Metaverses and Business Process management
Ian Hughes/epredator
Metaverse Evangelist
IBM Innovate Quick CIO Office
© 2008 IBM Corporation

IBM Innovate Quick
What's coming up in this session?
 What is Business Process Management?
 Different approaches for virtual worlds
 Teaching BPM with Innov8 – the game
 The future for business process and IT process?
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What is Business Process Management
 Business process management (BPM) is a method of efficiently aligning an
organization with the wants and needs of clients. It is a holistic management
approach that promotes business effectiveness and efficiency while striving
for innovation, flexibility and integration with technology. As organizations
strive for attainment of their objectives, BPM attempts to continuously
improve processes - the process to define, measure and improve your
processes – a ‘process optimization' process. -Wikipedia.org 2008
 Think of this in the context of a blog. You can install blogging software, run it
on hardware but it needs a cultural change for people to choose to blog and
learn how to blog.
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Metaverses are about people
Customers, colleagues, friends, business
partners
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IBM Innovate Quick
Services Orientated Architecture -SOA
Interaction and Ideas
Enable people to virtually interact
and collaborate for dynamic
decision making
Information as a Service
Connect, enhance and deliver
in-context information across
diverse operating systems,
Process Automation
applications and legacy systems
Integrate and choreograph
through reusable services
business and system activities
into reusable process
components
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IBM Innovate Quick
BPM with virtual worlds
 Identify which elements of virtual worlds are your goal?
● Are you considering or using a virtual world presence as a customer
touch point or experience?
● Are you considering virtual worlds as an internal communication tool?
● Is the virtual world platform your actual business?
● Do you need to see and feel your business and make decisions ?
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Chain Model of Needs
Expressiveness
Communication
Instrumentation
Retail Music Meeting
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IBM Innovate Quick
Chain Model of Needs
Expressiveness
Communication
Instrumentation
Systems Brands Education
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IBM Innovate Quick
As a touchpoint
 Easiest of the considerations in process terms
 Make sure the virtual world is treated as any other
staffed channel
 IBM business centre in Second Life – same people,
same processes as IBM.com
 Remember it is as much about people as providing
gadgets.
 Consider it a branch office or store, not an offline
website.
 It needs to be public and easy to get too.
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Internal Communication
 Common mistake is to assume that virtual worlds are
a place to escape too.
 Often treated as a side project
 The virtual world platform has to be integrated into
the workflow of everyday business life
 Treat it as you treat email systems, instant
messaging, site services.
 A successful enterprise virtual world is wired into the
services of the enterprise.
 Use as and when needed, bring info in and push info
out
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Virtual Worlds as the business
 As a service provider or tool vendor this is business as usual
 Use rigorous product development methods
 Use robust middleware
 Be as close to open source and open standards as possible
 Use what you sell
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IBM Innovate Quick
Metaverse and Virtual Worlds © 2008 IBM Corporation

Level 1: BPM Basics and As-Is Process Discovery
 (Business Analyst) has
several process maps,
including Call Center process
Collect Send email
Service call
caller info sat. survey
Voice AFTER Inc
Customer
Response support team
Relationship
Unit (VRU)
Management system (CRM)

Level 1: BPM Basics and As-Is Process Discovery
 Validates Logan has correct
map
 Helps Logan update the As-Is
model to reflect recent merger
Stella - Call Center Veteran

Average cost per call
Save
Submit All
Changes
© 2007 IBM Corporation

IBM Innovate Quick
Understanding your business – the future
 If everything about your business processes is instrumented then the
exciting possibility exists
 Virtual World visualization of the entire holistic view of your business
in realtime
 Think mirror world, but with the business/IT as the model to mirror
 If you can see, feel and hear the business you can make decisions
and adjust and grow very quickly
 Blends people into the equation
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Visualizing what's already there
Physical Business Services
Data/Component Entities SOA view
http://www.elephanteaters.org Complete view
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IBM Innovate Quick
Conclusion
 To quote Douglas Adams “Space is big. You just won't believe how
vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a
long way down the road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to
space.”
 Virtual Worlds can be
at the end of a business process
part of the business process
controlling your business process
Metaverse and Virtual Worlds © 2008 IBM Corporation