XMPro makes sense of “IBO” in the world of “BPM” and “BI” with iBOS

Feb. 28, 2012 - PRLog -- A recent gathering at XMPro in Sydney saw XMPro’s CEO, Pieter van Schalkwyk expand his views on Intelligent Business Operations (IBO) - a term coined by Gartner, Forrester and other analysts as the next evolution in the convergence of Business Intelligence (BI) and Business Process Management (BPM).

The meeting held on the 27th February 2012 focused on IBO and its use in daily business operations. van Schalkwyk clarified the confusion surrounding IBO such its relevance, longevity and overall benefit to a company’s daily proceedings. Diverging from Gartner’s definition of IBO being a “style of work in which real-time analytic and decision management technologies are integrated into the transaction-executing and bookkeeping operational activities that run the business”, van Schalkwyk described it as being a “state of business” which is achieved as result of leveraging the power of: Structured and unstructured business processes to support a more flexible, knowledge style of work; encompassing dynamic, rules-based, event-driven processes guided by predictive analytics and business intelligence; and lastly integrating social collaboration processes.

Accentuating Gartner’s views on IBO becoming the practical solution to getting on top of the growing amount of data that managers and executives need to wade through, van Schalkwyk examined each component and featured real-life everyday examples of how each should be leveraged in an IBO solution. In the first session van Schalkwyk illustrated the magnitude of processes that typically occur in a business which are case driven and designed by a knowledge worker at real time. These unstructured processes are typically restricted by workflow solutions and end up functioning outside of a systems solution if not correctly integrated into the BI and BPM system. Once identified, the unstructured processes are designed to adjust process events according to the context of the process – van Schalkwyk’s second component. Here the systems’ data mining and predictive analytics should advise managers and users on the “Next Best Action” allowing for agile and flexible process rules that are still controlled and traceable. The last session focussed on the ability to incorporate social conversations in and around the business and its transactions which are crucial to mastering process improvements. Here the system’s ability to monitor social channels and turn “tweets into tasks” is essential in staying on top of constant change.

van Schalkwyk concluded that IBO should translate into better business decisions made by better informed and guided employees, customers and suppliers; empower knowledge workers to act in a non-prescriptive way to contextual knowledge within a governed and controlled framework;  allow for BI insights to become actionable;  turn BI dashboards into predictive guides (GPS’s) rather than rear view mirrors through visible process goals; and finally improve collaboration by harnessing social interaction.

The XMPro iBPMS is a Business Process Management solution designed for Intelligent Business Operations. It is a versatile solution that stays on top of business trends and ensures that businesses reap the full benefit of a process solution that is sporadic, ever-changing but essential in daily operations. The XMPro team has been actively involved in enterprise process management solutions for more than a decade. XMPro was established to build on this experience with a range of innovative process management solutions that have a strong focus on process performance measurement and improvement. XMPro is headquartered in Sydney, Australia with offices in the USA, UK, New Zealand and South Africa. To find out more about the iBPMS webinar series visit http://www.xmpro.com/newsroom/webinars on the XMPro website and follow the webinar links.

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XMPro is actively involved in specialist business process management solutions, providing a range of products and services to meet the various process needs that companies of all sizes may have.