Linux News: BPM & BPO

Health Insurance CRM, Part 2: The BPO Catalyst
November 20, 2009

CRM has lagged in the health insurance industry, but a major transformation is imminent. "There's been a reluctance to make comprehensive investments in technology compared with other sectors," said Gartner analyst Joanne Galimi. "Generally, the firms in the sector have been very tactical, only investing in specific areas -- basically reacting to pain points."

High Court Hears 'Case of the Century'
November 10, 2009

The Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments in Bilski v. Kappos, a case that has been making its way through the legal system for more than 10 years -- and along the way has morphed into the software industry's worst nightmare. "It's been called 'the case of the century,' and to a large extent I have to agree," said John Squires, an attorney with Chadbourne & Parke.

The Big Bilski: A Hope for Clarity on Business Method Patents
October 20, 2009

One year ago, the Court of Appeals that handles all appeals of patent cases in the U.S. issued a landmark decision. In re Bilski sent shockwaves through the high-tech legal community. The court held that in order to be patentable, a method must either be "tied to a particular machine," or "transform[ ] a particular article into a different state or thing."

CRM + BPM: Raising the Customer Experience Bar
October 16, 2009

For decades, organizations have been dealing with the challenges of driving more effective customer service. Traditional CRM solutions have focused on presenting consolidated customer information, but they still rely heavily on employees to resolve customer issues. This means that the customer's experience can vary greatly depending on the manual processes and efficiency of the staff at any given organization.

Making the Cloud Rain Business Productivity
October 04, 2009

As enterprises seek to exploit cloud computing, business leaders are focused on new productivity benefits. Yet the IT folks need to focus on the technology in order to propel those business solutions forward. As enterprises confront cloud computing, they want to know what's going to enable new and potentially revolutionary business outcomes.

Xerox Buys Its Way Into BPO With $6.4B ACS Deal
September 28, 2009

Xerox said Monday that it will buy Affiliated Computer Services for $6.4 billion in cash and stock. Best known for its copying and printing business, Xerox said the move answers a growing need to better link document management to the processes that produce them -- including finance, human resources, transaction processing and customer support.

Smarter Planet, Smarter Processes
September 17, 2009

As the systems that run the way we work and live become smarter, the workplace as we know it is undergoing dramatic and dynamic change. The challenge organizations face is embracing the rapid shifts in today's world for their own advantage rather than resisting them.

Getting Small Firms on Board With BPM
August 31, 2009

The greatest obstacle small business operators face in adopting business process management is themselves. That factor could account for the underutilization of BPM by small businesses -- and the reason BPM vendors have targeted the small business sector as a huge potential market.

The BPO Outlook: Mostly Cloudy With Patches of Sun
August 17, 2009

Five years ago, megadeals were all the rage in the business process outsourcing (BPO) world. Global players such as IBM, Accenture, ACS and CSC were racking up billion-dollar multiyear contracts, mainly for accounting, human resource and procurement functions. Now that's changing.

The State of BPM: Poised for Takeoff
August 10, 2009

Nothing like a recession to spur business growth. In the BPM space, the current downturn has presented a major marketing opportunity for software and IT service firms. Sparked by customers seeking to cut costs and by innovations in e-commerce, the BPM market could easily double over the next several years.

The Cloud Is Just the Beginning
July 23, 2009

Cloud computing and Software as a Service have emerged as the hot new technology trends in 2009. Companies from Microsoft to Big Blue to Oracle have announced their intentions to move away from their lucrative and proprietary models to address this fundamental shift in how software is delivered.

Making the Rapid ROI Promise Stick: Q&A With Savvion CEO M.A. Ketabchi
July 13, 2009

M.A. Ketabchi, president, CEO and founder of business process management provider Savvion, might have done just as well focusing on product marketing in his career. From the beginning, he has distinguished Savvion from the competition by concentrating on the one thing potential customers care about the most: rapid ROI.

Getting IT on the C-Suite's Radar
May 21, 2009

Aberdeen's research shows a 16 percent increase in the number of organizations that are satisfied with the performance of business-critical applications since March. However, the disparity among respondents is profound. Ninety-three percent of Best-in-Class organizations are satisfied with their application performance, and only 48 percent of Industry Average and Laggard organizations show the same level.

Outsource Your Processes, Keep Your Customers
May 08, 2009

Driven by the housing market landslide and seizure of the global credit markets, economies the world over have slipped into retrenchment and recession. Many organizations are tightening capital and expense budgets, closing locations, shortening hours or reducing staff. Still others are tempted to reduce the level of service and support they extend to customers.

IBM Weaves Cloud, Appliance, BPM, CEP and SOA Into One Fabric
May 07, 2009

In an effort to provide needed cohesion across its products and solutions, IBM has unveiled a cloud-based BPM service, tighter alignment with Amazon, better CEP integration, reintroduced a WebSphere private cloud appliance and double-downed on a slew of its industry framework solutions.

1-Year-Old Zuora Is Paving the Way
April 29, 2009

Zuora, the on-demand billing service for on-demand companies, is turning 1 year old. Last week, the company announced 100 product improvements with its 2.0 version and said that it had attracted 100 customers in its first year. Why all the attention to this startup? I think what's cool about Zuora is that it is the first on-demand infrastructure company delivering its product as an on-demand service.