Café Innovation Blog

[Cross-posted from SAP Community Network: Puneet Suppal’s SAP Network Blog ]

Just this past week I was speaking to a group of consulting professionals comprised of sales and delivery folks. During a rather invigorating discussion about process excellence and how an organization can go about addressing the challenges inherent in striving for it, I realized that there is one aspect that we must discuss more explicitly – the aspect of process governance. With the talk of executable process models more prevalent these days, it becomes all the more relevant that organizations find a way to preserve the integrity of the foundation platform while allowing the creativity of its end-users to express itself in a relatively uninhibited fashion.

In my discussions with various customers and practitioners it is clear that process excellence is necessary for SOA success. Also, leveraging available SOA enabling tools is an effective way to bring about process excellence. This business of achieving process excellence calls for the creativity of business process owners to be unleashed. If this is not managed well, there is real danger of a chaotic experience overshadowing the benefits of process renewal. Should an organization, therefore, clamp down on this forthright expression of creativity? Should an organization do this without any boundaries or discipline? The answer is “No” in both cases. What is needed is a framework that will keep unbridled creative instincts in check. Let us not forget that in this post-Enron era organizations are ever more answerable to regulatory bodies and the integrity of data and process controls cannot be overemphasized.

Also, from a purely business process perspective it is important that individuals do not expend unnecessary energy in defining or accomplishing something that has already been an accepted best practice for the organization. If there were a way to leverage the wealth of accumulated knowledge around best industry and business practices, that could certainly make refining business models a lot more efficient. A framework that does so based on sound governance principles is what is needed to satisfy this requirement. This framework should be geared toward providing access to process best practices treasured by the organization.

So, in essence, the framework that would serve an organization best is one that not only serves as a knowledge management tool or provides easy and ready access to stored knowledge capital, but also has process checks and balances that guide users as they seek to refine and renew processes.

Does your organization have a declared approach to process governance? What are some of the steps your enterprise is taking to address this?

– Puneet Suppal [Enterprise SOA Solutions & Innovation – Capgemini]

[Cross-posted from SAP Community Network: Puneet Suppal’s SAP Network Blog ]

If one asked what one of the oldest professions in the world was, Accounting would arguably be one ranked very high on the list. As long as there has been money to be counted there has been a need to account for it! This has been a bastion of conservative business thought. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and various international Accounting Standards have been crafted to be in line with the notion of being conservative in looking at financial, and, by extension, business information. In the post-Enron world, the burden of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and similar regulations seems to be carried predominantly by the Accounting profession; and it makes sense that this body of conservative professionals be the custodian of such a responsibility. Would it then not surprise you to know that the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the apex body of CPAs in the country, has established a Second Life presence?

It was perhaps not surprising to find IBM or Toyota with a Second Life presence, or even Princeton University. However, knowing as we do that the Accounting profession is characterized by conservatism, it was a bit of a surprise to find the AICPA’s “CPA Island” on Second Life. According to Richard A. Johnson and Joyce M. Middleton (“Accounting for Second Life,” Journal of Accountancy, June 2008), CPA Island “presents a creative medium to appeal to a new generation” that has “grown up with high-speed Internet connectivity, instant messaging, and multiplayer online gaming.” They further make the point that this goes beyond just acknowledging the different skill set of this new generation, and actually “embraces and celebrates these skills as important to the future of the accounting profession.” And, that last line is what should make us stop and take notice.

In an earlier post (Café Innovation – Business Processes and the Facebook Phenomenon), I had touched on the popularity of Facebook and had sought to generate a discussion around whether this phenomenon could be harnessed for enterprise use. That topic becomes all the more relevant in light of the fact that one of the most conservative professions on this planet has stepped out of its centuries-old comfort zone to embrace the emerging world. This is what organizations should begin to recognize; this is what their IT departments should wake up to; and, this recognition and awakening are what will determine how successfully we deploy technology in the future.

In this new world, it will be important to have a clear business process orientation (see the post from June 17: Café Innovation – The Business Process Enterprise) so that the creativity of this new generation can be properly harnessed without risking chaos, and there will need to be strong contingents of Business Process Experts (BPXers) potentially drawn from this new generation who can skillfully span the IT-Business divide. Does this mean that in this world there is no place for the current generation of team members? No, that is not the case. On the contrary, if they evolve their own skill sets, the current players will have the crucial role of helping an enterprise bridge the generational divide and ready it for future success, in the process ensuring pivotal roles for themselves.

