CIO Joe Sferrazza thought the advisers should have this information, so he built a Web service that updates the client's account in real time on the customer portfolio management system that the advisers use. The mainframe is still updated nightly, and the client's account information in the portfolio management system is rectified against the master database on the mainframe.

Sferrazza uses the Sajus software to make sure that all of this goes off without a hitch. The BPM software monitors the process and when it spots a problem it sends an alert to the appropriate person to fix it, rather than waiting for a person to detect the glitch the next time they look at the customer's portfolio. Without the built-in monitoring, Sferrazza would have no guarantee that the automated processes are being properly executed.

WORKFLOW SOFTWARE Another variation on the BPM theme is the workflow-based product. These systems automate some parts of a business process and direct some tasks in the business process to people, assuring that the process is followed. For example, a workflow BPM system won't let a sales rep open a new account before the system confirms that the client doesn't already have an existing one. The trick to using BPM software to automate and enforce a business process workflow is that the people who will use the system have to come up with a detailed map of the processes that they want the system to follow and enforce. Therefore, the new system is only going to be as good as the processes that it automates. American National Insurance Company (ANICO) used BPM workflow software to improve service in its call centres. In the mid- to late-1990s, ANICO's call centres experienced high drop rates and high customer frustration levels in part because the information that agents needed was hard to access. For example, in the health insuranc e division, a customer's personal information, HMO information and policy administration details were stored in multiple legacy systems. "Our [agents] were navigating multiple systems while trying to keep someone on the phone," explains Gary Kirkham, the company's vice president and director of the planning and support division.

In 1998, Kirkham began installing a workflow/BPM system that would guide call centre employees through these systems and give them a logical process to follow. The system automatically extracts information from each of the legacy systems and delivers it to agents through a common user interface.