CHEMISTRY

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., -- Heralding the new source of competitive advantage for businesses, Computer Sciences Corporation's Howard Smith and author Peter Fingar describe the most important new breakthrough in computing technology in two decades in their new book, "Business Process Management: The Third Wave." This groundbreaking work provides business leaders a clear understanding of how entire business processes can for the first time be made self-automating and self-optimizing, and how organizations can use business processes to achieve unprecedented operational and competitive advantage. Until now, businesses have found it difficult to change processes quickly because the underlying technology was inflexible and unable to adapt to sudden needs. Smith, chief technology officer for CSC in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, observed, "With BPM, change is no longer the enemy; it's your friend, the very source of your advantage." Previous efforts at business process change started with diagrams on conference room walls that were converted into business capabilities only with great effort and long development times. Now BPM systems can not only capture and codify how new processes will work, but effect their immediate implementation. This means that non-technical functional and line managers can sit down and make process changes instantaneously, without relying on lengthy implementation efforts. BPM systems accomplish this by unifying disparate systems and orchestrating all activities via a virtual management layer that rides on top of the software components and systems most businesses have in place already. "The promise of new technologies to improve business performance cannot be fulfilled without understanding how to effectively manage the underlying business processes," said Andy Efstathiou, program manager at the Yankee Group. "CSC has been a leader in the field of business process management for many years and this book represents their latest thinking on this critical subject." "BPM is a major technological breakthrough that revolutionizes the way business is conducted," said Smith. "CSC is at the forefront of its development and use. We are a founding member of BPMI.org, we've developed advanced methods for implementing BPM systems, and we've already delivered BPM functionality to clients worldwide." "Business Process Management: The Third Wave" is published by Meghan-Kiffer Press and is available now through major booksellers worldwide. For more information, please visit www.bpm3.com .