Month: February 2009

Gartners Magic Quadrant wears thin?

Quite a debate has broken out in reaction to the latest release/retraction then rerelease of the annual Gartners BPM Systems Magic Quadrant. Join the discussion at http://bit.ly/LWcPK.
Here’s an extract from Theo Priestley…

The end of Gartner’s reign in my opinion.

I had a sneak preview at the latest MQ report from Gartner from a friend in a particular vendor who were very pleased to say the least to make the MQ for the first time…..however…..

This smacks of a major u-turn to fit either the market conditions today or getting ‘found out’ for leading organisations down a path they really didn’t need to go down. Honestly, I wonder how they got away with those MQ reports for so long. People take them far too seriously and their glorified SWOT analysis really only served to preserve a very uneasy status quo in BPM. There has been little real innovation in tools because this kind of paid advertising can backfire on a vendor who develops something out of the norm.

Are companies growing tired of their broad brush format and BPM changing little over the years ? Are they turning their backs on Gartner (I suspect Butler and Forrester will no doubt revamp their reports just to keep up) in droves to make their own decisions based on what fits their business not what Gartner tells them will fit ?

I know for a fact, I’ve been involved in vendor selection before and have been told to look at research but never to base the final decision on it. Research on BPM tools and methods should be impartial, fact based and tailored to the clients needs. It needs to go back to basics to the old approach where clients and customers ask for specifics to be investigated according to their needs, industry and future demands. Not a broad brush approach and a 20 page report covering every aspect, relevant or not.

Oil & Gas, Financial Services, Utilities, NFPs, Legal, Local Govt: they all use BPM(S) for different reasons and as such should have difference criteria to weight each tool upon. That means REAL research.

There is a need for this in the market place. In this time where resources are precious and decisions cost, can we afford not to have it.

Don’t give the Customer what they think they want

It is pretty much accepted wisdom these days that companies should be customer focused. It is however unfortunate that most companies go the wrong way about this by asking their customers what they want. Customers describe their requirements in terms of products and services and then when the company builds and delivers they are not desired or bought. Henry Ford put it very well…. {more}

The Evolution of Business Process Management (updated)

A theme of recent global conferences has been the mix of different approaches to improving business performance. This quest for business performance improvement as measured by reducing costs, improving revenues and enhanced service (also known as ‘the triple crown’) is a worldwide phenomena brought on by increasing competition, greater customer promiscuity, chaotic business cycles and more generally ‘globalization’. The pressure continues to increase and companies are seeking to extract every last opportunity out of their various initiatives and approaches. So what works best then?

Review the full article

BP Group Members can download a PDF of this article (with tables etc.)
and an associated Powerpoint presentation

To join the BP Group (it’s free) click here.

The Causes of Work

Every Customer Interaction is a Moment of Truth (MOT). Whether it’s person to person, person to system, system to person, system to system or person to product they are all Causes of Work.

That work in dealing with MOT’s creates internal handoffs, these are Breakpoints. Places where things can and do go wrong and we see them happening between people, systems and services all the time.

All our internal communications are in fact Breakpoints. For instance how many emails do you receive from colleagues and business partners daily? How many calls do you have to make to get the job done? How many ‘systems’ do you work with?

According to US research firm The Radi… [more]

Let’s talk Successsful Customer Outcomes (SCO) then…

How do Disney weave their magic?

The recent article ‘The World of Magic’ resulted in a series of questions around ‘what is the SCO?¨. Well as it is so often said it isn’t rocket science. In fact it has to be one of the simplest concepts available in business today – and yet so often missed. It is often so simple it is elegant, so let’s review what Disneys SCO might just be…

Most of us have been there. A car full of screaming kids eager to start their Disney vacation however trouble is you’ve driven six hours (or flown ten) and frankly the last thing you want to do is fight the car lot. Much better find that quiet hotel room and bar and chill until tomorrow? Not so. This is the kids vacation and they’re going to squeeze every minute out of the long awaited trip to the Magic Kingdom. So what say Disney in this situation? Do they leave you to fight the crowds, get incredibly irritated and leave you with a pile of now prickly family? Well no – they have been there too after all and it is real easy to see it from the customers point of view. {more}

Successful Customer Outcomes (SCO’s) and the world of magic

For many of us talking and acting the SCO way has become second nature.That means if you are eating and breathing the alignment of your processes towards SCO’s then progressively the original focus begins to shift and in fact we refine and sharpen our ability both to meet and subsequently exceed customer expectations. That’s precisely what is happening in the magic kingdom [more]