Application-server platform vendors such as IBM and Microsoft are getting into the game, too, typically partnering with or buying integration products to provide unified development, integration, and business-process management. One-stop shopping isn't for everyone. Some companies value diversification, buying best-of-breed and integrating the products themselves.

Using the above criteria, prioritize your high-level requirements to achieve a starting point for evaluating business-process management vendors. But look to the future, too. During the last year, workflow apps have been transformed into BPM applications, and for the first time companies can standardize on a BPM platform. But expect other major changes in the market this year.

The similarities in BPM functionality among workflow products and integration servers will only accelerate as vendors from each camp vie to become the standard for process-management and integration applications. Vendors also will respond to customer demands to better manage customer-centered processes, specifically more-effective customer-behavior and-process modeling, comprehensive analytics for business transactions, and the ability to monitor all transactions.

As business processes increasingly cross the boundaries of systems, applications, and lines of business, the difficulty of managing transactions across all these components has become apparent. You'll see tighter integration between BPM and network-management products such as BMC Patrol, Computer Associates UniCenter, Hewlett-Packard OpenView, and IBM Tivoli. Monitoring products, such as Silas Technologies Inc.'s Reveille, also may be linked to BPM wares for expanded notification.

You'll also see increased integration between BPM products and business-intelligence software, as real-time monitoring and analysis requirements become more pervasive in BPM applications.

Business-process management functionality will be added to app servers in an effort to provide common platforms for BPM, application development, and integration services. Vendors such as BEA Systems, IBM, and Microsoft are adding functionality to their application servers to position them as unified BPM and integration server solutions as well as app development platforms. Having a common integrated platform for all such functionality can be attractive, but it isn't available yet, and it will take time for vendors to provide such platforms.

Bill Chambers, Gautam Desai, and Pat Turocy are analysts with Doculabs, a research and consulting firm that helps companies choose and optimize technologies for their business strategies. Write to them at info@doculabs.com.

Illustration by Katherine Streeter