The holistic buzz word

There is a lot of talk in the ECM and BPM worlds regarding taking a more holistic stance and approach on how best to implement solutions. It seems that to deliver greater business benefit, solutions either needs to communicate far more than typical integration is possible, or that silos that typically work together are in fact delivered as a single platform.

 

ECM, CRM and BPM

These three silos are often used together. CRM utilises both ECM (for storing unstructured content found in emails or letters) and BPM for managing particular processes. However, it is argued that because these are three silos, that often the user looses track of certain information, that the systems are rather cobbled together and as such, do not deliver the effectiveness they could if they were one.

One advocate of this is Andrew Smith, the managing director at One Degree Consulting and workFile ltd.

In an interview with eBizq.net, Andrew talks about the importance and benefits of taking a more holistic approach to how businesses work, and the processes they use. You can listen to the podcast here:

http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/2011/01/taking_a_holistic_approach_to.php

At workFile, they are driving towards a singular platform that delivers these three business functions in a particular fashion. They have termed this their @WE concept (Adaptive Working Environment).

A single platform

An @WE is to deliver a single platform for CRM, ECM and BPM while being completely adaptive to the needs of the business and end users. workFile believe this so much so, that they have broken away from their BPM module and re-invested in delivering something they term APG (Adaptive Process Guidance).

If you are looking for a better definition, then you can find one at http://www.workfilesuite.com/what-is-@WE.aspx

APG, Adaptive Process Guidance

This is a new term and essentially is a new way of tackling the same problem that BPM addresses, how to manage processes. APG though is quite different, people are at the centre of APG and as such, most processing rules are not enforced on the user, rather they are suggested (or the user is guided in their work). In addition, processes need not have an end result of a particular goal being reached, rather an objective can be set.

An objective is a process that contains no work as such, rather it uses information required in order to provide information as an when needed to the end user. This is seen as a true guide, or wizard guide, for processes that do not physically require work to be carried out on an object (such as a customer record, content files etc).

You can see workFile’s definition on APG here:

http://www.workfilesuite.com/downloads/The%20APG%20Definition.pdf

Conclusion

Holistic approaches are hot talking points. They make great sense as they are designed to see the bigger picture and therefore help business deliver better service experiences. If thats the case, then a more holistic approach will help organisations retain customer bases and give them a leading edge on their competition…

More reading…

For more reading on the APG debate, visit http://andrewonedegree.wordpress.com/

CRM, ECM, BPM flowcharts, Agile Case Management and Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS)

It’s a mouthful of a title isn’t it? But there are some big things happening here at One Degree with the workFile Vision suite. No sooner has version 1.0 been released, big changes are being made and put forward for version 2.0. Why is this? Well while the BPM industry looks to BPM 2.0, social BPM etc. A small band of BPM experts (a growing band)  are moving away from BPM as we know it. You may ask why?

Well first off, ECM, CRM and BPM (we will stick with BPM at the moment), are very much interlinked. Here at One Degree Consulting, we believe that these should be no longer seen as a single silo, but rather part of one solution. Changes are being made to bring this functionality closer and close in the workFile Vision product. The new release is more about empowerment. By bringing together a single, complete customer file, by empowering staff with all the information they need at hand, by empowering them to actually engage with the customer (via conversation on the web, through social media activities, via physical mail or over the phone) and to empower employees to  make good decisions that satisfy the customer needs. If you have a single silo that delivers all this then you have the capabilities to influence your customers and therefore, your market position.

Customer experience

The customer experience is everything, Apple has shown the way in this, by giving customers a good experience, via their products (if they are lacking functionality), but most importantly via their service. An Apple store makes the customer feel special; the brand makes a customer feel wanted, apple engages with its developers and customers alike very well, and because of this Apple has turned around its fortunes. So customer experience is ultimately the only way to influence your customers and your market.

To help deliver this, businesses have traditionally looked to CRM, and or ECM and tried to cobble together solutions. But is the future not therefore a single silo, a single platform for both? And if this is the case, shouldn’t that system also be able to manage the businesses processes too? Bringing together ECM, BPM and CRM is the first step, and workFile Vision, may not be the first platform to do this, but will be one of those looking to the future and delivering a single silo approach…

Movement away from BPM

For some time now, individuals have pointed out that flowcharts and traditional BPM “mapping” tools etc. are too rigid. That if anything they restrict a business’s capability to empower staff and adapt to new ways of working, new tasks and new market forces. Here at One Degree Consulting, we have long complained of the capabilities and restrictions typical BPM maps place on BPM. If you follow, Andrew Smiths blog (our MD), then you will notice he has raised this a number of times (http://andrewonedegree.wordpress.com) . However, many have identified that Complex processes cannot be mapped, and so this has led to the birth, or break away from traditional BPM. Some great reading can be found at Max J Pucher blog. http://isismjpucher.wordpress.com/

Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) are solutions that help businesses to manage processes, while empowering users to update the process, to build new ways of working and to make key decisions. Because of this, such systems free the user from all the red tape, and enable them to do a good job. Don’t be fooled though that this means less efficient processes or a drop off in quality or there is less control, rather it is quite the opposite. CAS enforces quality while empowering users, there is no specific point within the process where you can jump out to “anomaly processing”, and everything is still audited for control. CAS is about detecting and the managing those new processes, processes that are detected ultimately by the user. CAS empowers the user to not only do their work, but to have their work “modelled” ready for other users to follow.

Will workFile Vision drop BPM

There has been talk that our own workFile Vision product will drop the term BPM. Though CAS is still about managing business processes, BPM has become a term (or technology) that people immediately link to a strict flowchart type map. This is not the correct view for workFile, and as such, the term may be dropped. If so the BPM module will become a thing of the past, probably to be replaced by CAS or some other term. The current BPM module still relies on aspects of intelligent business maps, but these are now being phased out, with developers working on a more CAS type solution. The replacement will be a simple status and rules based engine, with flexibility for integration being brought into a process based on the status of the piece of work, or the content that makes it up…There is also now talk of ECM being seen as too restrictive for workFile, as workFile delivers CRM and BPM with its ECM capabilities.

So what is the future for workFile Vision? Well the product has always been about introducing new ways of working, and it is only right that version 2.0 continues to deliver new ways of working to its customers and potential new customers out there. Andrew Smith stated:

“We want workFile to be at the forefront of thinking, I think a single silo that is highly adaptive and agile is the way of the future. We also want to be flexible in how workFile is delivered, so delivery to multiple platforms such as mobile will be included, in addition elements of cloud computing and synchronisation will also be looked at.”