I've been working on a new concept for a presentation involving the practicality of BPM for small businesses when I came across this
blog posting at JBoss' site. Now everyone is entitled to their opinion as we go about figuring out how to apply these new technologies, but this one really struck me (I was a bit frustrated at the time - I had just finished getting JBoss' BPM package up and running - an absolute joy). I appreciate the point of the post, but its so woefully aimed at IT that its not even funny. BPEL is an integration technology, but that is EXACTLY what makes it a BPM collaborator. BPM by itself is just a bunch of fancy diagrams with code generation at best - explain it to any business partner and watch the yawns begin. Now, throw in a bit of BPEL to link those shiny services with your shiny business processes and take a look at what you get - real flexibility and agility in the development process. Not poorly generated code, but a truly dynamic business environment. That, my friends, is a winner with the business because it delivers tangible,
business value - not just another technology toy. In my opinion, if this position is truly representative of the view of JBoss, then they might as well get out of the business and leave the others who are adopting this more complete mentality (
IBM,
BEA) to continue to dominate the field.
