Web 2.0 and BPM. Social Networking and BPM of the Future « Leadership BPM. A couple of months ago, I saw an online video by Google about their upcoming Google Wave platform for social networking. As I watched it, my mind raced back to the early 1990s when Lotus was the rising star and was introducing Lotus Notes as a revolutionary new groupware platform. Lotus was a pioneer and coined the term “groupware” to define Lotus Notes as it was a new paradigm in those days and could not be defined using the IT lingo of the day.
Lotus defined “groupware” as a solution that empowers teams of people to work together by giving them three capabilities in a unified package, namely communications, collaboration, and coordination. Lotus called these “the 3 Cs of groupware.” In those days, the hot technologies were primarily email for communication, document management for collaboration, and workflow for coordination. Notes provided a single platform for all three of these capabilities, which was its key strategic differentiator. Like this: Like Loading... 10 Things You Don’t Need to Do In the Clouds. Sometimes a breakthrough paradigm shift eliminates the need for all kinds of things. Word processors and laser printers killed a lot of other things that were once thriving including typewriters, liquid paper, and Linotype machines.
So it is with the Cloud. When I chat with my Director of Operations at Helpstream, we’re always chuckling about how much better life is in the Amazon Cloud for our company. As I read through unread blog posts with Google Reader, I’m going to note 10 things we don’t need to worry about since we’re in the Cloud: 1. NetApp’s new DataDomain data de-duping product. NetApp bought a company with a cool technology. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. The Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) embodies much of what makes infrastructure as a service such a powerful technology; it enables our customers to build secure, fault-tolerant applications that can scale up and down with demand, at low cost. 9. 10. This is a high load application but it only runs three times a year. New IBM Appliance Delivers Enterprise Cloud Services. AlignSpace. Gartner Finds Most-Common SaaS Assumptions Are False > > I.
What has made it difficult for many companies to separate truth from fiction is the tremendous amount of hype around SaaS, the analyst firm says. Gartner has found that three of the top-five assumptions about the software-as-a-service delivery model are false, with the remaining two only half true. What has made it difficult for many companies to separate truth from fiction is the tremendous amount of hype around SaaS, the analyst firm said.
"A great number of assumptions have been made by users, some positive, some negative, and some more accurate than others," Gartner analyst Robert DeSisto said in a statement. "The concern is that some companies are actually deployingSaaS solutions, based on these false assumptions. " In applying a reality check on the leading assumptions, Gartner found the first to be true: SaaS is less expensive than on-premises software. Also false is the assumption that SaaS does not integrate with on-premises applications and/or data sources. More Insights. Multi-tenancy is Better for You - the Customer. "The bad thing with multitenancy is when it goes down, you guys write about it on the front page.
I don't want to be on the front page for anything bad. " Let me explain what this means for the customer versus the vendor by using an analogy. Airplanes carry a lot of people. When they go down or even have a small scare, they make front page news. This, over the years, has made aircraft manufacturers like Boeing and airlines that run them prioritize safety and trust over every other bell and whistle feature. Motorcycles are different. One goes down, a person dies. So what's safer? (Hint:Airplanes are one of the safest means of transport while motorcycles are the least safe - even though airplanes make headlines.) Trust First Multi-tenant software businesses work very hard to keep the systems up and running, to keep them safe, to earn and retain the trust of their customers - prioritizing it over bells and whistles. Single-tenant software is good for the vendor. » SaaS is surging in the downturn, says IDC | Software as Servic.
Market researcher IDC has published an upward revision to its market size projections for SaaS in 2009. At a time when most industries and economies around the world are slashing their growth forecasts into single digits or even negative territory, IDC now expects SaaS growth to surge by more than 40 percent in the current year. That's a significant move up from its previous forecast of 36% growth, published back in July when most economists were still trying to deny the onset of recession. SaaS's counter-cyclical boom is entirely due to the enhanced attractions of the model when times are bad, says IDC: "... the harsh economic climate will actually accelerate the growth prospects for the software as a service (SaaS) model as vendors position offerings as right-sized, zero-CAPEX alternatives to on-premise applications.
