Numerous market forces drive organizations to respond quickly to changing market needs, from mergers and acquisitions to outsourcing and global expansion. Pushed in so many directions, organizations need the technologies and processes to help them thrive.

Yet in many cases, rigid IT infrastructure limits their ability to fully achieve business objectives. Critical business information is often scattered across information silos that are frequently difficult to access. "Organizations can't easily incorporate changes in their existing business applications because of the nature of how systems were built and designed, in a stovepipe model," said Ali Kheirolomoom, Vice President of Research and Development for Serena. "You cannot really implement your business strategies and be competitive if you're bound by the IT silos that are already in place."

Fortunately, changing market forces are driving process-oriented solutions designed to help companies contend with these challenges. Web services and service-oriented architectures are some examples of this. As a result of shifts in the marketplace today, new process-oriented solutions are emerging, ranging from workflow management to business process management to change management. That shift is allowing companies to move from data centric, the stovepipe silo approach, to more process-centric and data-driven methods and systems.

With pre-defined and automated business processes, organizations can bring together information from disparate data sources. "If organizations start using business processes and automation, they can thrive by freeing themselves from those constraints. They bring all their information and corporate intelligence together in accordance to their corporate goals and objectives," Kheirolomoom said. "And that business process automation then helps organizations reduce the gap between business intent and IT execution."

Learn more » TeamTrack, Serena's Process Management software, is used by hundreds of leading enterprises worldwide for improved process control.

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July's Survey Results
Have you had a software project fail due to poor requirements?

60% Yes  40% No

Automation: it's good for the business and it's good for IT

IT is under increasing scrutiny to simultaneously align itself with the business, improve the quality of the service it provides and to control its costs. This is a daunting task, but IT actually knows how to do it.

Market Analysis: Understanding Business Process Management

The automation silos of the '90s created fertile ground for what has blossomed into today's BPM market, which is growing at a 20 percent clip each year. Effective business process management integrates people, processes and apps to ensure a cohesive team and boost the bottom line.

IT's Problem Is Too Many Dipsticks

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