through a corporate reorg following a bad quarter. A few people at the bottom get laid off, some bold new theme is announced, and the ones who drove the company into the ditch mostly take new positions within the executive suite.