Enterprise software analyst firm Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) recently launched its Business Process Management (BPM) Evaluation Center, helping project managers, consultants and decision makers compare the most qualified BPM systems based on their own, unique priorities.

Software evaluation firm, Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) has created a business process management (BPM) evaluation center to help companies during the challenging process of selecting a BPM software solution.

Business process management (BPM) is defined as a set of activities which organizations can implement to optimize their business processes, or adapt them to new organizational needs. Organizations use BPM to improve the effectiveness of their core operations by coordinating interactions between systems, business processes, and human interaction. According to the BPM Standards Group, core BPM processes include financial and operational planning, consolidation and reporting, modeling, analysis, and monitoring of key performance indicators (KPI) tied to organizational strategy. (http://www.bpmstandardsgroup.org/resources.asp, 2004).

Research and analyst firms such as Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC) (http://www.TechnologyEvaluation.com/press) are forecasting that BPM will be one of the most important business drivers of the near future. TEC has tracked significant increases in customer demand for BPM selection projects, with numbers growing seven-fold since 2004. Over the next year, projections suggest that revenue in licensing for BPM will grow from $700.3 million (USD) in 2005 to $1,053.0 million (USD) through 2008.

“Because of the centralization of organizations and the acquisition and mergers of large enterprises, it will be extremely important for companies to have a horizontal, integrated business process that matches the current needs, including the government and regulatory compliance regulations”, according to Hans Mercx, BPM analyst at TEC (http://www.TechnologyEvaluation.com/press).

For organizations seeking business process management (BPM) software, preparation is key.

Before companies approach vendors for a request for proposal (RFP), TEC suggests companies engage in an on-line comparison of the leading solutions under consideration, in order to save time, money, and staffing resources during the selection process.

The TEC BPM Evaluation Center (http://bpm.technologyevaluation.com/press) enables end users to match their requirements to the functionality provided by a variety of BPM solutions. Organizations can use the center to analyze vendors on approximately 600 criteria covering BPM functionality. Vendors presenting solutions for comparison include BISIL, Chordiant Software, CommerceQuest, Datum International Limited, DynaFlow Modeling and Workflow Solutions, Fuego, HandySoft, Ingenuus Software, Insession Technologies, Metastorm, TIBCO Software, Ultimus, Vision Software, and Whitehill Technologies. The TEC BPM Evaluation Center (http://bpm.technologyevaluation.com/press) covers a broad range of features from process modeling, workflow engine, design and notification, event triggers, escalation options, business rules and controls to security management and process collaboration. Monitoring and analytics are also included in the RFI.

Research by The Standish Group shows that 52.7 percent of IT projects cost 189 percent of the original estimates. This represents $75 billion (USD) yearly that is spent on failed IT projects in the United States alone (2005). Organizations are losing billions of dollars each year because they select the wrong hardware, middleware, and software, as a result of inadequate vendor information and evaluation processes. Such losses are increasingly apparent within price-sensitive, small and medium enterprises, which require accurate IT information to be collected quickly and cost-effectively during software evaluation processes.

According to TEC, selections for BPM, ERP, ECM, CRM, or SCM solutions may fail to accomplish what customers want, because customers did not begin their selection processes with a good understanding of their requirements. TEC believes that problems arise when customers do not prepare a proper request for information (RFI) to evaluate the pertinent responses from their short listed vendors. However, TEC states that its sophisticated means for performing requirements analysis will ease customers' selection burdens.

About Technology Evaluation Centers Inc. (TEC)
Technology Evaluation Center (TEC) is a leading on-line source for impartial technology and consulting evaluations. TEC has been aiding software selection since 1993 to reduce the cost, risk, and time associated with software selection. It has twenty-two on-line technology evaluation centers, ranging from ERP, CRM, SCM, to business intelligence, that contain thousands of detailed criteria on over 500 technology solutions. TEC receives over 1.5 million unique visitors per month to its sites and millions of page views per month are generated by a global audience of senior c-level and VP executives, technology and functional managers, consultants, and IT professionals.
For more information, see the company's web site http://www.TechnologyEvaluation.com/press.

About the Business Process Management Software Evaluation Center
The Business Process Management Software (BPM) Evaluation Center (http://bpm.technologyevaluation.com/press) is a new on-line decision support system featuring research on some of the more well-known firms in BPM. The knowledge base consists of more then 600 criteria for analyzing business process management solutions firms. For more information, see the web site at http://bpm.technologyevaluation.com/press.

Contact:

Lynne Brash, Coordinator, Media Relations
Technology Evaluation Centers (TEC),
740 St. Maurice, 4th floor,
Montreal, Quebec
Canada
H3C 1L5