The evolution of BPM has been centered around workflow management systems built on office productivity platforms, like the mail, messaging and collaboration suites.
Way back in 1987, Lotus came out with a powerful platform integrated with mail, messaging and collaboration capabilities. It surely was a revolution back then, yes of course IBM folks continue to sell Lotus as a revolution even now 😀 . Nevertheless, Lotus provided Designer and Domino Server capabilities that allowed people to build business process automations and workflows.
Fast Forward to PC Era, Microsoft Exchange with MS Office and Sharepoint server became the leader in this segment. Microsoft did not miss out to copy what Lotus Designer provided, it promptly added Sharepoint workflow and infopath for building simple forms. Of course, one has to resort to programming options to make things really work in Sharepoint workflow.
Both Lotus Designer and Sharepoint intended to provide business users the ability to build workflows/automations for their respective needs. Neither achieved that even partially. Sad!
In the cloud world we live in today, users are much more tech savvy and love to use software tools that are designed as “Self Service” systems, BPM/Workflow Automation tools are not seen any differently. With this being the trend and Google Apps leading the market in cloud based office productivity suites, customers prefer “Self Service” workflow platforms which allow them to create workflows and automate business processes all by themselves, making platforms like Kissflow an obvious choice. It’s time you move your BPM to the cloud and make the most of it. 🙂
