Process for the Enterprise » IBM

Nobody Cares about BPM… Or do They?

Scott Francis — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:19:07 +0000

Ian Gotts says nobody seems to care about BPM – on the basis of attending a conference (unnamed) in the USA, that was sparsely attended. He has a great picture of the room, nearly empty, that presumably he was speaking in. Of course, that picture could be taken before everyone comes in to sit down – it might not be intended to be taken for a literal head-count. But the point is clear:

I was keynote speaker at an event billed as ‘one of the USA’s most important BPM events’ – 500 attendees. Gartner gets fewer 1,000 at their US BPM Summit.

In contrast Dreamforce (image right), which is Salesforce’s PAID annual user event gets 25,000 delegates.

As I pointed out in a comment on his blog, this is a bit of apples and oranges. I don’t believe any of Gartner’s conferences have 25,000 delegates. They’re analyst-driven conferences that tend to appeal more to executives than rank and file users. Gartner’s CRM conferences aren’t attended by 25,000 people either…

On the other hand, IBM Impact was attended by north of 8000 people last year. Appian’s user conference had record attendance, as well. IBM’s other conferences have similarly large numbers of attendees (I believe the IOD conference is even bigger than Impact, for example).

Ian asks:

So what is it? Perhaps BPM has been around too long and everyone knows about it, so they don’t need to attend conferences and measuring conference attendance is misleading. But the world has moved on with technology enabling fantastic advances in operational excellence, so surely there is a need for continued education. And similarly, CRM has been around 20 years or more yet Salesforce conference attendance is still climbing.

What is it? It is vendor-focus rather than analyst focus. As I commented in his blog, these are just different audiences. The vendor conferences are more users as well as decision-makers. Users don’t generally go to analyst conferences, however. And if you’re going to your vendor’s conference- do you really need to go to one or two more analyst conferences? Probably not.

It isn’t that BPM is too broad, any more than CRM is too broad – it is just that vendor conferences are a bit more interesting than vendor-agnostic analyst conferences. And hey, the vendors usually bring in better bands and entertainment!

My experience is that BPM enthusiasm at conferences is running high – at software vendor conferences, that is – and so I find myself in disagreement with Ian on this one.

Sandy Kemsley: Best Coverage of #IOD11 Conference

Scott Francis — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:24:14 +0000

Well, if Sandy doesn’t have the best coverage of the conference, it is by far the best coverage of the bloggers I follow.

First up: IBM Case Manager, IBM Content Manager, and IBM BPM -

Extend IBM BPM processes with content, using document and list widgets that can be integrated in a BPM application. This does not include content event processes, e.g., spawning a specific process when a document event such as check-in occurs, so is no different than integrating FileNet content into any BPMS.

Extend IBM BPM Advanced (i.e., WPS) processes with content through a WebSphere CMIS adapter into the content repository. Ditto re: any BPMS (or other system) that supports CMIS being able to integrate with FileNet content.

Invoke an IBM BPM Advanced process from an ICM case task. Assuming that this is via a web service call (since WPS allows processes to be exposed as web services), not specifically an IBM-to-IBM integration.

Next, up, transformation in the era of Big Data, perhaps a business case for “Watson”?

Some of IBM’s future of big data analytics is Watson, and Manoj Saxena presented on how Watson is being applied to healthcare – being demonstrated at IOD – as well as future applications in financial services and other industries. In healthcare, consider that medical information is doubling every five years, and about 20% of diagnoses in the US have some sort of preventable error. Using Watson as a diagnostic tool puts all healthcare information into the mix, not just what your doctor has learned (and remembers). Watson understands human speech, including puns, metaphors and other colloquial speech; it generates hypotheses based on the information that it absorbs; then it understands and learns from how the system is used. A medical diagnosis, then, can include information about symptoms and diseases, patient healthcare and treatment history, family healthcare history, and even patient lifestyle and travel choices to detect those nasty tropical bugs that your North American doctor is unlikely to know about. Watson’s not going to replace your doctor, but provide decision support during diagnosis and treatment.

And third, what’s new in IBM ECM products :

There was a question about why BPM didn’t appear in the ECM portfolio diagram, and Clayton stated that “BPM is now considered part of Case Manager”. Unlike the BPM vendors who think of ACM as a part of BPM, I think that she’s right: BPM (that is, structured process management that you would do with IBM FileNet BPM) is a functionality within ACM, not the other way around.

