Five Trends That Will Shape The Business Process And Applications Profession In 2008

Many business process and applications professionals rightfully focus their attention on the immediate project at hand, like an application upgrade or specific process improvement project. Yet many point to a lack of insight into future trends as an inhibitor to their effectiveness and development. Numerous trends will affect the business process and applications professional in 2008, but pay close attention to five in particular — three concern next-generation applications and architectures, and two center around becoming a more business-process-oriented organization. These trends are: Dynamic Business Applications; Web 2.0 and tech populism; software-as-a-service (SaaS); business process centers of excellence (COEs); and the evolving business analyst role.