Does your organization have a Second Life presence? Do you see a new generation of skill sets and capabilities emerging in your organization? What are some of the steps your enterprise is taking to address these emerging trends? Are you readying yourself as a BPXer?

I look forward to hearing your views. In the meantime, have a great July 4th !!!!!

– Puneet Suppal [Enterprise SOA Solutions & Innovation – Capgemini]

[Cross-posted from SAP Community Network: Puneet Suppal’s SAP Network Blog ]

In an earlier post (Café Innovation – Going beyond IT-Business alignment and integration), I had raised the need for organizations to go beyond IT-Business alignment and IT-Business integration, and aim to focus on assimilation of IT expertise within the business, and the assimilation of business process knowledge within IT. The main thrust of this argument was to stress that organizations need to move their workforces toward adopting a process view of the solutions they must deploy to solve business problems.

It is becoming increasingly clear that this could be quite a challenge for organizations since most of them are organized around a functional division of labor. Over the years, most of these functional areas have become functional silos. For example, the needs of the Finance folks are pitted against those of the Human Resources folks. Customer needs are often sacrificed in the internal conflicts between those that are in a Customer Relationship Management arena with those that are involved in Sales and Operations planning. So on the one hand we have the IT-Business divide and on the other we have the functional silos. If process excellence is to be achieved, something quite different needs to be in place.

This is where the Business Process Enterprise (BPEn) comes in. In the most recent issue of the SAP NetWeaver Magazine (Summer 2008), I introduce this in an article titled: SOA Success: Is Your Organization a Business Process Enterprise?, and online at: http://www.netweavermagazine.com/archive/Volume_04_(2008)/Issue_03_(Summer)/v4i3a04.cfm?session. This is not exactly a radical idea, but one whose time has come because “until an organization can truly function as a Business Process Enterprise, it will not be able to fully exploit its enterprise SOA capabilities.”

I invite you to read the above-referenced article, and join the discussion here. .

– Puneet Suppal [Enterprise SOA Solutions & Innovation – Capgemini]

[Cross-posted from SAP Community Network: Puneet Suppal’s SAP Network Blog ]

In my last post I mentioned that one of the things that stood out for me at this year’s joint SAPPHIRE and ASUG conference was the discussion of the role of communities in the context of driving newer process models. It was particularly emphasized during the major keynote addresses by SAP Board members. In its most recent issue (June 2 2008), Business Week has dedicated its cover story (“Beyond Blogs – What Business Needs to Know”) to talk about how “social media” is impacting business. At the heart of it is the matter of collaboration. A recently released book, Mesh Collaboration (Andy Mulholland & Nick Earle) presents a very lucid picture of how companies can engage in “creating new business value in the network of everything.” In the words of Chris S. Thomas, Chief Strategist, World Ahead, from Intel Corporation, the authors “examine how the global community can benefit from technology and how new models are emerging to ensure that people obtain true value from products.” The very expression “mesh collaboration” connotes that there is collaboration between groups and individuals in a manner that is not linear – in other words, it is dynamic and does not necessarily follow set predefined patterns, and more often than not involves groups internal and external to the organization.

Both the Business Week story and Mesh Collaboration, cite BT, “the British telecom giant” as an example of how things are changing. The Business Week story actually states that BT “is famous for an approach that blends inside and outside networks,” and goes on to illustrate with a simple anecdote. Both works cite several other known names as examples of what is happening to the business world post the advent of YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook and MySpace. In a post a few months ago (November 15, 2007), I had posed the question if businesses were buying into the Facebook phenomenon (as I called it) to re-invent how they were sharing and collaborating. It appears that there is an increasing sense of urgency in this arena – we cannot sit still and be engaged in mere academic musings of how this will impact our lives. It is doing so already.

So what should businesses that are still somewhat hesitant about exploring how Web 2.0 can lead them to Enterprise 2.0 start to do? What should they be considering? This is where Mesh Collaboration can be of use to you – it uses the fictional story of a business to illustrate how problems are solved applying a practical approach leveraging the various expressions of Web 2.0.

[I think it is fair to disclose that I have the privilege of working with Andy Mulholland, off and on. So, I will not say anything further about Mesh Collaboration lest it sound like the thoughts of a biased party.]

