A company can make the best products around, but the business will fail if it can't back them up with efficient processes such as filling customer orders or handling service calls. Q-Link Technologies Inc., which makes software for building applications that automate business processes, last week expanded its reach by partnering with Information Builders Inc. and UnBound Technologies Inc.

Q-Link plans to incorporate connector technology from Information Builders' iWay subsidiary into its business-process-management software, letting Q-Link users build applications that connect with enterprise resource planning and customer-relationship management applications from vendors such as Oracle, SAP, and Siebel Systems. The new capabilities will be available Oct. 1.

Using UnBound's wireless messaging technology, Q-Link built Process Anywhere, which combines instant messaging and workflow capabilities for notification and alert applications. The software will be available Oct. 1; pricing hasn't been set.

Co-Advantage Resources Inc., a provider of human-resource management services, implemented Q-Link's software late last year and has used it to build customer-service, employee drug-testing, and payroll-processing applications.

"Almost everything we do is process-oriented," says Jordan Conley, Co-Advantage's chief technology officer. Using Q-Link "has not only removed the paper we were shuffling around, but it's given us more visibility into those processes." That helps managers see how long it takes workers to complete a process, spot bottlenecks, and determine if the company is charging too much or too little for its services.

Using Q-Link, Co-Advantage recently went live with an application it built to track calls to its employee-service operation. Co-Advantage hopes to use the tool to give service representatives greater visibility into payroll data, something Conley says the technology from iWay might be able to help with.