I think the BPM referenced here is with respect to Filenet BPM, rather than “IBM BPM”, but this is one area where Sandy and I probably agree to disagree. I think the race between BPM and ACM was essentially over before it started. Managing a business is going to more likely be called “BPM” than “ACM” for one thing. I think BPM is going to win the war of acronyms. The go-to-market strategy is going to include “ACM” functionality in a BPM offering. This isn’t some inside-scoop at IBM, this is just my judgment on the market in general. I may be wrong, but the market will show that one way or the other in the next few years. So far, to me, it looks like the BPM firms are winning the argument.

(Which isn’t to say that ACM proponents haven’t influenced BPM product direction – they have. But my feeling all along is that it just wouldn’t be hard for BPM vendors to fast-follow ACM vendors, such as they are).

Finally, Sandy covered the IBM Filenet BPM updates:

The Process Engine (PE) was ported completely to a standard Java application, with some dramatic performance increases: 60% improvement in response time through the Java API, 70% (or more) reduction in CPU utilization, near-linear growth in CPU utilization for vertical scaling (i.e., more processes on a single server), and constant CPU utilization on horizontal scaling (e.g., twice as many processes on twice as many servers).

So… one danger I see for IBM in general in the BPM space – is focusing too much on speeds and feeds. Not that these aren’t important. They are. Especially when you have customers the size of IBM’s customers. But they also need to solve real business problems and value propositions that aren’t driven by IT metrics.

It reminds me of a conversation we had with a customer once.

US: So, what reports do you think we need to support the business’ needs? There aren’t really any business-facing reports defined yet.

THEM: I think we have all the reports we need already.

US: You do? Which reports do you already have that the business uses?

THEM: Well, the timing reports on webservice performance and user interface performance, for example.

US: hmmmmmmm. How about measuring vendor quality, vendor response time to RFPs, and pricing estimation to final-price accuracy? Might tell you who your best vendors are or how much it is costing you to work with a vendor that isn’t fulfilling your business on time.

THEM: Yeah, but the business isn’t asking for that. They really want to know how fast the webservices and UIs are running.

Needless to say, we weren’t talking to the right person, and speeds and feeds were just not the right focus. Faced with that situation, you just have to back up and regroup and find the right focal point closer to a real business problem.

Thanks for the great coverage Sandy -

New IBM President and CEO: Virginia Rometty

Scott Francis — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 03:47:11 +0000

Well, this was quite a surprise for me – I didn’t expect Sam to step down from the CEO spot at IBM just yet. But perhaps one of the signs of a strong company is not waiting for signs of trouble to initiate the transition from one generation of management to the next- but simply moving forward when the time is right.

IBM’s official announcement:

Armonk, NY, October 25, 2011 – The IBM board of directors has elected Virginia M. Rometty president and chief executive officer of the company, effective January 1, 2012. She was also elected a member of the board of directors, effective at that time. Ms. Rometty is currently IBM senior vice president and group executive for sales, marketing and strategy. She succeeds Samuel J. Palmisano, who currently is IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer. Mr. Palmisano will remain chairman of the board.

“Ginni Rometty has successfully led several of IBM’s most important businesses over the past decade—from the formation of IBM Global Business Services to the build-out of our Growth Markets Unit,” Mr. Palmisano said. “But she is more than a superb operational executive. With every leadership role, she has strengthened our ability to integrate IBM’s capabilities for our clients. She has spurred us to keep pace with the needs and aspirations of our clients by deepening our expertise and industry knowledge. Ginni’s long-term strategic thinking and client focus are seen in our growth initiatives, from cloud computing and analytics to the commercialization of Watson. She brings to the role of CEO a unique combination of vision, client focus, unrelenting drive, and passion for IBMers and the company’s future. I know the board agrees with me that Ginni is the ideal CEO to lead IBM into its second century.”

I’m also struck by the fact that Rometty arrived at IBM in 1981. We’re talking about serious longevity at Big Blue. Under Sam’s watch we’ve seen IBM really go through a makeover of its business – it will be interesting to see if Rometty continues this arc or changes direction over the course of her tenure. Regardless, I don’t expect IBM to stand still.

The New York Times has coverage of the promotion as well:

The directors’ choice of Ms. Rometty, who managed a crucial merger as well as sales in fast-growing new markets, ends a competition that has been under way for years. The leading candidates were always from within the company’s executive ranks.

A leading rival to succeed Mr. Palmisano, analysts say, was Steven A. Mills, the senior vice president who led I.B.M.’s highly profitable and growing software division. But his age, analysts note, was probably an obstacle. Mr. Mills has just turned 60, the traditional retirement age for I.B.M. chief executives.