As the focal point of this post, I challenge every business out there with the question – where do you stand in this rapidly changing environment? What steps is your organization taking to address these new influences? Repeating the question I asked in my last post, I ask you to ponder the following: “How does your organization look upon activity that calls for interaction/collaboration in communities, internal and external?” If they are positive about it, what steps are they taking to provide you with the support you need to engage in dialogue and activity that will help you do your job better? Some of this touches on another point I have made in some of my earlier posts (Dec 19, 2007 and others) – and that is, around the issue of redefining the IT role. An organization’s seriousness about adopting the necessary tools to enable the organization to collaborate across boundaries will be reflected in how much control IT is willing to cede to the users. It is an important consideration because success with people-centric technology can only be realized when it is truly driven by the people and is not something that is crippled by virtue of being tightly controlled by IT.

– Puneet Suppal [Enterprise SOA Solutions & Innovation – Capgemini]

[Cross-posted from SAP Community Network: Puneet Suppal’s SAP Network Blog ]  

This year’s joint SAPPHIRE and ASUG conference was said to have an attendance in excess of 15,000 individuals. At this huge gathering the three things that stood out for me, in no particular order, were (a) the Eric Clapton concert, (b) the focus on how Business Objects plays into SAP’s long-term strategy, and (c) the emphasis on process model innovation and the role of communities in that context. I don’t know what some of you may have thought about the concert, but it was important to me for it was one of those things that I had to check off on my rather long list of things to do at some point in time, and I was glad to do so – though I can think of a few other numbers that I wish Clapton had played! The demos illustrating the blending of the Business Objects offerings with BI and the Business Suite were instructive and heralded a coming of age of the NetWeaver platform – apparently, effortlessly integrating through the use of services. Hasso Plattner’s emphasis on the “By Design” capabilities from SAP opened up a whole new vista of possibilities, but the one thing that got me thinking about the limitations of succeeding in all of this was the discussion around the involvement of communities – in particular, the BPX community.

Almost by definition, I would contend that for the successful leveraging of the BPX community there ought to be significant emphasis on the role of business process experts (BPXers), and in turn business processes, within an organization. For an enterprise to gain momentum in this direction, it is important for these BPXers to make community interaction a part of their routine work lives. Those who occasionally venture out there on their own, or who do it despite a code of conduct that frowns upon such interaction, should be lauded. However, this cannot be enough to deliver value consistently. Such activity tends to be sporadic or incomplete from the perspective of an entire organization’s participation. For there to be a way in which there is an industrialized approach to enriching solutions, or finding responses to complex problems, there ought to be a concerted effort on the part of the organization to foster and grow such activity. There must be a clear path provided by directed effort from the top. It is not sufficient for management to encourage their workforce to engage in collaborative community behavior in their spare time or as an ancillary effort; it is necessary to make this an integral part of what they do each day.

I find organizations are at different stages of recognizing what this evolving brave new world, asking for more interaction and collaboration, is all about. How does your organization look upon activity that calls for interaction/collaboration in communities, internal and external? If they are positive about it, do they merely encourage or condone such actions, or are they actively asking you to reach out and engage in dialogue and activity that will help you do your job better? If it is the latter, have they tied your KPIs and other performance measures to such activity, and have they provided the tools and options to do so with ease?

– Puneet Suppal [Enterprise SOA Solutions & Innovation – Capgemini]

[Cross-posted from SAP Community Network: Puneet Suppal’s SAP Network Blog ]

I picked up the April 28, 2008, issue of the Business Week the other day and found that the cover story was an intriguing read around the “Most Innovative Companies.” It listed 25 companies as the most innovative ones for 2008 (a Business Week-Boston Consulting Group ranking). While reading this it occurred to me that we should have a discussion around, what can be termed, the Innovation Imperative. Why do companies need to innovate? Is innovation a luxury that can only be afforded by the darlings of Wall Street to better position themselves vis-à-vis the competition, or is it something that should be a key aspect of any enterprise’s strategic plans?

In the above referenced article, Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon.com (ranked number 11) was interviewed, who said that in his view “there’s no bad time to innovate.” Interestingly, he also added that “frugality drives innovation.” To me this means that he has placed a challenge before companies to find ways to embark on innovation “when times are good and when times are tough” thus debunking the notion that innovation is a luxury to be availed of only when there are ample available resources.

So how should a company go about identifying resources to dedicate to innovation initiatives? What does it mean to look for a frugal but prudent approach to innovation? How can an enterprise free up resources to make the investment? What is the winning argument for doing so in an economic downturn? I invite you to join in with your views.

