SharePoint 2010 Unites Collaboration With Processes — But Significant BPM Gaps Remain

Microsoft's SharePoint 2010 unleashed a host of improvements for line of business (LOB), security and compliance, developers, and the data center. But unlike Microsoft SharePoint 2007, which grouped a set of diverse technologies into a single platform, SharePoint 2010 takes dead aim at improving collaborative business processes by connecting people more directly to them and linking SharePoint 2010 with line-of-business apps. Visual Studio, SharePoint Designer, social features, enhancements to Visio, and improved enterprise content management (ECM) all directly benefit LOB process execution by bringing structured and unstructured work together. The SharePoint 2010 platform is not a business process management suite (BPMS), should not replace business BPM suites, and does not provide the needed infrastructure for continuous improvement; however, it does offer improved functionality for uniting Social Computing with business processes and connecting information workers to formerly siloed business processes.