For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Lean: The New Business Technology Imperative

Lean Thinking Is Central To The Shift From IT To BT

by Connie Moore, Clay Richardson, John R. Rymer, Ted Schadler, Dave West, September 29, 2009

Everyone wants to be lean these days, whether when stepping off a scale in the morning or reviewing the cost of running a successful business. But just how do you define "Lean" — especially in the context of business and technology? Do you think of Lean . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

The Business-Oriented Business Analyst

Break Out Of Your Comfort Zone To Find The Fast Track To Leadership

by Andy Salunga, June 17, 2008

Traditionally, business analysts (BAs) who report into business units or functions rather than IT have focused on building deep expertise to support and lead efforts within their functions, such as finance, supply chain, HR, and others. However, disruptive . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Forrester's Process-Driven Organizational Framework Best Practices Self-Assessment  (85 KB XLS)

by Andy Salunga, April 18, 2008

Forrester's Process-Driven Organizational Framework distills findings from our discussions with hundreds of business process and applications professionals to identify the crucial attributes for building a process-oriented organization. The framework . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Forrester's Framework For Process-Driven Organizations

Use Our Self-Assessment To Evaluate And Boost Your Organization's Process IQ

by Andy Salunga, April 18, 2008

The global 24/7/365 economy is requiring organizations to realign along core processes that not only cross functions and divisions, but quite often time zones, languages, and outsourced business partners. This flatter, dynamic world places a premium on . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

What Process Experts Need To Know About SOA

by Andy Salunga, April 9, 2008

In recent years, as enterprise architecture and process professionals have begun to work together more closely, overlaps have been emerging between service-oriented architecture (SOA), business process management (BPM) solutions, and process improvement . . .

For CIOs

Applying Lean Thinking To IT

CIOs Must Change IT's Workaround Culture To Stimulate Innovation

by Alexander Peters, Ph.D., January 4, 2008

Lean thinking is a powerful methodology that can help IT maximize the real value from technology spending. Lean is both a process improvement tool and a means to transition an IT culture from one of workaround and ambiguity to one of continuous improvement, . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Making The Marriage Work: Lean, Six Sigma, And The Business Process Maturity Model

by Andy Salunga, November 21, 2007

Traditionally, Lean and Six Sigma have been viewed and utilized as distinctly separate methodologies to analyze and improve processes. Rather than employing them separately, many process gurus now advocate a marriage of the two for more dramatic process . . .

For Enterprise Architecture Professionals

The IC-BPMS Reference Architecture Model

Choosing A Comprehensive SOA-Based Framework For BPM And Integration

by Ken Vollmer, October 2, 2007

Integration-centric business process management suites (IC-BPMSes) have become the leading alternative for organizations seeking to implement combined business process management and integration capability that is based on a service-oriented architecture . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

People-Centric Applications Support Lean

CDC Factory Focuses On The Critical Process Owners — That Is, The Operators

by Roy C. Wildeman, September 27, 2007

Lean manufacturing programs encounter all kinds of roadblocks, including operators who are frustrated and disengaged from the information systems. Designing for people — a principle demonstrated by CDC Factory's operations execution system — helps reinforce . . .

For CIOs

COBIT 4.1: Making A Comprehensive Governance Framework Actionable

by Craig Symons, August 22, 2007

When the IT Governance Institute (ITGI) released COBIT 4.0 in 2005, it significantly expanded the scope and value of COBIT as a formal overarching governance framework. At that time, Forrester recommended that clients seriously evaluate it for adoption. . . .

For CIOs

Transforming IT With Strategic Measurement

Using The IT Balanced Scorecard To Drive Organization Change

by Craig Symons, April 30, 2007

Forrester Research has identified three different IT archetypes: Solid Utility, Trusted Supplier, and Partner Player. These IT archetypes are based on the role C-level executives expect of IT, and they define the capabilities on which IT must focus to . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

BPM Best Practices For Process Professionals

Use BPM As A Methodology For Business Transformation

by Colin Teubner, January 12, 2007

Forrester interviewed 15 user companies with experience in business process management suite (BPMS) implementations, and we uncovered vital best practices for any organization embarking on a BPM initiative. Our advice falls into three major categories: . . .

