BEP: Putting Events in a Business Context
by Amy Larsen DeCarlo

Most organizations set out to align IT with the business in order to accelerate the return on technology investments and to realize corporate performance goals faster. Companies turn to methods such as business process management (BPM) to improve operational efficiencies and meet customer needs by optimizing the technology that supports specific business operations.  As great as this may sound in theory, in practice, too many companies leave out the fundamental element of the equation — the business itself.   

Instead, organizations (and technology vendors) continue to put most of the responsibility for day-to-day business process management almost exclusively in the hands of IT teams. Leaving out business personnel is a mistake; it denies the people with the most direct knowledge of the business processes the opportunity to institute the necessary changes to optimize operations. 

Many organizations are turning to technologies like complex event processing (CEP) engines for sophisticated business information. These engines take in process information from multiple sources and put events in a service-level context so developers can configure middleware to automate responses to various scenarios. But vendors have traditionally aimed these applications at developers and other IT staffers who don’t have the business-side experience to fine-tune processes based on dynamic event-driven business information. Given the constantly shifting nature of most businesses today, leaving managers out of the loop is a tremendous oversight.

The good news is that vendors are starting to change. Some are bringing practical solutions to market that give business managers direct access to (and the ability to take action on) event-driven information. IBM is making significant inroads in the event processing arena by working to put event information into a business context and giving business staffers access to the data. In spearheading the business event processing (BEP) concept, IBM is elevating BPM’s efficacy by providing business users with the event-driven data they need to assess how events will impact the organization. Unlike traditional complex event processing, which is focused mostly on very specific applications such as fraud detection in the financial services sector, business event processing addresses a broader range of events across multiple industries. 

Used in conjunction with a services-oriented architecture (SOA) [(link “SOA” to: http://www-306.ibm.com/software/solutions/soa/launch)], BEP can help companies identify and react to event patterns quickly and effectively by implementing complicated event flows in a straightforward manner. The benefits are many, including lower operational costs and a more responsive organization as a whole. Businesses can also leverage BEP to recognize patterns that might be out of compliance with corporate mandates and external regulations as well as to automate remediation.

Companies can use BEP in a variety of ways, ranging from traditional event processing to up-to-the-minute monitoring to support a variety of applications including:

In January, IBM’s BEP portfolio got a big boost from the company’s acquisition of event processing vendor AptSoft, a maker of business event processing software that picks up on cause-and-effect relationships from various seemingly unrelated business events.  IBM is incorporating AptSoft’s event processing technology into its WebSphere Business Events solution giving business users a tool for analyzing event data and implementing an automated response when a particular event surfaces. Line-of-business personnel can use WebSphere Business Events’ graphical user interface to specify, create and institute event management changes without requiring any coding or IT action. 

WebSphere Business Events is a resource for companies looking for a fast and effective way to get business personnel involved in process improvement. Not only can it help companies better respond to critical information, but the WebSphere Business Events solution  (link “BEP” to: http://www.ebizq.net/webinars/8996.html?s_tact=107B903W) also gives businesses a tool to improve customer support, exploit new revenue opportunities and better position the company to thrive in a challenging and changing marketplace.

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