Gartner: broken business processes will bust big business

Ten major firms will fall foul of process snafus by the end of 2014, analysts warn

Broken business processes will be the ruination of 10 major enterprises in the next four years, analyst firm Gartner has predicted.

And many other large companies in the Global 2000 will suffer embarrassing "business debacles and snafus" over the same period, the firm warns.

Ahead of its Business Process Management Summit 2011 in London on 7 March, Gartner has issued a report Gartner Predicts 2011: Business Process Management Competencies Will Expose the 'Haves' and 'Have-Nots', which says business process improvement will separate the business leaders from the also-rans between now and the end of 2014.

"Increasing process skills in the Global 2000 will further separate the companies with enlightened process experts from those that are simply competent in the basics – and will intensify the negative repercussions and devastating consequences from public exposure of process weakness," said John Dixon, research director at Gartner.

"By 2014, BPM [business process management] will clearly deliver benefits to those who have the competencies, and deny a peaceful sleep to those who do not," he added.

Many process defects remain undiagnosed in the world's top 2000 organisations, even though the BPM practices and technologies used today could detect the flaws, says Gartner.

Consequently, it is recommending that firms should invest in business process analysts, tools such as business process simulation, and form business process competency centres to champion sound processes throughout the organisation.