Business Process Management (BPM) technology is designed to improve enterprise processes, well I already have SOA based enterprise application then why would I need BPM? The answer lies in the processes, BPM is more suitable for complex processes and it provides real time integration of human interactions. Let say in a retail store chain when a corporate level decision/rule is changed and it needs to be propagated back to all the stores nationwide then using SOA technology alone would require change in applications at every store level whereas using BPM change is made at one place (headquarters) and its transparent to all stores.

Another example: An IT project exposes your supply chain to your field agents for direct tie-in with back-end systems for real-time data integration. But this focus on the field sales rep doesn’t consider whether the customer has issues. Now your CRM system has to know about supply chain events. Enter another integration point and another process silo. And, what if there are billing issues with the business customer account? Now your finance department personnel and systems have to be involved. Another integration and process change.