Comparing Your IT Shop To Others

Benchmark The Right Way To Gain Useful Insights

by Alex Cullen, January 10, 2007

CIOs should strive to improve organization effectiveness and value. One popular way to focus on IT performance improvement is to compare an IT organization's performance to other firms through benchmarking that exclusively focuses on comparing IT costs. . . .

For Customer Experience Professionals

Experience-Based Differentiation

How To Build Loyalty With Every Interaction

by Bruce D. Temkin, January 2, 2007

With more access to information, more sensitivity to price, and less sensitivity to advertising, customers are getting harder to win and keep. Organizations try to woo these empowered consumers with mediocre customer experiences — but it won't work. Firms . . .

Voice Of The Customer: Five Levels Of Insight

by Bruce D. Temkin, December 1, 2006

Our research uncovered five levels of voice of the customer activities: relationship tracking, interaction monitoring, continuous listening, project infusion, and periodic immersion. Companies should create formalized programs that address these different . . .

From Relationship To Demand Management

IT's Relationship Managers Will Be Focus For Aligning Business And IT

by Bobby Cameron, October 3, 2006

IT relationship management (IT RM) provides the most important single interface between IT and its internal business customers. But while IT RM is now a common IT capability, it remains too focused on today's development projects to support the emerging . . .

Casewise Turns BP Modeling Into Flexible Metadata Management

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q3 2006

by Henry Peyret, Colin Teubner, Daniel Krauss, September 29, 2006

Casewise is a Strong Performer in the BP modeling tools market, shining particularly with life-cycle management capabilities and the support of multiple templates. But the lack of design usability and an older product architecture prevent Casewise from . . .

iGrafx: The Business Process Modeling Tool For Manufacturing Companies

The Forrester Wave™: Vendor Summary, Q3 2006

by Henry Peyret, Colin Teubner, Daniel Krauss, September 29, 2006

With its strong simulation and life-cycle management capabilities and dedicated versions for quality improvement, iGrafx fits particularly well for manufacturing companies. The vendor's large indirect sales approach (which reaches beyond the common reseller . . .

ITIL Simulators Demonstrate The Value Of Process Models

by Chip Gliedman, September 1, 2006

The decision to adopt a formal process model for IT service management, such as the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) model often seems to require a leap of faith. BMC Software, CA, and Hewlett-Packard, as well as third-party consulting and training organizations . . .

Process-Oriented Insurance Will Drive BPO

by Marc Cecere, August 23, 2006

Insurance companies will gradually move away from geographic and product silos, focusing more on cross-domain business processes. To do this, they will identify processes that can be implemented with common systems and configured for local needs. This . . .

ACORD Process Models: The Impact Will Be Long Term

IBM's Insurance Application Architecture Will Help Standardize Processes

by Marc Cecere, July 17, 2006

IBM's donation of Insurance Application Architecture (IAA) process models and a data dictionary to ACORD will have a significant impact on the insurance industry. However, these models still require vetting by ACORD's members, implementations by software . . .

How CIOs Drive Change Using Visibility Pressure

CIOs Can Use Visibility To Motivate Business Execs To Do The Right Thing

by Bobby Cameron, June 27, 2006

Because they work with all of a firm's business units, corporate CIOs frequently see opportunities to innovate, improve process efficiencies, and cut technology costs. But IT governance structures and stovepipe business unit incentives frequently frustrate . . .

Anatomy Of An IT Balanced Scorecard Project

by Craig Symons, June 23, 2006

An IT balanced scorecard is not a dashboard, nor is it just another metrics program. It is a strategic measurement and management framework, and developing one requires significant effort and commitment. Implementation of the scorecard throughout the . . .

Organizing IT To Grow From Medium To Large

Historically Successful IT Shops Can Fail When The Firm Reaches $1 Billion

by Bobby Cameron, June 23, 2006

As firms grow from medium to large — from about $750 million to about $1.25 billion — CIOs often watch their previously successful IT shops apparently falling apart. But for many, this dysfunction amounts to growing pains: The loosely defined collaborative . . .

How IT Must Shape And Manage Demand

Influencing The Behavior That Consumes IT Resources

by Craig Symons, June 15, 2006

Good IT governance ensures that organizations obtain the maximum business value from their IT investments. IT demand management is a critical IT governance process that extends beyond merely aggregating requests for IT resources and automating workflow. . . .