Highlights of AIIM’s
BPM Industry Study
13 July 2007

Survey sponsored by...

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Survey Respondents Represent a Wide Range of
Company Sizes and Vertical Industries, With a Focus
on the U.S. Market

Figure 2:
Figure 1:
Major vertical industries
How many employees
in survey (%)
are in your organization?
Manufacturing 6
Federal govt 6
24%
Utilities, oil and gas 7
How many employees are there in your
50% Insurance 7
organization?
Banking and finance 12
26%
Consultants 13
State and local govt 14
1-100
101-1,000
>1,000

8%
19%
9%
Figure 3:
What is your role in
the organization?
23%
23%
18%
Line of Business
Executive
RM
DM
IT
Other

Survey Respondents Represent Rich and Varied
Experience Base

Figure 4:
What is your org’s 7%
experience with RM
16%
31%
and DM?
None
Next 6 months
Departmental only 29%
18%
Integrating across depts
Enterprise strategy

Figure 4: What is your understanding of
the following terms?
% that “fully understand” the term
Document process outsourcing 38
Business process re-engineering 62
Enterprise application integration 41
Bus Process analytics 39
Workflow 88
ECM 77
BPM 61

Figure 5: 11%
20%
What is your org’s
11%
experience with BPM?
None 25%
Next 6 months
32%
Departmental only
Integrating across depts
Enterprise strategy

A Solution Without a Clear Owner

Figure 6: Do you have
a specific group in your
org responsible for
32%
BPM?
YES
NO
68%

Figure 7: To whom does 16%
21%
the BPM group report?
2%
5%
IT
8%
CIO
19%
President
COO
14%
CFO
Compliance or legal 15%
Quality
Other

Success is Not Guaranteed

6%
16%
Figure 8: What is the
36%
success of your
organization’s BPM
initiative?
25%
16%
Little to no success
Initially difficult; now some success
Dept success; no enterprise success yet
Leveraged early success into repeatable improvements
Very successful at enterprise level

Which Comes First? Process or Content?

Figure 9: In terms of
7%
technology, what
relationship do you see 30%
between ECM and
BPM? (From 2007 State
38%
of ECM Industry Survey)
26%
BPM a subset of ECM
ECM a subset of BPM
Two separate initiatives; some intersection
Not related

Back Office and Customer Service Head the List
of Targeted Business Applications for BPM
Initiatives

Figure 11: In which business
Figure 10: In which business
applications have you
applications MIGHT your
ALREADY implemented a BPM
organization implement a
solution?
BPM solution?
Vendor communications 40 Vendor communications 17
Customer communications 35 Customer communications 14
R&D 15 R&D 8
Risk management 27 Risk management 11
General admin 47 General admin 22
HR 50 HR 25
Sales and marketing 28 Sales and marketing 14
IT services 25
IT services 51
Supply chain or logistics 12
Supply chain or logistics 22
Manuf and fulfillment 11
Manuf and fulfillment 14
Compliance documentation 17
Compliance documentation 51
Compliance management 18
Compliance management 44
Order entry and billing 20
Order entry and billing 37
Back office operations 31
Back office operations 52
Cust service 27
Cust service 53

Lessons Learned: Plan and Get Educated

Figure 12: What is THE MOST IMPORTANT obstacle
or problem to overcome in your organization with
regards to BPM?
Lack of training external suppliers 3
Lack of training internal staff 13
Failed to define benefits beyond unit 4
Underest content migration issues 4
Poorly defined business case 6
Failed to address taxon and metadata 4
Failed to prioritize high-value content 1
Uneven usage; poor enforcement 5
Low user acceptance; poor design 4
Underest process and org issues 20
Internal politics 14
Excessive “scope creep” 12
Budget overrun 8

Figure 13: What is the level of need
in your organization for vendor
independent training on BPM?
4% 11%
33% 19%
32%
None
Some
Moderate
Significant
Urgent

BPM Requires Justification, But No Single Best
Approach Exists

Figure 14: How important is it in 8%
4%
your organization to justify BPM
investments?
12%
39%
Don’t know
Not important at all
Somewhat unimportant 36%
Somewhat important
Very important

Figure 15: Which approach to justification is used in your
organization with regards to BPM investments? (Can
check more than 1; only those reporting at least one)
Payback period 32
Internal rate of return 19
ROI 73
Net present value 16
Total cost of ownership 41

Figure 16: What is
15%
the expected 21%
payback time for
your BPM initiative?
14%
< one year
1-3 years
4-5 years
50%
Not calculated

BPM Has a Wide Reach

Figure 17: How Likely
Would Your Organization
be to Use a BPM Solution 4%
that Manages Both 23%
21%
Outbound and Inbound
Segments of a Business
Process?
25%
Don’t understand the question 26%
Not likely
Somewhat likely
Likely
Very likely

BPM Not a Turnkey Implementation – Held Close
to Home

Figure 18: Which Processes are Candidates for a BPM
Solution that Would Include Both Outbound and Inbound
Capabilities?
Vendor communications 34
Customer communications 32
R&D 8
Risk management 15
General admin 36
HR 36
Sales and marketing 26
IT services 32
Supply chain or logistics 13
Manuf and fulfillment 9
Compliance documentation 36
Compliance management 24
Order entry and billing 30
Back office operations 40
Cust service 42

5%
5%
Figure 19: Which Best
5%
Describes Your Organization's
Approach to Implementation of
BPM Solutions? 47%
Integrate BPM with Other Systems
38%
Customized Packaged Solution
Hosted/SaaS
Outsourced/Not SaaS
Other

Figure 20: How Likely 6%
10%
Would Your Organization
12%
Ever Consider a
\"Software as a Service\"
to Meet its BPM Needs?
47%
25%
Don’t know; don’t understand
Not likely
Somewhat likely
Likely
Very likely

Survey sponsored by...
For more information, see our blog:
www.aiim.typepad.com