More for Less: The Power of Process Management

There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else. —Sam Walton What do your customers really want? "More for less," of course! They want more value, more service, more consistent delivery, more accuracy, and ever more responsiveness.They want less hassle, less bureaucracy, less sales pressure -- and, they want to pay "less" for this "more." Unless you can provide your customers with "more for less," you can be assured they will find someone else who can, and sooner rather than later. There’s no magic to providing more for less, but it requires a management mindset that’s different from the norm--and that’s precisely what this book is about. The findings in the 2004-2005 Mindset Study, based on exclusive interviews with frontline executives, went into the making of this book. With clarity and insight, Spanyi has penned the definitive guide for business leaders who are determined to deliver more for less to their customers and shareholders.

Business & Money

Spanyi, Andrew

Management & Leadership

Meghan-Kiffer Press

BPM big wins have been limited to a small cadre of process masters... but not anymore. Now everyone is just 7 steps away from process mastery. -------------------------------------------------- 
We ve all heard those stories of BPM success that influenced the bottom line and increased revenues. We've all heard those compelling cases of 50%, 60% even 70+% reductions in process cost with hard ROI payback in 12 months or less. We have heard them and they are very compelling. Yet it seems that for many of us, those kinds of results remain elusive. Why is that? Perhaps it is because no one has taken the time to distill the essence, in simple terms, of just how to achieve such results. And that is what this book is intended to do. 
This book draws out the 7 steps that can help you master your processes, regardless of what mastering means to you. This book is your insiders' guide to making BPM work for you. BPM can make a big difference for almost any business goal. BPM can make a difference with almost any process. Everyone can be successful with BPM. But we also know that process mastery has, to date, remained an unfulfilled promise for far too many organizations. 
Whether you're seeking the insights to consistently achieve goals with BPM, looking to move yourself from moderate success to big wins, or wanting to keep hitting those process home runs, this book is for you.

The Insiders' Guide to BPM: 7 Steps to Process Mastery

Peter Fingar

Terry Schurter

Computing illustrated: A short course and desk reference for professionals in government and business

Fingar, Peter

Reference

Organizations have grown so complex in recent years that it is difficult to visualize or understand how all of the parts fit together.At the same time, executives want to reshape and transform their organizations to be more competitive and more customer centric.This requires that executives across business units view issues and solutions from a shared, enterprise-wide perspective.Business Architecture maps and documents the essence of the enterprise.Visualizing a business through architectural disciplines is not entirely new. Creating a business-friendly framework that allows business professionals to visualize and transform organizations, however, is a groundbreaking achievement!The most important aspect of business architecture is enabling business executives, managers and professionals to take ownership and drive enterprise transformation, a role that has oftentimes been delegated by default to IT. Historically, the term "enterprise architecture" has a tendency to turn off business professionals because they immediately assume that the concept is an IT focused creation. This is not an indictment of IT but rather a call to action for business executives to take ownership of business architecture and related business transformation strategies. The decisions that are made today can make or break organizations going forward into a complex, uncertain future.Make no mistake. This is not a book about IT, but a book for business professionals who want to address difficult challenges across enterprises that have become bewildering monoliths of complexity. This book puts the business back in the driver's seat when it comes to setting strategy, crystallizing a vision and turning that vision into bottom line business value.

Business Architecture: The Art and Practice of Business Transformation

Ulrich, William

McWhorter, Neal

The Process, unlike most explanations of BPMN, captures both the practical value and the excitement that results from putting this powerful technique to work. Skip the dull training. Give people the right tools and pass around copies of this book. Process diagrams will start growing like ivy. --Dan Woods, CTO and Editor of Evolved Media. __________ Houston, we've got a problem. Business process management is clearly recognized as the key to competitive advantage, especially during economic downturns. But the needed tools and techniques for process modeling and design have been arcane. Even worse, business people have been largely sidelined in process improvement initiatives due to the technical obscurity of the endeavors. Yet, capturing their knowledge is the foundation of any useful process model. Enter the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), a graphical notation for business process modeling--and this book. The notation, however, isn't the issue; just go to BPMI.org and download the specifications. The critical issue is instilling a way of thinking that brings shared insight into the process of process modeling; something more a matter of thought patterns than notation. This book uses a fast-paced novel format that is based on a real company that the authors guided through the process modeling process. In short, this book is about process thinking, and process modeling as the path to business innovation. ________ Tom's journey exploring process modeling will make BPMN even more popular. He also learns fundamentals of system analysis, business process management, relation of process modeling with IT and process model verification - often unconsciously. And Anne, his mentor, demonstrates the high value of coaching and governance in it.--Frank Michael Kraft, Development Architect SAP AG, Research &amp; Breakthrough Innovation, BPM Cluster The authors teach the key points of BPMN modeling using an unfolding business scenario, presented in an engaging dialogue between the modeler, process participants, and the CEO. By putting BPMN in a business context, the book will be of great value to those new to process modeling, especially business people who will be asked to contribute input, even though they are not actually doing the modeling.--Bruce Silver, Principal, Bruce Silver Associates. The unique selling point of the book is the way the concepts are interweaved in examples that we all see on an everyday basis. Highly recommended if you are a part of any BPM initiative. Tom's notes at the end of each chapter are a valuable takeaway for the reader. You would be ready to be an in-house BPMN expert by the time you are able to take your eyes off the book!--Vishal Saxena, Senior Development Manager, Oracle Corporation, and blogger: Things BPMN. When we hear the term ''process modeling,'' we think of the person who does the modeling, the business analyst, not the business people whose work is being modeled. To be effective, business people should also have a working knowledge of the modeling process. This easy-to-read book isn't just for business analysts, it's also for every business person that will be involved in the process of process modeling.--Derek Miers, Principal, BPM Focus, and coauthor of BPMN Modeling and Reference Guide. In 2002, CSC's Howard Smith and I wrote Business Process Management: The Third Wave, the book that launched widespread understanding of BPM and its importance. But understanding alone is not enough. You need tools. But even more, you need the right way of thinking to use the tools. You need to learn the process of business process modeling using the tool, BPMN, and that's why you need this book.--Peter Fingar, Executive Partner, Greystone Group, and author of Extreme Competition.

