Is BPM becoming redundant?

Business Process Management (BPM) has been rattling in the enterprise space for more than two-decades now. But off-late 'have been coming across discussions and pointers echoing thoughts like "Is BPM really relevant for enterprises?"; "Is BPM becoming redundant?" or "Is BPM already dead?". Well, personally for me having worked in the BPM space (across multiple product suites) for more than 15+ years (luckily since Day-1 of my corporate inception) - it is definitely not a welcome statement and sometimes sounds absurd if not backed by any rationale but just goes by the chaos in the enterprise jungle.

Hang-on! I did not defer the question, but let me try explaining my thoughts in detail: 'Believe the key reasons for this perspective around BPM being questionable in the enterprise ecosystem is three folds:

1. Market Trends

Products have evolved over time and in this transition, where we want to empower business users, improve developer experience, create faster go to market solutions, abstract complex business logic or reduce multiple lines of code and provide model driven visual programming experience – No-Code / Low-Code Platforms become catchy with the name, and business got an edge (as they were always the sponsor and now running the show themselves with limited IT involvement [again situational or debatable] makes them feel to have better control). Other buzz words like citizen developers or app-makers or taglines like “ideas-to-apps in weeks” etc. – created a step-change in the thought process [mind-game precisely]. Additionally, we have iPaaS and SaaS tools providing workflow kind of features (not extensive like heritage BPM providers) but comply partly with some requirements and get positioned as a stop-gap tactical solution

2. Evolution of Products

The BPM product for the past few years if we track, have added every possible disruptive trend under the digital umbrella as a capability. You say IoT, CRM, AI/ML, Design Thinking, Low Code, No Code, Cloud, DevSecOps etc… every product will have their hand raised in the air “YES I CAN – I have this capability”. And this key driving force or approach in making the mark felt in the ecosystem, wherein the evolved products suffice all capability needs of the enterprise and put a tick in a box for all requirements/usecases. This is definitely a great leap for BPM and a drum-roll moment. But in parallel, it has also led to a competitive ecosystem battling for new features or capabilities with partnership or acquisition (think about RPA, AI/ML the dust has settled a bit … the current hot topic being Process Mining). Every product may brand it separately but more or less if you see it's like a product with the tagline “LEVERAGE ME FOR ALL ENTERPRISE NEEDS – I will address it some way or the other”. But if you see logically, it can also look like a monolith! [not literally but with features, pricing, capabilities etc…]. This is where smart pricing, features or capabilities as a service or better together strategy with other ecosystem products will make BPM adoption more permeable in the enterprise landscape

3. Skill Scarcity or Costly Resourcing

At times skills in the market also add to the decision making, if it becomes costly to execute a project based on overall RoI (including resourcing), talent availability for ensuring continuity of the project and importantly duration to make an identified candidate productive [orientation, training enablement, certification etc..] – it will make the customer think twice or revalidate the requirement. Its human tendency, if we can get something done in a lower price then why spend more. The democratization and ease of usage of low-code no-code tools with visual programming or open-source tools with low cost has kind of stumped the existing marquee products and banners [even though the low-cost products scratch on the surface of digital transformation with few features in the catalogue]

Hope you are with me so far!...

This is where the enterprises are in a “FIX” – what are we paying for? what are we actually using? and will we use this feature in future? To cite a raw example, if the need is to just talk to anyone, we have so many options whatsapp, facetime, phone calls [with sim] etc… does iPhone or a Nokia 1100 make a difference. It depends on the usage and what ecosystem we have [cellular network/ tower or WiFi or Data Pack] and what additional or supplementary features am interested in. Similarly with customers having diversified investment, it also raises this concern where to draw a line for usage of tools based on the price they pay vs the capabilities they leverage vs the fear of vendor-lock-in [to avoid monopoly of the product/tool] e.g consider an enterprise landscape having products with overlapping capabilities for sales, services, campaign, marketing etc. – the BPM usage has always been clear as an orchestrator or as a case management platform but how to justify that with other investments or the capability in the mix is posing a challenge.

In addition, there are jargons or terms like hyperautomation, integrated automation, intelligent automation, digital process automation etc. that adds to the equation or confusion precisely (as we tend to map these terms to full-stack products which is a myth). Enterprises are always on their toes with questions like has our architecture become obsolete? do we need a tech refresh? or do we have the latest capability features of the product? or have we become a digital /technology laggard? Defining an e2e automation roadmap is key for customers embarking on digital transformation journeys, but it has to be thought through from a customer viewpoint not through the Product Lens where we tend to cut corners from a fitment perspective.

