From BPM to iBPM

Everyday life in the car leasing business: the customer is interested in a leasing contract, but the car dealer first has to check the customer's creditworthiness. This usually takes a few days - a time during which the customer may change his mind or even go to a competitor who can deliver the contract more quickly.

According to Markus Fischer, member of the management board of Soreco AG, where he is primarily responsible for the BPM business area, it is precisely such challenges that cause common solutions for business process management to fail. There are too many interfaces and media discontinuities. So what would it look like if a software could take care of the credit check itself? Especially if, for example, there is a high demand for leasing the latest models at short notice after a car show? This is precisely the idea behind iBPM, "intelligent" business process management. According to the IT market researchers at Gartner, iBPM is one of the megatrends in information technology.

Intelligent Business Process Management

So how does iBPM work? Put simply, iBPM is a fusion of conventional BPM with complex event processing (CEP), mobile technology and social media, all "spiced up" with analyses. In other words, iBPM not only maps the business processes, but also gathers the information from a wide variety of sources that is necessary for the execution of the processes. To return to the above example: An iBPM software retrieves available data about the applicant from the World Wide Web, analyzes it and compares it with the information provided in the application. Does the applicant pay his bills regularly? Where is he employed? At which residence is he registered? Are the contact details correct? Such questions are answered within a short time and speed up the entire business process. The applicant only has to wait a few minutes for the decision. "The acceleration of such processes as the opening process for a bank account can mean an enormous competitive advantage ", explains Markus Fischer. However, the prerequisite for this is that a company begins to actively deal with the topic of "Big Data". Because this ultimately forms the basis for BPM to become "intelligent" in the first place.

Real-time analyses accelerate business processes

iBPM is about software. But it is also about data. Both are domains of IT. But modern BPM should no longer be a question of IT. This was also made clear at a press conference on this topic held in mid-December 2014. "Processes follow strategy, IT follows processes - and not the other way around," was how Antonio Palmisano from luxury watch manufacturer IWC summed it up. In his company, BPM is clearly a top-down affair. Overall, thanks to social media and mobile technologies, next-generation BPM will engage employees in business processes anytime, anywhere. With the help of real-time analyses of data from external and internal sources (keyword Big Data), information flows directly into the process steps of the employees. Combined with smart decision-making mechanisms and sophisticated business rules, the systems can adapt themselves. This makes companies more efficient, more agile and ultimately more competitive.

Swiss company at the forefront

The importance of developing iBPM solutions is demonstrated by the fact that Soreco AG and its parent company Axon Active are establishing a separate company for this purpose. In order to focus more strongly on next-generation business process management, Soreco's BPM business unit, the development team of the in-house BPM platform, Axon Active's decision support systems and the sales companies in Germany and Austria were merged into Axon Ivy AG as of January 1, 2015. The strategic realignment also envisages further intensifying the distribution of the Axon.ivy BPM Suite platform (previously known as Xpert.ivy) beyond Europe. Under the Axon Ivy brand, the new company will be represented in Singapore and the USA in addition to its headquarters in Lucerne and its current locations in Germany and Austria, and will employ over 80 people. The basic technology of the Axon.ivy BPM Suite will continue to be developed in Switzerland. Developer and consulting teams are to be successively expanded in order to further advance innovations and customer projects in the iBPM area. Global product management is also based in Switzerland.

The expansion continues

"With Axon Ivy and the Axon.ivy BPM Suite, we as a Swiss software manufacturer are playing a pioneering role in the global trend topic of iBPM. We are convinced that our customers will be further relieved of routine work, generate more business and realize new business models with our multiple award-winning technology combined with the business rule and decision engines," says Markus Fischer, who is taking over responsibility for the newly founded company in Switzerland. Renato Stalder will remain CEO of Soreco, which will focus on its core competence of process-oriented HR and finance solutions. At the same time, Stalder will assume global responsibility for Axon Ivy and its product strategy. The expanded expansion strategy will also be an important door opener with globally active Swiss companies, Fischer holds out the prospect.