Business Process
It does not matter if the process is an industry vertical business process or a cross-industry business process. Either way, the process is the output — the deliverable — that will define success or failure for any business. All the other layers are merely enablers to get you to this point.
At this layer we consider asset management, supply chain / order processing, marketing, financial management, customer relationship management and knowledge management, to name a few processes. With unique industry and business requirements, we can see how the Business Process layer requires many variables and strong industry expertise. So what about Next Generation solutions? There are well-established application products that support these processes, but consider the extra value pieces like analytics. In most cases today the Business Process layer is supported by legacy business intelligence reporting that tells you what has been rather than what could be. This comes from the data locked inside internal systems. What about all the data you know has value and insights but are not able to access?
The first aspect of Next Generation solutions is the addition / supportability of Big Data Analytics, recognizing there is more data that can be analysed to better answer critical business questions and help solidify business decisions. Although the execution of these analytic queries will be done in the Application and Platform layers, the query itself is based on key performance indicators and metrics that require deep business knowledge and the ability to translate this knowledge into an executable hypothesis.
If we think about other aspects of a solution that is defined in, and directly dependent on, the Business Process layer but is executed in the other layers, then Business Continuity Planning must be a factor. This is about aligning the response of the technology, people and process to the impact of an outage or disaster that cripples the business. This comes down to knowing the acceptable Recovery Time Objective (RTO) for the critical business applications. For example, a patient record system for a health provider can only accept a very small RTO; the technology, people and process have to be designed to handle this, so the solution is generally not cheap. However, a small manufacturing business can tolerate a less aggressive RTO. Although it needs to get production back up and running, the business can use alternate technologies, reducing the cost and enabling the business to meet its customer SLAs.
Another aspect of the Business Process layer to focus on is enabling people to work better with the business applications as well as collaborate and share information and knowledge. Mobility (discussed later) should be considered to empower the workforce, drive the business forward and respond quickly to changing business situations.
Link to Part 3 Application