BPM as "Topware"

I don't remember who first suggested the word "topware" to me, but it has stuck. I now categorize BPM technology into two primary camps:

1. A process oriented application development solution. Here, a company is trying to take a process that involves systems and people and automate it. The benefits are reduced cycle times, greater quality (e.g., less data entry), more agility to make application changes, and process level data metrics and reporting.
2. An abstraction layer that sits on top of your existing environment to connect systems and people. In this case, you don't have to hard code changes into your exiting environment. You are able to minimize some of the change management aspects while gaining huge efficiencies in the white space that exists between applications and subprocesses. A process owner can now manage an end-to-end process that uses multiple legacy systems and gain much better control. Additionally, you get many of the same financial benefits (e.g., time to market, quality, customer service, lower costs).

Recently a company was asking about creating a procurement application. They have three systems they use today. One to create the request. One to create the purchase order. And a third to track the invoice. Add to that the fact that they have a process for RFP distribution, a process for vendor management, and a budget approval process, and you have a picture of the end-to-end process. All of these systems could be linked along with the subprocesses to create an automated solution and management tool for the request to payment process for hardware, software, professional services, and all other items that procurement manages.