David Norton

Today I kicked off the Business Process Analysis (BPA) Magic Quadrant. Writing a MQ is always a demanding task; coordinating with vendors, taking up customer references and making sure the MQ process is followed. But the hardest part is not producing the MQ its making it sure its relevant and helpful to our clients.

And that brings me back to the point of the blog (it not just to say hey I am doing a MQ). BPA is a mature market; it’s so far right on the hype cycle it’s almost in the margin. So how relevant is it? Am I just reporting on a bunch of grey suited vendors gathering dust on a MQ past its sell by date? Well in my honest opinion, no (you knew I was goner say that) but I did a lot of soul searching to come to that conclusion.

If I said BPA is exciting you would tell me to get out more. But I have seen a shift in the BPA market that leads me to believe we are witnessing its next evaluation step. I am seeing more clients using BPA in a far more dynamic fashion, its gone from a small set of BPA specialists to a tool that is being used operationally day-to-day. Yes lots of users are focused on basic process modelling or business analysis but more and more organizations are finding value in BPA as a strategic decision support tool.

Simulation is final starting to be used they way it was meant to be, by the business for the business. The “If” in “What-If” analysis no longer cynically means “If” you trust the model and “If” you trust the data. We can validate the models and data before committing to a course of action based on them. And finally BPA is opening up to the masses for process discovery, building consensus and operational use.

The lines between BPA, EA and BPM tools are blurring and added to the mix is the ever-increasing need for BI. All these technologies are coalescing into something that is more than the sum of its parts, a tool that will help the business navigate the dynamic and complex world we live in.

That’s why the BPA MQ is exciting.