LAS VEGAS – IBM announced a new global consulting and services
practice to help companies improve the performance of core business
processes such as marketing, human resources and finance, as well as
industry-specific processes such as insurance claims, campaign
management and compliance.
Announced at the IBM Impact 2011
conference here, the new IBM Business Process Management (BPM) practice
will provide solutions at all phases of process transformation, from
enterprise strategy and governance to specific process solutions.
IBM’s BPM and service-oriented architecture experts will provide these
services from a variety of locations in the U.S. and around the world,
the company said. The practice will run out of IBM’s Global Business
Services (GBS) unit.
According to Gartner’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 percent.” 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. BPM enables line of business executives to
control specific processes and associated tasks, giving them ownership
of the assets that are key to their businesses. These technologies are
simple for executives to use and understand and can drive increased
return on investment.
Among the clients IBM has worked with in BPM is Lincoln Trust
Company, a provider of self-directed IRA accounts, as well as
recordkeeping, administrative and custodial services to 401(k) plans
and other defined contribution plans, IBM officials said.
“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 at
Lincoln Trust Company, said in a statement. “This practice is much
needed to accelerate business improvements and give control to people
in each department that really run the business every day.”
Among the services the new practice offers are: Analyzing core
processes, identifying gaps and creating a roadmap for process
transformation; developing a framework for enterprise-wide business
process governance; creating models for new, improved, and/or optimized
business processes; using BPM to better orchestrate work and integrate
disparate systems within and across the enterprise; and implementing
BPM-enabled solutions, IBM said.
In addition, regulatory compliance will be one of the areas the new
BPM services practice will focus on. For example, in the U.S., 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, IBM said.
Also, 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 at IBM Global Business Services, in a statement. “The mission
of IBM’s BPM practice is to help clients rapidly transform business
processes to better support their overall enterprise strategy.”
IBM said the new practice will be part of the GBS Application
Innovation Services line and complements GBS’ broader portfolio.
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