Don't you just love that definition of SaaS? "Right-sized, zero-CAPEX alternatives to on-premise. " » Oracle puts a price on single-tenancy | Software as Services. Oracle today announced a new centrally managed single-tenancy option for its SaaS CRM OnDemand application, along with various other features including unlimited custom objects.
Existing prices remain the same, at $70 per user per month for the multi-tenant version and $125 per user per month for the previously available single-tenant enterprise version, which is a completely independent instance for which the customer can dictate its own upgrade and patch schedules. The new 'standard' single-tenancy option comes in at $90 per user per month. It's still a dedicated server but, unlike the 'enterprise' option, Oracle decides when it gets patched and upgraded. "You can get your own stack of the application but we'll still manage it and maintain it on our standard schedules," Oracle's SVP of CRM OnDemand Anthony Lye (pictured) explained to me in a briefing late last week. What's the benefit? Business Processes and Cloud Computing.
Clouds and SaaS. While IT analysts and pundits are busy declaring SOA is dead, SOA has failed, and the downturn killed SOA, the hype of 2009 is Cloud Computing and the resurgence of Software as a Service (SaaS). (Microsoft Azure being a prime example.) In my discussions with my corporate clients, as well as from my own extensive corporate history, I'm finding that allowing key corporate data and processes to leave the walls of the company controlled data center is the main mental barrier to SaaS and Cloud Computing. Even though companies are outsourcing business processes and the associated data that goes with them - as well as outsourcing some applications to hosting providers - the thought of deploying their applications to an amorphous cloud and depending upon the vendor to just "support and provision it appropriately" is a mental leap they're not yet prepared to make.
Being that IT environment stability is a key IT operating factor, this is understandable. Process Perfection. Warning: this is a long, complicated post. But, as I've explained before, that's what I think a blog is for. If you want brevity, try Twitter. Caveat emptor. Cloud computing. Buzzword ascendant. And for a good reason -- it's a big deal. As with many buzzword ascendancies, this one is fraught with confusion. But I also think there is an essential truth lurking there. But I do think that there are at least two categories that have become distinct enough to identify and talk about, although as we'll see in the next few sentences, I'm going to struggle with naming them. Enterprise Cloud Computing But if you're an enterprisey CTO, that's not entirely unproblematic. What's important to understand, with regard to the Study Tour full of discontented CTOs, however, is that they were hoping for the definition of the category that is relevant to them -- they wanted to hear about the category "enterprise cloud computing".
One: the goal. There are enterprises using the cloud today. "The" Cloud. Think like a Startup and you too can Deploy in the Clouds. A lot of people are still trying to figure out if cloud computing makes sense for big corporations with years of legacy baggage. At the same time, almost everybody understands that cloud computing is a no-brainer for startups due to reasons such as low cost to entry and speed to market. What cloud computing is doing is making startups a huge competitive threat for some enterprises because they can move from concept to production in a fraction of time and cost that monolithic corporations can. My advice, start thinking like a startup! Here are two examples of how to act like a startup: Scenario #1 – Your company has asked you to build a new product or service from scratch.Solution – Build a team of hard working and open minded individuals and create a startup atmosphere.
What are some scenarios that you can think of? BPM 2.0 - A REST based architecture for next generation workflow. Abstract This presentation will cover our latest incubation under the name BPM Zero to look at how to do BPM as a Service. One reason for doing this is to make it simpler for customers to get into BPM without a huge investment. Key enabling technologies that made this possible is RESTful SOA and Cloud computing. In this talk, we will show you how to author collaborative business processes using a Web-based BPMN editor.
New business processes can be composed from existing assets such as feeds, emails, chats, repository, forms, back-end services, business rules, databases, and can be up and running in minutes. To build a true BPM as a Service ecosystem that leverages the web and provides value to business and IT, many services must be made available through REST. Speaker Christina Lau View talk on Parleys.com. HOW TO: Use Web-Based Office Tools Offline. Microsoft recently made a long-awaited announcement that they will be offering Web app versions of some of their Office suite applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. However, it must be noted that users will still need to purchase the full desktop version of Office applications. Fortunately, there are alternatives to the Microsoft Office monopoly with Web-based Office tools from Google, Zoho, ThinkFree and others.
