David McCoy

A member of the Gartner Blog Network

David W. McCoy
Managing VP
15 years at Gartner
29 years IT industry

David W. McCoy is a managing vice president and Gartner Fellow emeritus. He currently leads the Business Process Management group as team manager and researches business process management (BPM), business rule management (BRM) and cost optimization. Read Full Bio

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Does BPM Leadership Vary by Geography?

by David McCoy  |  November 17, 2008  |  4 Comments

Well, it’s sort of true.  Our survey data (n= 338) shows that “the business side” in both Europe and Asia will be statistically more likely to lead BPM projects than will be US business-side staff.  The differences are substantial; this is not a “margin of error” thing.  But, no matter how you look at it, business – not IT – is driving BPM.  So, in the big picture, the survey showed that leadership doesn’t vary – business does it in all three geographies.  But, the magnitude of leadership does vary by geography.

  • US – Business leads 58% of the time
  • Europe – Business leads 76% of the time
  • Asia – Business leads 78% of the time

Question #1 – Does this surprise you?  Why or why not?

Question #2 – What is driving this difference, in your opinion?  Why is the US relying more on IT to lead BPM than are Europe and Asia?

In 2009, we will be conducting a new BPM survey and will see if the trend has held.

Cogent comments welcomed.

4 Comments »

Category: Business Process Management (BPM)     Tags: , ,

4 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Gartner Blog Network - David McCoy: Does BPM Leadership Vary by Geography?   November 17, 2008 at 5:28 pm

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  • 2 Richard Veryard   November 17, 2008 at 8:28 pm

    How do these figures compare with other technologies? Is a similar difference between US and Europe observable with other technologies? To what extent does this finding tell us something about BPM in particular, or is it more about how technological innovation in general is managed in different continents?

  • 3 David McCoy   November 17, 2008 at 10:15 pm

    Very good questions…

    I’m sure my colleagues have research on other technologies in the official Gartner arsenal. My own particular pet question is, “how does ‘BPM longevity’ affect the determination of who leads the effort?” Particularly, BPM – defined as a technology play – has been done for a while in the US. Is it possible that these early BPM efforts – driven by IT and seen as technology-focused projects – have established a stronger IT leadership role? If, for instance, Asia came to BPM later in the game than the US (assumed true), is it possible that they skipped an IT centric role in leadership and therefore the business was more able to lead? Not sure… but one to ask.

    I am very excited about our next survey.

  • 4 Roeland Loggen   January 22, 2009 at 5:47 am

    My “gutfeeling” on this:

    Europe has been less bothered/confused by technology vendors saying that BPM=implementing BPM technology, and instead have understood (amongst others) Gartners message around “BPM as a discipline”. This meant that the business side could directly connect to BPM as something non-geek but providing added value, where, if needed BPM technology could support things.
    Another possible reason is that Europe has various compliance rules requiring companies to document and publish their processes (also done as part of, for instance ISO certification). This has typically been a non-IT, business/staff activity.

    Regards,
    Roeland Loggen
    process-transformation.blogspot.com

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