Ideas for #BPMshift - Delenda est "vendor-centric #BPM" - How E2E optimisations with BPM are different from other enterprise-wise software initiatives?

This blogpost is an improved comment to the discussion Should Processes Be End-to-End? among BPM experts on BPM.com.

Many of participants consider that end-to-end (E2E) process optimisations are "Big Bang projects" which are more often "wasteful and expensive" and BPM should be deployed tactically. I disagree.

As an enterprise is a system of processes ( http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.no/2014/03/enterprise-as-system-of-processes.html ) then BPM (a trio of a discipline, architecture/practices and BPMS COTS products) is, by definition, strategic.

The essential beauty of BPM is that (unlike many other enterprise-wise software initiatives) BPM can improve the enterprise incrementally with the pace of the business and in accordance with the business priorities.

• It is not mandatory to model all business processes up-front.
• Doing E2E process does not imply one huge project – just proper governance of several mini-projects.
• It is possible to start small with mini-projects and build them up together.
• The next E2E “place” to improve can be determined by the business dynamically.
• Each incremental improvement may combine business improvements and technological improvements.

Often, E2E processes cannot be presented as a “normal” business process template. It is actually, a group of processes which are coordinated by other than “classic” template techniques (e.g. event-based technique, see  http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.fr/2014/03/coordination-techniques-in-bpm.html ).

To add other coordination techniques to current BPMS, it is necessary to go to enterprise architecture (or enterprise application architecture) level. This make E2E process optimisation project difficult for “classic” BPM specialists.

Right way of doing E2E business process optimisation implies:

1. doing the overall architecture ( consider a platform for execution of your business );
2. knowing how to build a platform incrementally ( http://improving-bpm-systems.blogspot.fr/search/label/PEAS ), and
3. carring out several mini-projects ( give them to “classic” BPMers ) under strong governance. 

If the architecture and governance are good then mini-projects can be done in parallel, thus the whole implementation can be shorter and smoother.

Thanks,
AS