Another raw example to cite: There is an interesting concept around the type of products you are building/using and if it falls under the vitamins or painkiller category [neatly voiced out in the book HOOKED by Nir Eyal]

• PAINKILLERS address a problem and give a soothing effect. It is like a problem-solving kind of solutions/product. While the other category includes
• VITAMINS where we keep taking pills/capsules/tablets/tonics, but we are not sure of its impact, advantages or RoI. But it's just a feel-good factor and an assumption may be something is working and increasing my immunity. Additionally, we take vitamins regularly and subconsciously, but it does not solve a problem immediately.

Same applies for BPM or DPA platforms. Earlier BPM Suite offerings were more like painkillers [addressing a problem statement bang-on – process orchestration, digitization, paperless-office, front-office back-office modernization/automation etc..], but now with DPA Suites, we have tons of supplementary features around the core offerings [i.e. Painkiller + Vitamins Combo]. And you can decide what suits your enterprise needs. Increase immunity of the enterprise ecosystem for the long race and be fit enough or just pop pain killers and keep addressing the problems as and when they resurface. But, having said that after a certain point the intake of VITAMINS may become a habit and generate traits of a PAINKILLER e.g., we need to have personalization, chatbot, omni channel experience, Cloud readiness devops, RPA etc…

In summary, for the question Is BPM becoming redundant? The answer is NO. But a times the reactions are a bit situational and very much based on business complexity, approach, roadmap, investments by customer, involvement of business or IT, go to market strategy etc.

• If a customer has a designated Chief Architect who knows what, where, why, when, how and who will do the job, in simple words clarity in thought then he/she will question a packaged black-box BPM/DPA tool [doing a complete fish bone analysis what if I use it as-is, build it ground up, customize/configure it and pricing paid for license]. And this is where most of the discussions and debates start – to justify or not to justify.
• If a customer is embarking on a digital transformation journey and does not want to depend on multiple tools rather just have one vendor or tool onboarded for all purpose [ease of discussion, negotiation, dependency, vendor onboarding etc.] then enterprise leading DPA suites roar in the ecosystem. Advantage here is not in short term but long term where you make the best use of the product/platform at enterprise scale and the license usage becomes lean over time - which is key!
• If customer is looking for a ready-made skeleton or feature to get extra mileage it makes sense to go for established BPM products with its industry frameworks or strategic app for KYC, Client Lifecycle Management, Fraud, Dispute etc.
• There is also a myth, wherein state transitions (storing assignment status in database), fancy UI like Angular/React with a relational database combo for traversing from one screen to other or leveraging serverless functions in a microservices architecture is also considered as a workflow, which is far-far away from reality and a small fraction of key traits of a BPM platform
• Lastly, even though we debate about usage of BPM or low code no code platforms, every enterprise these days are using a mix of it and it is indispensable. And we have seen instances of Emerging Technologies teams evaluating and adopting other LC/NC products in conjunction with leading BPM/DPA suites. Top-5 reasons

1. it keeps the customer ahead of the game in the digital enlightenment
2. creates a competitive ecosystem with the other products in the mix
3. use the tools smartly based on some defined assessment criteria like usecase, volume, complexity etc.
4. balance the overall Costing and RoI in the enterprise
5. lastly, balance the Happiness Index between Business & IT :-)

• The usecase we define will definitely play a critical role in trying to bucket it whether it requires a BPM or non-BPM tool involvement. As a simple thumb rule, if the application is a high value low complex scenario – low-code no-code or light-weight BPM implementation will suffice; if it is a high value high complex scenario (involving lot of integration) – a strategic approach with a BPM tool or process optimization will have a key role to play; lastly if it is a low value high complex scenario it can remain in the wish list of customers.

NET:NET

It is inevitable to have organizations with no processes / value-streams at the core. As long a enterprises have processes be it onboarding, order mgmt., manufacturing, claims, dispute or any customer journey orchestration, BPM will always act a foundational pillar/bedrock you like it or not

There is an interesting discussion by BPMInstitute.org - conversation between Dr. Setrag Khoshafian & Gregg Rock on a similar topic "Is BPM Dead?" - link

What's your take on this? Any Thoughts?

[Disclaimer: View presented in the article are personal and does not reflect the views of any organization]