To garner a deeper understanding of which technologies are vital for process teams, APQC asked survey respondents to indicate which tools would be used as part of their efforts in 2022. Lets unpack what they found.

This podcast expands on Holly's published article Process Tools in 2022.

Your hosts today are Holly-Lyke-Ho-Gland - principle research lead at APQC - and Lloyd Dugan - chief architect for BPMNextGen.com.

Holly Lyke-Ho-Gland 
I think data analytics is an absolute skill set that we have to have in this business, right. And the long run our job any more and more of our toolkit is technology based. A lot of the decision making and the things that go around it are data linked, right, whether we're looking at making using data to to visualize, like with process mining, where things are and using objective information to make smart decisions about improvements, or to even kind of like, then help provide objective information, then an improvement work. So we have that ability to select the right projects that are going to be a good fit for the organization, as well as tie that information into the ROI and the benefits of the work that we do. One of the biggest kind of struggles BPM teams in particular have had over I think my entire career is been making sure that the value of what we do is transparent to the business. So that we're seen as something that's helped support and scoot around the organization goals. And one of the ways we can do that is by having clear analytics tools that help us then help them solve their problems effectively.

Lloyd Dugan 
I tend to think that we are particularly in this information over abundant information age, where, you know, we're surrounded by water, in the same sense that a man on a raft is at sea, who's thirsty is also surrounded by water, we can't, you know, it's not good enough. And I, so I get the emphasis on making it more relevant, more accessible, more usable, to to be applied in particular context.

So what is it that you all think, over at APQC is the long term direction of this drift towards more data, and more precise analytical tools are built around the data for things in the BPM workspace? 

Holly Lyke-Ho-Gland 
I think it's a natural fit. So the researcher I cover is process and performance management. So we already kind of link measurement, and data with process as far as being able to objectively do that. And if you look at kind of like the biggest gap in organizations, and they're looking at BPM maturity, it's jumping from standardization, to managing and measuring process performance objectively, and how we use that to support decision making in the organization. So I think they go hand in hand you have, you have to have one and the other. I do think technology and the vast amounts of information out there are making that easier, and driving more and more that connection between the two of those, those disciplines.

Lloyd Dugan 
So this is something that you'll be doing this survey is something that you'll be doing year to year for a while, at least.

Holly Lyke-Ho-Gland 
So this is part of a bigger survey that I do every year, which is what I call a priority survey. And what we do is we look at some of the big challenges and in like a lot of key spaces like process, strategy, measurement, analytics, and things like that. I always include a specific section like this, which looks at kind of a topic that people are interested in. And that's where we came up with, and looking at the tools. And particularly because there's always been a lot of questions about what tools people are using, and sometimes what tools people are using, versus what's the hype out there, as far as what are the tools that people should be using. So that is definitely a piece that I like to ask at least every other year. And that big survey is to look at tools and skill sets. As far as that goes.

Data visualization tools create visual representation of information or data. They typically include tools to develop graphic elements for reports, infographics, or in dashboards. Examples include Tableau, Power BI, ChartBlocks, Datawrapper, Infogram, Grafana, and Polymaps.

Participate in this quick poll to help us learn more about organizations’ applications, management, and challenges regarding data visualization tools. All responses are confidential and will only be reported in the aggregate.