Having sat on a panel session at BPM Europe on "BPM & Cloud" even the panelists found the discussion decidedly cloudy.  The issue was both BPM and Cloud are poorly defined so together it was difficult. 

 

The key issue was BPM & Cloud could be

 - BPM tools offered in the Cloud or

  - BPM operation in the Cloud.

 

Still not clearer.  So lets understand the options:

First you can define your business operation in terms of process descriptions / maps with links to supporting information (systems, forms, documents, metrics).Good practice whatever you intend to do with the Cloud.

 

Lets call this the Intelligent Operations Manual (IOM), and this can be provided to end users real time in a system.  You also have the underlying execution systems (BPMS, ERP, CRM).

 

This short (3 min) Carphone Warehouse video of what an Intelligent Operations Manual looks like to an end user and example of BPM in the Cloud.   Nimbus hosts the process system and that is all.

 

 

 

 

Then have several choices

 

-    You can give it all to someone else…  people, process system (IOM), execution systems, responsibility  = BPO   eg EDS, Accenture using

 

-    You can get someone else to run the process system (IOM), execution systems but keep the people and ownership = BPM applications in the Cloud  eg Nimbus, Appian, Lombardi, Salesforce.com

 

-    You keep it all

What you can’t do is give it all to someone else before you have defined your business operation.

Clearer?