There’s an interesting discussion taking place on the ebizQ forum right now.
What is the single most important factor in assuring BPM’s success ?
There’s a definite tilt towards both education and buy-in being the common factors, but there’s a lot of vendor driven direction, the question asks for BPM success, not BPMS.
Again, if their hype cycle is to be believed, Gartner reckons it’s another decade before the method adoption in the enterprise hits mainstream and yet people calculate success purely based on using BPMS. I’d have thought after 20 years or so both method and tool could co-exist happily but there’s still division in the ranks.
Seriously, if you gave your BPM product to a child would you expect them to successfully implement it, no matter how easy it was to use ? I don’t see an illiterate man knocking out a blockbuster without knowing how to read, write and understand literature, so don’t expect the business to knock out efficient processes and business strategy aligned to customer goals using a tool without understanding what BPM is in the first place.
Education leads to Buy-in simply because you understand exactly what you’re being asked to sponsor through the knowledge and articulation of the concepts and goals of BPM. And from education and buy-in comes Capability. The capability to succeed in implementing a true BPM culture.
And from capability comes the Maturity to wield a process powerhouse in the form of BPMS.
The scariest moment is always just before you start.
Stephen King
Stop trying to achieve warp speed before you can break the 88mph limit.
Footnote: I have a perfect example of an organisation who had bought in Capability before Education. The result was that many senior managers weren’t convinced it was going to work, therefore little Buy-in. Get the mix the wrong way round and it’s a Molotov cocktail you’re shaking up, not a Vodka Martini…..