P.S. I will return after the annual SAPPHIRE-ASUG 2008 event in May.

– Puneet Suppal [Enterprise SOA Solutions & Innovation – Capgemini]

[Cross-posted from SAP Community Network: Puneet Suppal’s SAP Network Blog ]  

This year the SAP Insider conference on SAP NetWeaver – BI and Portals was in Orlando, and not in Las Vegas. The venue was different but the fervor of the participants was much the same. In the two sessions I delivered (How to Evolve from an IT, Application, or Business Consultant to a Business Process Expert, and A Guide to New SAP NetWeaver Capabilities for Improving the End- User Experience), I found that there was a very strong interest among practitioners and their management alike in furthering a culture that understands the needs of users and focuses on business processes. In my interaction with the attendees, I found an acknowledgement of the fact that the existing IT-business divide in their organizations needs to be bridged for good.

Interestingly, I find, this subject is increasingly gaining traction.

In the March 10 issue of the Wall Street Journal, Amit Basu and Chip Jarnagin speak about the “wall between a company’s information-technology department and everything else,” and that it must go (“How to Tap IT’s Hidden Potential“). The article holds out IT-Business alignment as the key to success. Similarly, in the Best Practice feature of the March 2008 issue of the Harvard Business Review (“Radically Simple IT“), authors David M. Upton and Bradley R. Staats have hit upon some very key aspects with respect to the working dynamics between IT and the Business. I agree with them that IT strategy and Business strategy need to be more closely tied than being merely aligned, and that the interaction between IT and business groups need to be such that “the two sides gradually come to speak the same language.” In my opinion this hints at IT-Business integration of sorts. However, the need of the hour is that enterprises look to push this further. The world of systems implementations will increasingly be characterized by the dominance of services oriented architecture (SOA), and, as I have often said, this demands that more attention be paid to business processes and the people who must deliver them successfully.

For success in the evolving SOA world it is not sufficient that IT and Business groups interact well, and that IT and Business strategies have been forged together. Organizations need to go a step further. They need to go beyond IT-Business alignment and IT-Business integration – they need to focus on assimilation of IT expertise within the business, and the assimilation of business process knowledge within IT. In other words, organizations need to move their workforces toward adopting more holistic views of the technology solutions that aid the end user in operating on a daily basis. This is where the notion of a true business process expert comes in. We have to accept that the business process expert is central to the scheme of things going forward!

– Puneet Suppal  [Enterprise SOA Solutions & Innovation – Capgemini]

[Cross-posted from SAP Community Network: Puneet Suppal’s SAP Network Blog ]  

In an earlier post (Café Innovation – SOA and the new role of IT), I had raised the need for IT to redefine its role in the organization. I had pointed out that this is important because the changing IT world and the global environment demand that computing should become increasingly flexible and nimble. The argument is that if on the one hand we need the necessary stability and robustness to provide a solid platform from which to execute business-critical transactions, then on the other hand it is important to provide business users the ability to interact, collaborate and take advantage of community resources. IT can help bridge the sometimes conflicting demands.

If IT is to “adapt its function from the dictatorship of old” (discussed in the SAP NetWeaver Magazine (Winter 2008) article titled: Looking for SOA Success? Rethink the IT Role, and online at: http://www.netweavermagazine.com/archive/Volume_04_(2008)/Issue_01_(Winter)/v4i1a04.cfm?session) to become not just an ally of the business but an enabler, then what are some specific things that can be done? How should organizations, in general, and IT in particular, approach this matter? What are the current trends in this regard?

In a new article in the SAP NetWeaver Magazine (Spring 2008) titled, “SOA Success: When IT Enables the Business” (http://www.netweavermagazine.com/archive/Volume_04_(2008)/Issue_02_(Spring)/v4i2a04.cfm?session) I have initiated a discussion on how IT can make a meaningful difference in an organization’s SOA journey by enabling business users to dream, design, develop, and deploy creative business processes. The focus, in my opinion, needs to be on approach and intent because the technology challenges today in the quest for SOA success are not insurmountable. The fact that technologically we have come a long way, is confirmed by many today, including Deepak Alur, Vice President of Engineering at JackBe, a provider of enterprise mashup capabilities. In its own way, SAP has also been demonstrating its seriousness in this area.

I invite you to share additional ways in which IT can prove to be a true enabler for the business.

