F R I D A Y , D E C E M B E R 3 , 2 0 0 4
STANDARDIZATION OF LOCATION-ENABLED BUSINESS PROCESSES
THE IMMINENT STEP IN THE MATURITY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Technology alone is not a driver of success. It is obvious that the innovation rests not in the technology or products but in the business processes. Information technology is not about the cost savings or improved productivity but about stimulating business innovation.
Business Process Management (BPM) is one of the hottest markets in technology today, representing incredible savings and growth opportunities for enterprises. BPM will do for information technology what CAD/ CAM did for design and engineering ‹ lowering costs, increasing process speeds and responsiveness.
Unlike software applications, BPM processes can be conceived, deployed and changed by business people.
In the similar way, the geospatial industry is learning today that GIS (Geographic Information System) technology provides measurable business values if integrated into well defined business processes. Such integration is being driven by the rapid development of Web Services. There is no doubt that many of the business processes, if not almost all, in government, public utilities, and emergency management is location-dependent or location-sensitive.
So, the rigorous management of basic business processes to be adequate for the needs of the real world has to be location-enabled.
Q u e s t i o n s t o t h e P a n e l :
1. What is your vision of, and experience with formalized business process management? Which BPM tools, languages or notations is your organization using?
2. Do you agree that it is essential to have business processes well documented before embarking on any new information technology projects, specifically in the geographic information systems domain?
3. What is your experience with handling geographic locations in business processes?
4. Where location-enabled BPM will go in the future? Is geographic location a universal component of decision making and business processes? What importance have other forms of "location" dependency: such as the topology of transportation networks or public utility networks; proximity zones; different forms of fuzzy definitions of location, like neighborhoods, metropolitan communities, etc.?