And unlike Microsoft, these online Office applications allow you to work offline, which means you can replace Microsoft's desktop version of Office along with its hefty price tag. Here's how to setup the most popular of these Web office tools to work in offline mode. ThinkFree Office ThinkFree online has been providing an online/offline office suite of Web apps for many years. There's a trial version that you can install if you want to check it out. Zoho Zoho's online apps were the first to offer offline access to documents created with their Web-based tools. Delivering Cloud Services: ISVs - Change or Die or both! Planning to move to cloud computing will be a decision that takes time to sink in.
For some companies, it will require a bit of a transition that could range from the addition of a simple partnering agreement to a complete reformation of the business the company represents. What do I mean, you might ask? Well, let’s take the pending case of the traditional Independent Software Vendor (ISV). Now, we are all familiar with ISVs. Wikipedia defines them thusly (assuming the link hasn’t morphed into a description of “Indiana Sushi Vendors” since I last looked. But, no matter. I have no doubt that most people in technology areas will accept that ISVs produce, package, sell, deliver, and update – software. Derrick Harris recently had a very nice post on the subject of ISVs moving to the cloud. What that means to you, oh wondrous reader of blogging detritus, is that you gotta’ be careful who you place your trust in when they say they provide cloud services.
Ok, I think you get the meager point. What it will take to deliver BPM as SaaS? « Leadership BPM. An increasing number of BPM vendors are starting to talk about offering BPM software-as-a-service (BPM SaaS). These include Appian, Lombardi, Savvion and Ultimus. Given the buzz around SaaS, this is understandable as these vendors are trying to position themselves for a growing opportunity despite the fact that the SaaS model has serious challenges from a business perspective. So the question for users of BPM is what does it really means to have BPM SaaS? Let us first make clear what BPM SaaS is not. In my judgment BPM SaaS has to have the following characteristics as a minimum. With these five capabilities, BPM SaaS can empower customers to design, integrate, deploy, use, administer, monitor and measure their business processes.
Like this: Like Loading... Launches On-Demand BPM - Cordys, leader in next generation BPM. To date, most BPM deployments have been sold as point solutions. Workflow, BPM and Case Management systems were all implemented to solve particular pain points. While this has been successful, and indeed OpenText has hundreds of customers who have solved major business issues as a result of such implementations, it also has its limitations. The reality is that organizations have purchased, developed with, and are maintaining multiple process automation capabilities to solve those pain point problems.
As organizations seek to increase agility, and respond to changing market demands, they require systems that change quickly too. The tooling also needs to support all the different types of process scenarios, from simple workflow, through document flow, system-to-system automation, on to full-blown BPM and Case Management scenarios. Is the Cloud Right for You? Ask Yourself These 5 Questions - Gig. Is cloud computing right for you? For the fledgling startup, the appeal of the cloud is obvious.
Given how easily an entrepreneur’s vision can be stymied by a lack of technical and operations expertise, leveraging an Amazon EC2 or Google App Engine could provide the only viable option. But what about large enterprises that not only have an in-house technical staff to do their bidding, but existing data centers and deep pockets? Stacey has already identified issues with some cloud providers, such as security, reliability and portability. However, assuming they are all resolved, are there compelling reasons for large enterprises to even be interested in cloud services?
And if so, under what conditions? In order to decide, the enterprise needs to ask these five simple questions: 1. Unfortunately, very few enterprise applications have this kind of profile. 2. 3. If spiky demand can’t be shaped, on-demand scalability is indispensable. 4. 5. Cloud Computing - BurningBoats.com. SnapLogic Adds Amazon EC2 Support In Data-Integration Tools > Amazon S3 At Your Service. SOA as a SaaS...What to Plan For | March 2, 2007 05:34 AM | By D.
Intelligent Enterprise Magazine: Survivor's Guide to 2007: » Does every organization need a Web 2.0 strategy? | Enterprise. Podcast #5 - Phil Wainewright on why business is driving SaaS ad. What to look for in a SaaS vendor | Software as services. Software as a Service: Evolution or Revolution. The hybrid utility architecture. What big enterprises want from on-demand vendors.
Nsite. Business Process Management on demand. 7 Things to Look for in SaaS.