Mr. Palmisano, in an interview Tuesday, singled out Mr. Mills for praise, saying “he’s done a phenomenal job.”

Given the traditional retirement age of IBM chief executives I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by Sam stepping down, but it just wasn’t on my radar. Steve Mills has been a phenomenal leader in the software space at IBM and just more evidence of the deep talent at the top of IBM executive ranks.

Congratulations to IBM and Virgina Rometty!

IBM’s BPM 7.5.1 Release in November

Scott Francis — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 04:37:58 +0000

IBM has already an update to IBM BPM 7.5 scheduled- the first minor release, due 18th of November, 2011. The meat of the release is reviewed in the announcement letter:

Ability to deliver differentiating BPMN 2.0 support while keeping the user experience simple

Simplified event management in Process Modeling

Ability to import and export of industry models directly into or out of the Process Center using BPMN 2.0 format

Simplified installation and configuration experience for production deployment environments

New refactoring features for process application and toolkits

Creation of process application documentation that can be reviewed and printed by business stakeholders

Ability to view change management history between process application versions

Integration with IBM Case Manager tasks to enrich case management applications

Common inbox with IBM Case Manager V5.1

I think the key improvements for the average user of IBM BPM 7.5 will be the refactoring and difference reports. They look like small changes separately, but together this really improves the productivity of process developers who are managing multiple versions or who are working on a new version of a process while also supporting a production version. Not to mention, better refactoring support will cut down on the number of typos. There are some additional features that are focused on supporting production instances which will also prove important over time.

IBM BPM on z/OS #bpm #ibmbpm

Scott Francis — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 02:15:51 +0000

Sandy Kemsley reported on a briefing with IBM regarding BPM on z/OS a few weeks ago. It’s a great write-up of the content.

I know that it initially took Lombardi folks by surprise how much interest and momentum there would be behind a z/OS version of IBM BPM. But they, and IBM, have jumped in with both feet. For organizations that fundamentally rely on mainframes, this may be a more comfortable architecture / deployment model. As Sandy points out, this isn’t just a skin-deep port, it actually leverages specific z/OS options and functionality:

From an IBM BPM architecture standpoint, the Process Server components can now be hosted on z/OS, while the Process Center and its repository stay on Windows, AIX or Linux. Process Server Advanced for z/OS is more than just a simple port: it leverages native z/OS data structures, supports languages such as COBOL, provides local adapters to other z/OS applications, and allows reusable services to be created more easily. Since the process and services are both running on z/OS, WebSphere z/OS does optimization for cross-memory local communications to improve performance and resource utilization, providing the most benefit when the processes frequently interact with DB2, CICS and IMS on the same platform, and also providing seamless integration with other facilities such as RACF.

This plugs into Business Monitor for z/OS that monitors the processes, other z/OS applications and events, and provides user-customizable dashboards for overall monitoring and some KPI-based predictive analytics.

I’m really interested to see how some of the use cases for deployments on z/OS. Supporting z/OS is a great example of what you can do with interesting software when you have the scale of an IBM. It may not make the “feature” velocity faster, but they can definitely tackle parallel efforts like this more easily with the breadth of engineering talent at IBM. From Sandy’s post, you’ll also find links to whitepapers, a newsletter, webcast, and the product page.

I’m not sure it was well-known that IBM has rolled out such complete support for z/OS – thanks to Sandy for helping get the word out.

BP3 Guest Post on IBM Impact Blog

Scott Francis — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:36:53 +0000

IBM Impact Blog has published a guest post written by yours truly. It is part of a four-pillar effort, and the theme for the pillar of my post was simplicity. So why talk about upgrades if the goal is simplicity? After all, there’s no such thing as simple upgrades of in-flight process data is there?

My thought in writing this way was to focus on how to simplify your approach to upgrading, and also to cover the good work IBM has done to make upgrading easier when you can’t take some of the shortcuts we outlined. You can find more material on the topic of simplicity on the BP3 blog using the simplicity tag.

Upgrading is also fresh on IBM customers’ minds these days. We’re getting more requests than ever for help upgrading. Happy to contribute back to the community a little advice about how to get from point A to point B.

