I came across this blog post from Andrew White, a Research analyst at Gartner controversially titled BI’s days are numbered – Here comes BPM again. The core message of the post is this that BI and data analytics are a means to an end – and it is the change in processes (effected through BPM) that will result in impact on the business.
The insight gleaned from information about customers, markets, and trends and intentions is a good thing, but actually taking action and doing something about that insight, and impacting the actual outcome, is the real deal. Thus BI is being seen for what it is – a means to an end, not the end itself. CIO’s need to wise up, I think, and lessen their focus on BI in isolation, and talk more about how business processes need to become more intelligent.
In my opinion , the emphasis around BI and big data analytics is well deserved. While BPM has been around for a while – the impact of big data (and I use that term loosely) on gathering intelligence consumer behavior is still in its infancy. Just a few years ago – enterprises did not know or in many cases did not care about this data. Even today, most enterprises are not gathering any sort of consumer intelligence data, and the few that are … are still trying to figure our how to make sense of the data. A recent survey by VoltDB concludes that Big Data goes to waste in most organizations. The same data is presented graphically here. So, yes – the “”extra” focus on BI in these current times is well deserved and probably even necessary.
That said, I completely agree that BI is truly a means to an end. Perhaps, in about 5 years time – if big data analytics and BI in enterprises mature enough to enable companies to interpret the data gathered and translate them into actionable process changes – the role of BPM in implementing those changes is unquestionable.
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