SaaS BPM: Silencing the Skeptics (Strategic Focus)

Overview 1
Catalyst 1
Summary 1
Key Messages 2
The market for SaaS BPM is still nascent but is picking up momentum 2
The argument for SaaS BPM will become more compelling as processes move off-premise 2
Some parts of the BPM stack are naturally suited to the SaaS model 2
Most vendors are still divided on whether to offer complete execution in the SaaS model 2
Competition is sparse given market immaturity-existing vendors could reap benefits now 2
Prudent go-to-market strategies should target maximum payoff areas of SaaS BPM first 2
Table of figures 4
Table of tables 4
Market Impact 5
The key to BPM's success in the recession is in its ability to facilitate change 5
The ongoing recession has caused rapid changes in business 6
Business changes warrant a transformation in processes 7
Process changes have been driven by external factors and industry events 8
Processes are no longer confined to companies' firewalls alone 8
Growth in outsourcing will bring about a need for process visibility and flexibility 8
The success of cloud computing ensures that more applications move to the cloud 8
BPM will have to evolve with current business changes 9
SaaS BPM to experience growth over the longer term 10
Vendor and end-user data, though sparse, point to growing interest 11
A SaaS BPM maturity model 13
The path to SaaS BPM contains opportunities and challenges 14
Technology Evolution 15
A BPM suite can be deconstructed into five core and two secondary layers 15
Process modeling and design is best suited to SaaS 16
Collaboration is easier in the cloud 17
Many vendors provide modeling capabilities in the cloud 17
Business rules could be the next to move to the cloud 18
Process discovery and project scoping are challenging in the SaaS model 18
All other parts of the BPM stack require execution in the cloud environment 19
Process analytics: integration with on-demand BI dashboards 20
Mashups and composites can be governed with SaaS BPM 21
SaaS BPM technology is just picking up momentum 22
Customer Impact 23
SaaS BPM will add new impetus to the business IT alignment exercise 23
BPM in the SaaS model could bring back the modularity in the BPM stack 23
SaaS BPM could enable business users to build and modify processes with minimal IT intervention 24
SaaS BPM will improve budgeting accuracy and direct budgets to business cases 24
Infrastructure investments will be closely scrutinized in the recession 25
SaaS BPM will further the case for IaaS and help tie new investments to business action 25
Impact: SaaS BPM to monitor its own infrastructure usage 25
SaaS BPM will help capture tacit knowledge from process participants 26
Capturing tacit knowledge could be critical while mapping processes 26
Social, collaborative user environments can remove perception barriers to knowledge capture 27
SaaS-based modeling solutions are ideal for engaging a larger number of participants 27
Hybrid implementations could transform the BPM deployment lifecycle 28
Manual discovery, modeling, and testing could overlap during deployment 29
Manual discovery can be executed better in SaaS deployments 29
Modeling will be a natural extension to manual process discovery 30
SaaS could align model development and testing to agile practices 30
Execution, monitoring and optimization in the cloud may not significantly affect deployment 31
SaaS BPM will make the modeling process inclusive 31
Competitive Landscape 32
Possessing a SaaS strategy could be the next frontier for differentiation 32
SaaS BPM applications will broaden the scope of the market 32
Vendor diversity and specialization will decide the SaaS strategy 34
Traditional BPM specialists will be at forefront of the SaaS wave 34
Some BPM specialists now offer components of their BPM suite in the SaaS version 35
Some of these specialists have managed to tap into the underpenetrated SMB segment 35
A distinct category of BPM platform specialists may emerge 36
Generalist PaaS providers could jump in with process-based applications 37
Middleware and application conglomerates may be the last to adopt SaaS 37
Competition will be low at the leading end of SaaS BPM over the medium term 38
Go to Market 39
Distinguish between delivery options and go to market strategies 39
What to sell: capture the low hanging fruits first 40
Manual discovery is easiest to sell and has clear, demonstrated benefits for customers 40
Business rules, simple workflows, other BPM capabilities linked to ECM could be next 41
ECM-linked BPM could take off 41
Testing and simulation can be offered through PaaS eventually 41
How to sell: partner extensively to expand reach 41
Who to sell to: target the users for which enterprise IT cannot cater 42
Develop go-to-market approaches based on your intended SaaS strategy 44
Bottom-up approach: tools vendors 44
Top-down approach: customized applications vendors 45
APPENDIX 46
Definitions 46
Methodology 46
Further reading 46
Ask the analyst 47
Datamonitor consulting 47
Disclaimer 47
List of Tables
Table 1: How do you expect your IT budget to change in 2009? 7
Table 2: Should execution be offered in the cloud? 19
List of Figures
Figure 1: There has been a noticeable dip in IT buyer confidence from last year 6
Figure 2: Some parts of BPM are better suited to SaaS than others 10
Figure 3: SaaS BPM maturity model with two principal solution evolution scenarios 13
Figure 4: BPM suite and its environment 15
Figure 5: Traditional BPM deployment timeline waterfall 28
Figure 6: Hybrid BPM deployment timeline waterfall 29
Figure 7: Growth rate in the BPM market up to 2014 33
Figure 8: Future segmentation of BPM market 34
Figure 9: Greenfield opportunities are maximum in enterprises below 1,000 employees 36
Figure 10: A reference framework for pertinent go-to-market strategies 39
Figure 11: Three paths to the BPM cloud market 44