TIBCO acquires Nimbus, Business DNA

Scott Francis — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:48:39 +0000

TIBCO has announced its acquisition of Nimbus today:

Nimbus provides a strong complement to TIBCO’s event-enabled infrastructure software platform. Whereas TIBCO has traditionally focused on the automation of data, systems, and processes, Nimbus allows business users to collaboratively describe and document all aspects of a business – from operational best practices to organizational and system models. These are combined with robust governance capabilities that can deliver a process-focused “Intelligent Operations Manual” across the enterprise, linked to supporting data and systems. Nimbus focuses on the vast majority of processes that are often not captured in enterprise applications and automated workflows, and it has found particular traction with business transformation, compliance-led, and continuous improvement initiatives.

On the face of it it seems like a very complementary acquisition – I don’t see a lot of overlap between the market needs Nimbus addresses versus the market needs TIBCO addresses. This might be seen as a move by TIBCO to inject some more business-friendly DNA into its veins, as right now TIBCO is seen as more of a speeds-n-feeds vendor than a business process management vendor.

Neil Ward-Dutton was first to the presses with his analysis of the buy:

Nimbus is happy to point out that historically it’s had a hard time selling to IT, and this has slowed down sales cycles; part of the challenge for it has been that Control doesn’t fit neatly into any mainstream product category (including BPA). TIBCO can help with the IT selling angle; but it’s important to recognise, too, that Nimbus can potentially give TIBCO a massive leg-up in terms of developing a more business-engaged field sales capability.

It sounds like a good synergistic match. Neil characterizes Nimbus as a company with “annual revenues of around £10m and around 100 employees” – which implies the purchase price was easily digestible for a company the size of TIBCO. Still, as we’ve seen with the IBM acquisition of Lombardi, sometimes a small (relatively) acquisition can have an outsized impact on the buyer.

Clay Richardson of Forrester also weighs in on the purchase:

So, why did TIBCO acquire Nimbus? In many ways this deal is a nod to the “Empowered BT” trend, where more technical capability is being moved into the business. For vendors like TIBCO, this means building – or buying – functionality that puts business stakeholders in the driver’s seat. Over the past six months, one of the top inquiry topics I’ve seen from clients is around “models for increasing business engagement within BPM suites”. In short, I’ve fielded numerous calls from business stakeholders scratching their heads saying “I wrote the check for this BPM suite, but the IT guys are the only ones that can touch it.”

Empowered BT trend is a great way to sum up with the Nimbus folks (Ian Gotts in particular) have been preaching in their blogs and sales pitches. Clay wraps up with this note:

TIBCO’s acquisition of Nimbus will be welcomed news to existing TIBCO customers looking to improve business engagement and – if executed effectively – should allow the developer-centric vendor to compete more effectively against more business-oriented players such as Appian and Lombardi (i.e., IBM BPM 7.5).

I got a chuckle out of the last line. But Clay is right – TIBCO needed something to help them compete with more business-oriented products on the market – what isn’t clear is whether Nimbus also needed to partner up with someone to keep going (as one person on twitter put it – is the lack of execution for one just as bad as the lack of business-focus for the other?). I’m looking forward to seeing how well Nimbus is integrated, what role Ian Gotts is taking on, and how the analysts view on this acquisition evolves over the coming weeks. So far no one is arguing that this is a bad fit… but we’re only a few hours in!

The Value of Customer Engagement on Twitter?

Scott Francis — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:03:42 +0000

An interesting developerWorks blog about the benefits of customer engagement via Twitter. The title says it all: “developerWorks Twitter account saving over $600k per month: what uplift will Google+ provide?”

Interestingly the $600k/month claim comes from what they would have to pay for 200,000 clicks per month through other channels (e.g. paid search). Of course, this under-estimates the value to IBM, because twitter accounts like @developerWorks build rapport and trust with customers and partners (I’d call that engagement, but marketing professionals might disagree). I’d not have even thought of quantifying the value of a twitter account in this fashion, but I’m going to change my calculus in the future.

When I worked at a BPMS vendor we added partners and some customers to an internal technical mailing list. The level of engagement with these techies was much improved, and helped convert skeptics into advocates of our company and products. This was in pre-twitter days. I’m not sure the effect on twitter is quite as strong per person, but like the mailing list, it can humanize a company and a product, and it exposes customers to your professionals and experts. That has to be a good thing.

Competitors Taking Shots from the Sidelines

Scott Francis — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 22:43:48 +0000

Appian is again taking shots at others’ acquisitions from the sidelines in “Another Monster is Born”:

Bigamy is one analogy for what’s happening in the stack vendor land-grab for the BPM market. Another is “Frankenstein’s Monster.” And we all know how that played out…for the Monster and the townsfolk.