– Puneet Suppal  [Enterprise SOA Solutions & Innovation – Capgemini]

[Cross-posted from SAP Community Network: Puneet Suppal’s SAP Network Blog ]  

In a post earlier in the year (it is amazing that we are almost 2 months into 2008 !!!), I raised the matter of the impact of communities (Café Innovation – The Community Effect). The discussion was about businesses seeking to attain agility and the role that communities could play in this. I stated that it was important for companies to consider building communities as an important aspect of driving and eventually succeeding in any endeavor that is innovation-focused.

I was thrilled to hear from a like-minded person (Laura Coogan) who agreed with the premise of the post and added that collaborative communities can “add to the acceleration of transformation.” Going further, she asked the questions, “is it still so hard for us to change? Why are we so afraid of it?” This brought forth a whole new chain of thoughts. Lately, I have been exchanging ideas with some Organizational Change Management (OCM) folks who have varying theories, but largely agree that culture has to be one of the more significant factors. And, in this context it is not only the culture of the enterprise that matters, but also the overall cultural impacts of the industry and corporate environment that the enterprise must exist in.

This begs the question, what can an enterprise do to impact the culture within it? One school of thought suggests starting with ensuring that cross-functional collaboration is rewarded, thus enabling individuals to become more comfortable with colleagues from the “other” side. In my article, IT and Business: A Positive Relationship Equals SOA Success (SAP NetWeaver Magazine, Fall 2007; online at:  http://www.netweavermagazine.com/archive/Volume_03_(2007)/Issue_04_(Fall)/v3i4a04.cfm?session), I discussed the concept of regenerative energy flow between IT and business. (By “regenerative,” I mean the ability to construct positive, value-yielding dynamics between groups despite natural friction between them.) It is important to unleash this energy within the enterprise for it will lead to increasingly close ties between individuals from different groups. This will be an important step before a movement can begin within the enterprise. To accomplish this, a well-timed push from senior management requiring demonstrably more collaboration between individuals from different groups will be needed. As the barriers come down, fear of each other and the fear of failure are ikely to recede. More importantly, fear of losing control, and the fear of losing the ability to secure exclusive credit for success will likely be rendered less effective.

In a future publication, I will discuss this point in somewhat greater detail (…I will be sure to raise it in this forum as well). In the meantime, I invite you to join the discussion with your views on how do we grow a culture that overcomes fear and is ready for change that takes advantage of collaborative communities.

– Puneet Suppal  [Enterprise SOA Solutions & Innovation – Capgemini]

[Cross-posted from SAP Community Network: Puneet Suppal’s SAP Network Blog ]

If you are a traditional CFO, or someone with a “bean-counting” responsibility, you will certainly agree that like any other initiative in an enterprise, IT projects should be able to demonstrate a valid return-on-investment (ROI). In my experience, sometimes this presents an almost impossible situation, because it could be quite difficult to provide such a measure if the project in question is seeking to drive innovation or is otherwise transformational in nature. By definition, when we look at something that is likely to result in an innovative process or outcome, we are looking at a possible future state that is uncharted. Determining a ROI for that future point in time when such an outcome might become reality is often going to be subject to many assumptions.

In the context of innovation this can become quite tricky and a strict “accountant” mindset looking for a conservative approach will not serve the purpose of moving this along. If a degree of latitude is not afforded to the ROI on such an effort, it will not make the grade. What needs to be understood is that in order to succeed with innovation, an organization needs to have the tolerance for it, and hence a broader outlook when it comes to the use of metrics.

More importantly, the senior leadership in an enterprise needs to foster a climate of reasonableness – one where metrics are required but they don’t become so important that they derail a strategy of innovation-driven competitive advantage. ROI and other measures should be required to qualify projects, but the nature of innovation should be recognized and it should be held to a different standard, for it is such a project that will help yield competitive advantage via revenue growth or through the attainment of competitive differentiation. Focusing on ROI (and similar measures) alone, may cause an enterprise to miss opportunities to gain an edge either in enhancing its own capabilities or in winning sustainable competitive advantage. Such a project is better qualified with a flexible attitude, where progress of the project itself is closely monitored and any deviation from the numbers are qualitatively judged in the context of the larger objective.

Visionary leadership is demonstrated when an initiative is recognized for its immense transformational potential and given the go-ahead, even if the ROI or other similar measures are not considered adequate to support it in the traditional sense.

Have you had an innovation-focused initiative approved or rejected purely based on the numbers?

– Puneet Suppal [Enterprise SOA Solutions & Innovation – Capgemini]