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What is needed is a relativistic theory, to give up altogether
the notion that the world is constituted of basic objects
or building blocks. Rather one has to view the world in terms
of the universal flux of events and processes.
-David Bohm
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Today's applications are stove-piped by function, by data
and in time creating a source of constant frustration for
business users who ask, "Why can't I change this application
and all the other things it touches?" Almost every day,
in every company, someone is challenging the conventional
notion, "That is just the way IT is." They are joining
up, transforming and connecting different activities that
were previously islands, stovepipes and silos. But although
integration software is a huge help in integrating software
applications, it adds another level of complexity, and doesn't
solve the fundamental issue of change. Business people don't
want to have to change and then re-deploy applications, no
matter whether they or their IT department is responsible,
they want applications themselves to be able to change.
...
Processes evolve, amoeba-like, not only in terms of their
programmatic logic, but also through the acquisition or loss
of process participants and their capabilities. Processes
interact with other processes. They divide or combine with
one another at a rate that defies the best efforts of applications
and application developers to keep up. If you thought you
already understood processes think thermoplastic; twist it
and pull it and it does not return to its previous shape.
That's what real business is like--organic.
Data structures also need to evolve along with business processes,
but today's application technology is not up to the task. Data
models in traditional applications are relatively static, changing
only when there is a "new release," perhaps every
few months. Applications also overwrite data, destroying the
ability to evaluate the past and project the future. The "present"
is tied to static procedures set in stone by today's soft-ware
packages. In short, today's business technology has no sense
of the natural dynamics inherent in business and business management.
This shift from data-centric to process-centric methods and
systems is taking place right now, and will become a major
focus of winning companies over the next decade. IT systems
will more accurately reflect the way business really is-constantly
changing, messy and chaotic.
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Think of the most complex thing you do in your business.
Think about how to describe this process. Write it all down,
in one place. Pick it up and look at it. Can't see everything?
Stand back. Too much detail? Zoom in. Something wrong? Reach
in and change it. Using tools that are radically different
from traditional IT systems, leading companies are building
digital models of their business processes that allow them
to do all these things. They have begun to realize that their
time is best spent, not in writing computer software, but
in executing computer-based simulations of their business--finding
faults, correcting them there and then, and putting those
changes directly into live operation. You have just glimpsed
the world of business process management. The third wave doesn't
bridge the business-IT divide--it obliterates it.
Excerpts from Business Process Management: The Third
Wave, Howard Smith and Peter Fingar, ISBN 0-929652-33-9 Off-press November 2002,
Meghan-Kiffer Press
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Listen
to how Computer Sciences Corporation views the importance
of BPM for its customers, a SkyRadio/ Forbes interview with
Howard Smith
