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Say it aint Silo May 4, 2009

Posted by workflow in BPM, BPM Applications, Business Silo Management, Business Silos, workflow.
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Much of what we do in the BPM/Workflow space has to due with bridging the gap between business silos within organizations. All businesses of a certain size have them, and in the majority of cases they contribute to inefficiency. However since all businesses have them, are business silos not always a bad thing. Therefore what should you look for to determine when bridging a silo is just, a bridge to far.

Silos come into being for a number of reasons like: companies or generally hierarchical in nature, they may have had mergers and acquisitions, poor planning or just different requirements. Sometimes silos are formed instantly but generally they form over a period of time.

So when is a silo a good thing or at least not all bad?

Well in some cases similar IT systems may be replicated in various degrees within an organization but due to different requirements these may be a requirement. This could be related to the general cultural or geographic requirements of a silo.

Silos provide a level of security. They intrinsically act like firewalls.

Finally there is the possibility of information overload. Putting all the information in one place when the majority of information and features might be visible but inapplicable across the business silos is unwise.

It is important to consider when developing BPM applications what the negative effects will be for technology with respect to silo bridging. It is also important to consider the political effects as well but that is a blog for a different day.

The Size of the BPM Market November 24, 2008

Posted by workflow in BPM, Business Process Management, Market, Market Research, workflow.
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So what is the size of the BPM market and how fast will it be increasing?  Well the answers vary a little bit so I will try and average it out a little bit.

In 2007 Gartner said the size was $1.0B and would grow to $2.6B in 2011

In 2007 Forrester said the size was $1.6B in 2006 and would grow to $6.3B by 2011

In 2007 IDC predicted a market size of $5.5B in 2011 at a 5 year growth rate of 44% therefore they had the 2007 market size pegged at $1.28B

In 2007 Datamonitor said the market size was $1.4B a predicted a 14.5% growth rate.

In the below table I have extrapolated the yearly market size based on the end points and a constant growth rate.

Analyst 2008 2009 2010 2011 Growth %
IDC 1.84 2.65 3.82 5.50 44.0
Forrester 2.70 3.61 4.77 6.30 32.0
Gartner 1.26 1.61 2.05 2.60 27.0
Datamonitor 1.60 1.83 2.10 2.40 14.5
AVERAGE 1.86 2.42 3.20 4.20 29.5

 

So as you can see the current size of the market is not that different but the expectations on growth are fairly significant.  Also please keep in mind that these estimates were done pre financial crisis.  It will be interesting to see in which way the crisis effect the BPM industry.  I know the company I work for has actually experienced a sharp spike in customer enquiries since the down turn.

Workflow Design, Logic Synthesis and Multi Level Logic Minimization September 4, 2006

Posted by workflow in AS IS Process, BPM, Logic Gates, Logic Synthesis, MLLM, Multi Level Logic Minimization, VLSI, business rules, future, workflow, workflow circuitry, workflow patterns.
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First let me try and tell you what I am babbeling on about.

What is logic synthesis?  According to Wikipedia Logic synthesis is a process by which an abstract form of desired circuit behavior (typically register transfer level (RTL) or behavioral) is turned into a design implementation in terms of logic gates.

What is Multi Level Logic Minimization?  Well once we have reduced a circuit into gates MLLM uses a series of computer algorithms to redesign the circuit using as few gates as possible.

Why should I mention this in the workflow blog?  Well first off workflow design and circuit design are VERY similar.  You only need to look at the www.workflowpatterns.com and see how so many of the patterns are common logic circuit gates.  Second with the uptake of workflow software I think that workflows may become more complicated because the added power will allow people to create more complicated and more variable business rules (but that is a different debate).  In addition workflow systems are being used to handle larger and larger systems with more and more integration.  So effectively our workflow circuitry is getting bigger.  This means it will become more and more difficult for a mean mortal to optimize the workflow.  This is where MLLM steps in. 

Imaging one day having a system that does the requirements gathering from the users and then hitting a magic button and a workflow system is created.  This created system is not an electronic version of the current ‘AS IS’ process but a 100% optimized and re-designed system.  The time delay from when a business decision maker makes a business decision could be non-existent…..maybe I am just dreaming.