VMware
The newly-created VMware Process Stewardship team was tasked with documenting and cataloging all the organization’s core business processes. The goal was to be able to create a centralized, common repository to get everyone on the same page and to better enable process improvement and automation.
Salient Process Provided best practices, methodologies, and a unique technology accelerator called “Blueworks Insights” to enable the Process Stewardship team and grow IBM Blueworks Live adoption.
Many organizations strive for Process Excellence or Operational Efficiency. Historically, this has been addressed using a proven methodology, such as Lean Six Sigma, and documents and spreadsheets. In addition, a drawing tool, such as Microsoft Visio, can be used to visualize the documented processes and workflows. However, it is important to understand this is not a true process documentation solution.
In 2009, IBM introduced a purpose-built tool for process discovery, modeling, and documentation called IBM Blueworks Live. This platform revolutionized how companies document and understand their business processes. This not only accelerated the speed at which processes could be modeled, but the details about the process could be captured directly within the activities. This was a huge improvement to a drawing tool like Visio where the details needed to be collected in a separate spreadsheet or text file. Further, the collaboration capabilities empowered users and allowed for process improvement to be something that the entire company could participate in, not just a small group of highly- trained individuals.
After an exhaustive comparison of technologies, VMware chose Blueworks Live as their strategic platform with one caveat: VMware needed some additional reports and dashboards for their process excellence goals, and this is where Salient Process came in.
Salient Process has been helping clients with IBM Blueworks Live adoption since the platform was introduced. Initially this came in the form of training and enablement for new users, then methodologies and best practices as users became more experienced. When the REST API for Blueworks Live became available, Salient then provided consulting services to build out reports and dashboards to extend the visibility and value to the Blueworks Live footprint.
At the same time VMware was evaluating process documentation technologies, Salient Process was introducing a new platform based on the pooled experience and development from the work provided in integrating reports and dashboards with Blueworks Live. This new standalone platform that would sit on top of Blueworks Live was to be named “Blueworks Insights” and would exceed everyone’s expectations.
VMware and Salient agreed to a partnership as part of the small starting footprint of Blueworks Live licenses that VMware purchased. In exchange for testing and feedback of Salient’s new Blueworks Insights offering, VMware would be able to use the accelerator at no additional charge. This, in combination with additional training and workshops that Salient provides, would prove to be a recipe for success.
VMware started with 15 users with a plan to double that within a year. However, after only a few months it became clear that the combination of IBM Blueworks Live with the reporting and management features of Blueworks Insights, the team was far-exceeding even their most aggressive estimates. By the end of the 6th month, VMWare added over 500 new users, and have steadily grown since then. After using the platform for less than 2 years, they now have more than 1,200 Blueworks Live users! None of that would have been possible without Salient’s oversight and technology.
The business value is more than just how many users have adopted the tool. Based on their own conservative estimates, the effort of documenting, understanding, and socializing their core processes provided a business benefit exceeding $10M.
Another exciting outcome of this successful partnership is that Salient Process can now provide all new and existing users of Blueworks Live additional reporting and management capabilities. In addition to the reporting and analytics, Blueworks Insights now allows Blueworks Live users to document for Robotic Process Automation (RPA), regulatory/compliance, customer journey maps, value-streams, “Metro Maps”, and much, much more.
Reach out to Salient Process today for a demonstration or free trial!
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