There is no space in enterprise software more crowded than workflow software. It is so shockingly complicated that there are countless articles comparing one kind of workflow solution to another. With a rising number of solutions and acronyms, it is important to clarify the workflow industry and where each type of workflow platform exists in it. The easiest way to do this is to break each type of platform down. I’d say all 500, or possibly thousands, of BPM and workflow solutions in the market fit into one of these seven buckets.
1. BPM Software
The origin of workflow software. Large organizations often rely on Business Process Management (BPM) software to integrate and extend legacy systems by designing automated process applications. This is not the kind of software you sign up for and start building workflows immediately. The purchase cycle is usually three to six months and you will need a team of developers to use pretty much any BPM product on the market. Most workflow companies started in BPM and still have BPM in their DNA but what is actually changing is the way business process management is executed using workflow software.
2. Intelligent BPM (iBPMs) Software
Gartner came up with this gem to give credit to the more forward-thinking, innovative BPM software companies that added machine learning, robotic process automation, and artificial intelligence to the party. BPMs can do a lot more with this kind of intelligence, including automatically optimizing processes without human intervention and manual data analysis.
3. Low-Code Workflow Software
Low-code is the bucket most BPM providers actually fall into. Low-Code means code is still involved, but the platform may be built so the business user doesn’t need to write the code themselves. Business users experience these platforms as no-code software since IT has already developed everything they need to design, deploy, and automate custom processes. However, it is still called “low-code” due to the necessity of IT doing the initial development for reuse.
