BPM: Heating Up The Market — AIIM Research Shows Increased Growth And Renewed Focus For Business Process Management (BPM) In 2009

Recent AIIM research of 354 end users found that 56 % of respondents indicated that they have implemented BPM projects ranging from departmental and cross departmental to enterprise-wide. The research report , entitled "Business Process Management (BPM): Leveraging Competencies and Streamlining Processes to Achieve Operational Excellence", also found that the remaining 44% of respondents indicated that they have not yet begun a significant BPM project as yet, but plan to do so in the coming year—a definite indication that there is a growing focus on process improvement.

When asked which area of the business was the focus of their implementation, the largest segment showed back office operations for the primary project followed closely by IT, Human Resources and Customer Service. In relation to the type of process that are BPM-enabled, 37% cited a balance between transactional and document centric processes while 31% said their focus was on transactional processes and another 20% focused specifically on document-centric processes. When asked, "who is responsible for defining the business process rules and logic?" 54% responded that this responsibility rests on either the individual process owner or line of business manager.

Respondents also cited that they feel the lack of interchange standards between process modeling and execution tools remains an issue while exception handling and interfaces follow close behind. If offered the option of using an Open Source solution, 52% indicated that they would consider it while those who said they would not, cite lack of support as the main reason.

The drive toward BPM is clear. More organizations are gaining a better understanding of BPM, more capable of identifying areas where BPM will make significant improvement, and the potential benefits it has to offer. Reflecting this growth in the BPM market, AIIM has seen significant increase in interest and enrollment of their internationally recognized Business Process Management (BPM) Certificate Training programs.

According to Bob Larrivee, AIIM Director and Industry Advisor, "The findings of this report indicate that a majority of respondents believe that their organizations as a whole are at "process ignorance" rather than "process excellence." The AIIM Market IQ report additionally confirms that Business Process Management has taken center stage to meet the needs of most businesses and that the establishment of BPM environments and practices continues to provide the greatest benefit in relation to operational efficiency." He continues, "The AIIM BPM Certificate program helps organizations learn how to structure, identify, map, and improve business processes using best practice examples. Attendees who successfully complete these programs earn the designation of Practitioner in understanding the fundamentals and concepts of BPM, Specialist in understanding the implementation process of a BPM project, and Master for demonstrating an applied understanding of the concepts and process against an actual case study."

Information about AIIM's six Certificate Training Programs can be found at www.aiim.org/training

About AIIM
AIIM (www.aiim.org) is the community that provides education, research, and best practices to help organizations find, control, and optimize their information.

For over 60 years, AIIM has been the leading non-profit organization focused on helping users to understand the challenges associated with managing documents, content, records, and business processes. Today, AIIM is international in scope, independent, implementation-focused, and, as the representative of the entire enterprise content management (ECM) industry- including users, suppliers, and the channel - acts as the industry's intermediary.

AIIM was founded in 1943 as the National Microfilm Association and later became the Association for Information and Image Managment. AIIM is also known as the Enterprise Content Management Association.

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SOURCE: AIIM