That’s only the beginning. Appian is not impressed with OpenText’s acquisition of Global 360. Frankly, I’m surprised they reacted at all (were they really competing that often with Global 360 or OpenText?) But here’s a statement I strongly agree with:

BPM is not yet commoditized for the simple reason that BPM is not yet done evolving. Perhaps more than any other enterprise IT market right now, BPM is in a process (no pun intended) of innovation. BPM software is just now learning how to reach more people, drive more value and truly transform a business. Cloud BPM is driving a growing percentage of the market. Mobility has entered the game, as has social technology. This market is not yet complete.

In fact, there are other areas in which BPM is learning to reach more people and incorporate more mature technologies, as well as emerging tech. But cloud and mobile are certain two big trends to watch (and, to Appian’s credit, two trends they bet on early… compared to other BPM vendors at least). BPM is not yet commoditized. But the demand is growing faster than the independents could satisfy it – faster than they could build their sales channels and development teams. So it looks to me like a lot of interesting innovation will happen in pure plays or niche plays, but that bigger vendors are likely to acquire and incorporate those innovations (hopefully, not destroying them in the process). The question is, can BPM reach its true potential without the deep pockets of public market money or big company R&D?

But leave it to Appian to misunderstand what some of its competition are up to:

It seems to me that all the mega-vendors think BPM is simply a commodity. The mentality is that the more BPM technology you can acquire, the better; loosely stitching them together to create a creature that will succeed through sheer mass. OpenText is the latest example, but look at IBM, Oracle, Progress, etc.

I can’t speak to whether OpenText views BPM as “simply a commodity”. However, I have some personal knowledge about Oracle, Progress, and IBM. Oracle: guilty as charged. They have a BPM strategy but it doesn’t feel like they are putting the gravitas behind it. Ditto for SAP. Progress has made BPM (aka RPM) the center of a coherent go-to-market strategy. When a company reshapes their value proposition with BPM at the heart of it, I hardly call that treating it as a commodity or trying to succeed through sheer mass. There are legitimate criticisms of the Progress approach, but they have brought together sound technical solutions across a range of product areas that pure plays don’t play in, and they’ve found a way to get behind a process vision for that.

Finally, looking at IBM – Appian is sadly mistaken if they think IBM looks at BPM as a simple commodity that it need not worry about. Anyone attending IBM Impact in May can see how seriously IBM is taking BPM. IBM’s customers and partners are taking it equally seriously. In the very last session of the day on the third day of the conference, our own session at Impact was full to overflowing – as were nearly all the BPM sessions at Impact all week long. IBM is hearing the message, and the investment in rationalizing their products into a much improved BPM offering is quite obvious to see for those of us in the trenches.

iTKO Acquired for $330 Million – Cash

Scott Francis — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 03:55:28 +0000

Congratulations to iTKO – “a leading provider of service simulation solutions for developing applications in composite and cloud environments, for $330 million in an all-cash transaction.“ iTKO has roots in Dallas and Austin – and a couple of very good friends of ours work there, including two of the founders (one of whom I had the good fortune of working with at a prior company, and the other I’ve had the good fortune of meeting socially).

It is always great to see a local company do well. But what makes it even more interesting to us at BP3 is that iTKO is also an IBM partner. They had a modest presence at Impact in 2010- with a small booth on the trade show floor. But then this year, 2011, they had a helicopter on the trade show floor, and they were one of the prime sponsors of the whole Impact event. That is quite a turn of events for a company that once upon a time did not believe in marketing. From the press release:

ITKO’s approach and pioneering service simulation technology has disrupted the traditional application development market. It also has rendered conventional application lifecycle management (ALM) methods and technology obsolete for organizations developing complex composite applications, employing agile development, and leveraging cloud services and components. ITKO customers are able to accelerate application delivery cycle times, improve the quality of services, and save millions in lab infrastructure and testing costs. ITKO’s more than 100 percent bookings and revenue CAGR over four years is a testament to their ability to work with the world’s largest enterprises and systems integrators.

ITKO’s LISA solution enables organizations to “mock up” a service at enterprise speed and enterprise scale—even if the application is unfinished or unstable or the physical resource is unavailable. LISA, which is used by more than 125 enterprise customers, virtualizes an environment by simulating the behavior of external services without actually invoking them—e.g. how a checkout or fulfillment process should interact with a service, without actually authorizing a credit card or putting a box on a truck. “What-if” capabilities offer a whole new way to understand how an application might behave if components are changed—e.g. swapping an internal RDBMS for a cloud-based database or changing package shippers.

Our hats are off to iTKO – and CA technologies, who acquired them. What a great success story -