Drawing on the expertise of thousands of IBM consultants from around the world, the new practice will provide solutions at all phases of process transformation, from enterprise strategy and governance to specific process solutions. IBM business process management (BPM) and service-oriented architecture experts will provide these services from a variety of locations in the U.S. and around the world.

According to Gartner, Inc.’s recent Magic Quadrant report for Business Process Management Suites, “Gartner estimates that the size of the BPMS software market in 2009 totaled $1.9 billion in revenue, compared with $1.6 billion in 2008 – an increase of 15%.” In that report, IBM’s WebSphere Lombardi Edition is positioned in the Leaders Quadrant.1 IBM’s BPM product portfolio, which is growing at a double-digit pace, includes offerings from IBM WebSphere software and technologies from IBM’s acquisitions of Lombardi and ILOG, as well as new offerings such as IBM Case Manager.

The practice IBM is introducing today is designed to help line-of-business executives rapidly deploy technology solutions to improve business processes and to create systems for enterprise governance and centers of excellence for BPM.

To gain a competitive edge, businesses need to make their core business processes flexible enough to support business growth while improving cost structures and productivity. This is driving growth in the market for BPM software and services, as demonstrated by IBM’s double-digit BPM software sales growth and the growth in consulting engagements across several major industries.

BPM enables line of business executives to control specific processes and associated tasks, giving them true ownership of the assets that are the life blood of their businesses. These technologies are simple for executives to use and understand and can drive increased return on investment. BPM technologies also empower leaders to identify opportunities for broader improvements such as application modernization and complex system integration, providing concrete business justification for the investment.

Among the clients IBM has worked with in BPM is Lincoln Trust Company, one of the leading independent US providers of self-directed IRA accounts, as well as recordkeeping, administrative and custodial services to 401(k) plans and other defined contribution plans

“Our business process management initiatives helped us survive and even thrive through the global financial crisis,” said Helen Z. Cousins, executive vice president and chief information officer, Lincoln Trust Company. “This practice is much needed to accelerate business improvements and give control to people in each department that really run the business every day.”

Regulatory compliance will be one of the areas the new BPM services practice will focus on. For example, in the US, IBM is helping health care payers prepare to comply with regulations that require the use of new diagnostic and procedure codes by October 1, 2013. Using IBM Transformation Accelerator and Manager for ICD-10 technology based on IBM’s BPM software, IBM consultants are helping clients comply with this mandate, known as International Classification of Diseases version 10 (ICD-10). The mandate requires payers to migrate from a system involving the use of 30,000 procedure and diagnosis codes to a new code set of more than 142,000.

In retail, key BPM drivers include the need for efficiency and customer satisfaction. For example, for a global retailer whose custom-built systems were no longer able to support the company’s growth, IBM consultants are building a solution that combines proven BPM methods with IBM software. The retailer will use a single dashboard to view information on all the products moving through its supply chain that will have automated rules for handling late shipments or other exceptions, as well as the flexibility the company needs to change business rules over time without custom coding.

“Business processes are the mechanism that allow companies to execute on their strategies,” said Michael Natoli, partner and BPM executive, IBM Global Business Services. “The mission of IBM’s BPM practice is to help clients rapidly transform business processes to better support their overall enterprise strategy.”

The new practice will be part of the GBS Application Innovation Services line and complements GBS’ broader portfolio.

Source:  Top-Consultant

Capgemini unveiled a new global service line that draws together its activities in Business Process Management (BPM). Capgemini’s end-to-end BPM approach treats business processes as assets that can directly contribute to client’s enterprise value and performance, to improve business impact.

Aiming for a top three position in the BPM market, Capgemini will extend its existing expertise and assets in Europe, USA and India, enforcing local BPM resources by applying the Rightshore concept, and using its BPM Centres of Excellence to catalyze the offering globally.

There is rising demand for BPM as organizations seek to be increasingly agile to adapt to rapidly evolving, competitive market conditions including global competition, changing legislation, and economic pressures with the need to speed up time-to-market, increase business value and lower costs. At the same time, BPM technologies are quickly developing to provide true, measurable value in enabling business process improvement.

According to Gartner, the BPMS (business process management suite) market size in 2009 was valued at $1.9 billion growing to $3.4 billion by 2014, a compound annual growth rate of 12.2%.

Michele Cantara, research vice president at Gartner said, “Many companies struggle with both cultural and organizational challenges when they make the shift from an application-centric to a process-centric approach to business process improvement, and they turn to Enterprise Service Providers for help. As BPM becomes a mainstream approach to improving processes, we see organizations seeking larger Enterprise Service Providers to support global roll out of BPM solutions. Increasingly, these buyers are also looking to Enterprise Service Providers for solution accelerators or process templates to automate the process gaps between applications.”

Capgemini will work with partners such as Oracle and Pegasystems – along with other BPM technology providers – and will initially focus on key markets across Europe and the United States.

Capgemini pinpoints the need for a step-by-step approach to BPM to effectively manage the development of business processes and avoid common pitfalls created by the sheer size and range of applications in place, differing stakeholder agendas and changing business demands. Applying its deep domain knowledge, Capgemini will leverage its worldwide capabilities to offer market-specific solutions that aim to quickly accelerate delivery for clients. Capgemini’s BPM global solutions portfolio will cover:

• Value & Performance Management
• Accelerated Business Analysis
• Leveraging BPM Technology using selected tools and platforms
• Unified Process Improvement
• End-to-end BPM Governance

Capgemini’s BPM methodology is employed to solve business challenges across numerous sectors ranging from case management in the public sector, claims transformation in insurance, order management in the telecommunications industry and lending transformation in financial services. Existing customers for whom Capgemini is already delivering BPM solutions, include insurance companies, bank offices, public agencies, telecom companies, engineering and utilities.

Capgemini also applies BPM to its own BPO service delivery, employing best practice process and leading technology to offer integrated, end to end platform solutions. Utilising an iterative, results-driven approach to continuously improve the processes managed, Capgemini BPO sells and delivers on-demand platform based “as a service” solutions for its clients via a selection of BPM tools.

Engbert Verkoren, Global leader BPM Service Line, Capgemini said “While technology is central to support business activities it is sometimes a roadblock for companies who require more agility. BPM Technology has matured and now makes it possible to solve this. Integrated into our end-to-end value driven method, organizations can now simplify their complex business models. Our approach will be to work in a genuinely collaborative way with clients to help them understand how to create sustainable value and continuous improvement with BPM.”

Source:  Top-Consultant