Process-Driven Transformation Will Depend On Stronger Business-IT Partnerships

Business process transformation requires an unprecedented level of collaboration among business owners, process teams, and IT, three groups not accustomed to working together. IT usually limits participation to technical topics or doesn't get involved at all. Process teams lean toward methodologies for continuous improvement and can be technology phobic. And the business functions? While a small number of visionary execs seek transformation, the more populous but timid ones are content with incremental or continuous improvement that creates higher quality and greater productivity. As more companies become process-driven, CIOs will play a crucial role in process initiatives. Process transformation programs will fail without a radically new partnership among all three participants. This report identifies three archetypes for the business/IT/process team transformation partnership, provides mini-case studies, and predicts how companies will move from soloist acts to a full jazz orchestra for process transformation. It also outlines how CIOs will use process transformation to advance the enterprise's goals and their own career paths toward greater business engagement and responsibility as chief process officers.