BPM won’t change the world. Not for everyone, anyway. It may make a big difference to some companies, though, particularly those that need to innovate to compete.

Says SAP chief technology architect Alvin Paules: “One of our clients is building a new global strategy and they’re saying that if they’re going to survive long-term, they need to be able to standardise yet innovate in each local market. So they have standardisation and governance on the backend, and the ability to be different on the front-end, and are looking at BPM to get them there. They see it as a five- to 15-year journey, and we’re saying things will be possible in 12 to 18 months if we do it properly.”