The Process

Grosskopf, Alexander

Decker, Gero

Weske, Mathias

After coauthoring the two definitive books on the practical implementation of business process management, John Jeston is back. This time he provides insights specifically for business managers and senior executives. 
 Making your business processes more efficient and effective does not mean your organization will be managed any better, as process performance advantages will dissipate over time. 
 More is required. 
 This book explores this ''more''and shows how adopting a process focus can bring about a new way of managing that can help you meet the challenges of unexpected change. This book is about developing your organization's roadmap for the future - starting now!

Beyond Business Process Improvement, On To Business Transformation: A Manager's Guide

John C. Jeston

John Jeston

We are witnessing the third seismic shift in information technology over the past fifty years. In the beginning it was centralized computing where mainframe computers gave companies economies of scale in handling their data processing. Then it was client-server computing driven by networks and PCs that gave companies new sources of efficiency. Now we are witnessing the emergence of a third computing model and it will have a huge impact on business, -- especially in today's economy full of unexpected change. As with the first two computing models as they emerged, we may not be totally sure what it is or how it will change the rules of business and create new winners and losers in the marketplace. It s called Cloud Computing and the economic and innovation implications are game changing. No one needs to know more about the business implications of Cloud Computing than C-level executives responsible for the future of their organizations, for the wow isn t just about technology, it s about the promise of on-demand business innovation. But even more than understanding this new wave, they need to act, and act now. Written by industry veterans with a combined leadership experience of over 100 years at the intersection of business and technology, Enterprise Cloud Computing provides strategic insights, describes the breakout business models and offers the planning and implementation guidance business and technology leaders need to chart their course ahead. This is the companion book to "Dot.Cloud: The 21st Century Business Platform."

Enterprise Cloud Computing: A Strategy Guide for Business and Technology Leaders

Computers & Technology

Andy Mulholland

Jon Pyke

Computer Science

The Current Deep Economic Crisis Marks a Great Transition. 
The Chinese phrase for crisis consists of two words danger and opportunity. In Beyond the Crisis: The Future of Capitalism, renowned futurologist, Adjiedj Bakas, leads you through, and then out of, the New Great Depression of the 21st century. 
 The current economic crisis marks the end of an era, and the start of a new one. It is the 5th major crisis in 200 years' time. All of them occurred at the transition from one era to the next. The 1930s may have been a time of deep economic crisis and mass unemployment, yet in those days the Kennedys made their fortunes, art deco was born and the radio, car, and telephone grew to be so much in demand that great new industries emerged out of the ashes of the crisis. During the major economic crisis of the 1980s the personal computer, mobile phone and Internet were born and developed into major new industries. During the current crisis we finally say goodbye to the 20th century and transit into the new, post-material economy with new economic pillars and the mixture with digital collaboration powered by "cloud computing," the next generation Internet. We say hello to a new era, with China as the new global powerhouse instead of the U.S., with globalization turning into slowbalization, with less wealth and more focus on the Economy of Happiness. 
 "Bakas looks behind today¿s headlines and uses knowledge and wisdom from different fields: economics, technology, philosophy and spirituality, in order to grasp what is really going on in our world, and the real changes in our global economy. I truly recommend this book because it may change your future and that of your children." 
--Professor Jianmao Wang, Economist at the China Europe International Business School

