Talking of Business Technologies, I am thinking of the following:

1. Business Process Management
2. Business Rules Management
3. Business Intelligence Management

That most serious growth driven organizations have adopted IT in a major way is well documented. So, in the current landscape, when all the organization have their own internal IT systems, automated processes, how can “A Business” differentiate itself “Another” in a continuous & sustainable fashion?

Well, let me proceed and present an argument !

1. SOA in conjunction with BPM can help improve, stream line operations.They are essentially infrastructure technologies.
2. Business Intelligence allows an organization to reflect on its “Business Life” and learn lessons and therefore Improve
3. Business Rules, the Rules of the Game, the Rules of Customer & market engagement, control & drive all Business Processes.

Like my dear friend VD, our marketing head honcho says, BRMS are typically “A pimple in an Application’s Ass”, but the point is that the pimple leads straight to the heart!

Those who have read Issac Asimov’s Robots series will remember his line about the difference between Robots & Human decision making. Robots are logical, humans are reasonable.

There are so many situations where a reasonable decision is required. We certainly do not live in the Matrix, and people will continue to think for the machines for quite some time.

So, you have BPM, you have the infrastructure, you have .NET on the client, Java or .NET on the Server, you have the best process templates that a few millions can buy, but, my dear watson, at the end of the day your business case will be what will bring in the cash.

So, the point that I am trying to put across is that Business Rules define and represent the Business Case, and the Business Process is the Delivery vehicle for the enterprise, while BI provides valuable lessons learnt.

And hence the case for a BRMS!

Reflecting on this, organizations that do not realize the need for a BRMS will be straddled with Robots whose behavior is hardwired into the infrastructure, and no amount of BI is going to help, because the Business Policies, the “Rules of the Game”, are not managed and treated like the prized organizational assets that they are.

How will the enterprise find the agility that it needs to compete in a ever challenging environment, where your IT Systems infrastructure might not be a differentiator in the longer term?

Other authors have also written on this idea. Here are some interesting links

1. Business Rules & Efficiency
2. Business Rules and Resisting the Commoditization of Process