Australian Business Cringe Behind Gutless Innovation, Leave Radical Business Improvements to the Americans
Announcement posted by Technology Choices 11 Sep 2006
Technology Choices, an independent Australian technology consultancy, has today announced the publication of an independent research report into the use of innovation and Business Process Management (BPM) within Australian enterprises with more than 1000 employees.
The 61 page report titled A Critical Assessment of Business Process Management Practices and Trends in Australia, is the result of 35 hours of in-depth interviews with large Australian organisations. The interviews occurred between March and July 2006, and included large enterprises from banking, insurance, telecommunications, media, government, and manufacturing industries.
Sara Sause, Managing Director of Technology Choices commented,
Our research shows that Australian businesses have no appetite for significant transformational change. They prefer to concentrate technology resources on non-essential incremental process improvements. This strategy of gutless innovation is widely used by Australian organisations, and tends to generate predictable, modest results. In comparison, other studies of North American firms indicate they are more likely to undertake projects that attempt to radically transform business profitability and competitiveness.
Business Process Management (BPM) is the management and development of rules based business processes that can be measured and controlled in a methodical manner to achieve commercial advantage.
The research found that there is no natural home for BPM innovation within the structure of Australian organisations. Within the Australian organisations taking part in the research panel, BPM groups were found within IT departments, Finance departments, as well as Operations and Human Resources groups. BPM leaders within Australian organisations are typically two to three levels below the CEO within the reporting structure of an organisation.
Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) are technology solutions that perform process modeling and workflow process automation. BPMS products used by the Australian organisations that took part in this research include IBM Websphere, Filenet, EMC Documentum, Microsoft Infopath, and Adobe LifeCycle.
Technology Choices predicts that by 2010, the next generation of technology, business rules engines, will become a standard element of IT infrastructure for large Australian organisations.
Sara Sause continued, Leadership, vision and persistence, more than technology and good project management, are the keys to ensuring successful business innovation. Organisations looking to gain more from their investments in IT should pay less attention to IT vendors, and more attention to their internal business management discipline. IT does still matter, just not as much as many Australian IT departments seem to think.
The report A Critical Assessment of Business Process Management Practices and Trends in Australia is available for purchase for $550 inc GST.
Formerly a senior consultant with a worldwide analyst firm, Sara Sause has consulted to Australias leading technology leaders including the Australian Tax Office, Westpac, Woolworths, Coles Myer, Australia Post, and St. George Bank. Prior to consulting, she held management positions with the Commonwealth Bank, IBM GSA, CSC, Software Spectrum, and National Mutual.
About Technology Choices
Technology Choices is a fiercely independent technology consultancy dedicated to assisting companies with technology acquisition processes. Rather than sell technologies, Technology Choices assists clients to define and document requirements, find the most appropriate solutions, and negotiate the best possible deal from their suppliers. For more information visit www.technologychoices.com.au .
Media Contact:
Sebastian Rice,
Silverspan, 02 9959 1991, seb@silverspan.com,
www.silverspan.com
The 61 page report titled A Critical Assessment of Business Process Management Practices and Trends in Australia, is the result of 35 hours of in-depth interviews with large Australian organisations. The interviews occurred between March and July 2006, and included large enterprises from banking, insurance, telecommunications, media, government, and manufacturing industries.
Sara Sause, Managing Director of Technology Choices commented,
Our research shows that Australian businesses have no appetite for significant transformational change. They prefer to concentrate technology resources on non-essential incremental process improvements. This strategy of gutless innovation is widely used by Australian organisations, and tends to generate predictable, modest results. In comparison, other studies of North American firms indicate they are more likely to undertake projects that attempt to radically transform business profitability and competitiveness.
Business Process Management (BPM) is the management and development of rules based business processes that can be measured and controlled in a methodical manner to achieve commercial advantage.
The research found that there is no natural home for BPM innovation within the structure of Australian organisations. Within the Australian organisations taking part in the research panel, BPM groups were found within IT departments, Finance departments, as well as Operations and Human Resources groups. BPM leaders within Australian organisations are typically two to three levels below the CEO within the reporting structure of an organisation.
Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) are technology solutions that perform process modeling and workflow process automation. BPMS products used by the Australian organisations that took part in this research include IBM Websphere, Filenet, EMC Documentum, Microsoft Infopath, and Adobe LifeCycle.
Technology Choices predicts that by 2010, the next generation of technology, business rules engines, will become a standard element of IT infrastructure for large Australian organisations.
Sara Sause continued, Leadership, vision and persistence, more than technology and good project management, are the keys to ensuring successful business innovation. Organisations looking to gain more from their investments in IT should pay less attention to IT vendors, and more attention to their internal business management discipline. IT does still matter, just not as much as many Australian IT departments seem to think.
The report A Critical Assessment of Business Process Management Practices and Trends in Australia is available for purchase for $550 inc GST.
Formerly a senior consultant with a worldwide analyst firm, Sara Sause has consulted to Australias leading technology leaders including the Australian Tax Office, Westpac, Woolworths, Coles Myer, Australia Post, and St. George Bank. Prior to consulting, she held management positions with the Commonwealth Bank, IBM GSA, CSC, Software Spectrum, and National Mutual.
About Technology Choices
Technology Choices is a fiercely independent technology consultancy dedicated to assisting companies with technology acquisition processes. Rather than sell technologies, Technology Choices assists clients to define and document requirements, find the most appropriate solutions, and negotiate the best possible deal from their suppliers. For more information visit www.technologychoices.com.au .
Media Contact:
Sebastian Rice,
Silverspan, 02 9959 1991, seb@silverspan.com,
www.silverspan.com