Beyond the Crisis : The Future of Capitalism

Adjiedj Bakas

Economics

Despite advances in business automation over the past fifty years, the heart and soul of every organization is still its people--without whom the organization will stop dead in its tracks. Yet there is presently no complete way to manage the complex, continually changing work processes carried out by humans--and current work support technologies treat people as if they were cogs in a machine. Frankly, we need to do better. 
This landmark book combines insights drawn from biology, psychology, social systems theory, and learning theory with a deep understanding of business process analysis to form a complete theory of human work. It’s about how we really work, and provides management and information technology techniques that will help us to work better. The book shows how to deal properly with human issues in the workplace, transform the working relationships on which success is founded, and leverage intangible assets. Government agencies need this in order to meet the demands of citizens, and commercial companies need this if they are to survive. In today’s world of globalization and extreme competition, it's not satisfied customers you are after--it’s never-satisfied customers. In the networked future, repeat business from loyal customers is no longer just the best business; it’s the only business. And to get it, you need Human Interaction Management--the breakthrough that changes the rules of business. 
HUMAN INTERACTION: THE MISSING LINK IN BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT 
There’s a new breed of competitor on the block. In today’s uncertain global business world, these fierce new competitors are dominating industries by leveraging the universal connectivity of the Internet with a new category of business technology, Business Process Management (BPM). But the BPM techniques currently available are suitable primarily for activities carried out by machines. What about the many processes centered on the very foundation of commercial success—human-driven processes? 
After all processes don't do work, people do. Indeed, technology support for human interactions is the missing link in today’s BPM systems. Even the early process-based competitors are eager to reinvigorate human-centered work processes, for they know that these are the heart and soul of performance improvement and innovation. 
So, what is work? What does an information worker actually do all day? Read and write emails, create documents, make phone calls, attend meetings, talk to people, research, think, decide, agree, reject, ... this is the process of work; it’s how real work works. But because little of real work is augmented by modern computer systems, how can it be properly managed for greater effectiveness? The solution is not to try and find systems that replace humans--to automate people out of the picture. We are nowhere near the (perhaps mythical) stage at which humans have become irrelevant to the daily functioning of the enterprise. To the contrary, we need to make the best use of human skills by facilitating how work actually gets done, by real people. Amplifying the work carried out by people not only benefits the enterprise as a whole, but also improves job satisfaction of the individuals who are its life-blood. 
To amplify human-driven processes, we need to first understand how to formally describe such work, and then capture this understanding in a computer system. This calls for a change in kind in both business process modeling, and the BPM systems being proffered by today’s IT vendors. This book examines the true nature of work, and shows how it can be supported by the next generation of BPM systems. Drawn directly from first-hand experience, it’s a practical guide, not an exposition of abstract theory. In this groundbreaking book, a high-level discussion, written for business people, is supplemented with a technology focused discussion for enterprise architects and developers, providing them with detailed guidelines for implementing computer support for human-driven processes.

Human Interactions

Harrison-Broninski, Keith

Shift happens. The unexpected matters. Remember how the retail book industry was slow to grasp an understanding of the Internet before it got ''Amazoned?'' Well, here we go again, only this time the shift could be even greater, and it's happening in the midst of economic turmoil. Right now, there's something in the air, something really big. It's so big that to many it's hidden in plain sight. To others it's as clear as seeing a cloud in the sky. In fact, that something is indeed the Cloud, the 21st century business platform. 
 Just as it was with that new-fangled ''Internet'' thing a decade ago, the Cloud and the technologies of Cloud Computing suffer from confusion and hype. And pat definitions won't do when it comes to understanding these two new buzzwords. But, as they are game-changing phenomena, business leaders--and the rest of us--must gain an understanding of what these terms really mean and how they will affect us, just as much as the Internet affected us all. In Dot.Cloud business strategy expert and former CIO, Peter Fingar, explains the main ideas of Cloud Computing in lay terms. Peter also does some old-fashioned reporting to bring together the ideas of the movers and shakers who are actively building the Cloud. 
 But this is not a technical book about Cloud Computing technologies; it's a business book. It's about what the Cloud portends for business ... about transformation in the ways companies are managed ... about business models for the 21st century. It's about how companies carry out their work in the Cloud instead of office buildings and skyscrapers, and how they manage their business processes in the Cloud. It's also about human interactions in the Cloud, and about the end of management and the rise of self-organizing, self-managed ''Bioteams.'' Even more, it's about unlocking human potential in business, about unleashing passion. All this points to your company's future, and your future, set in the context of the biggest economic downturn since World War II. So ultimately, it's about lighting a fire in you. 
 According to Jim Sinur, Vice President of Gartner, ''To say that we are living in interesting times is an understatement, and Peter has captured the essence of how business will work going forward. Dot.Cloud is both visionary and realistic in that each of the pieces of the vision have working examples today, but not woven together like in this writing. The goal of the virtual business platform is not just a dream, but attainable once all the contributing pieces are brought together. Peter brings them together here in a way that will work under any number of situations, across just about any industry.'' 
 Gregory Simpson, Chief Technology Officer of GE, remarked, ''Dot.Cloud isn't just about the Cloud; it's really about embracing change in the workplace. It pulls together elements of Web 2.0, BPM and other dreaded three-letter acronyms, as well social and economic trends, to give you a vision for how harnessing the Cloud can transform the way your company works. Peter's unique ability to pull all of these concepts together in an understandable fashion make this a business book for the future, and the future is now!''

Dot Cloud: The 21st Century Business Platform Built on Cloud Computing

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