7/5/03
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In this issue....
-- Quote of the Month....
-- It's the process....
-- IT Must build value
-- Ultimus v6.0 beta is now available to Ultimus customers
-- A book you should read... "Business Process Management-Profiting from Process"
-- How can we help you?
-- Do you recognize any of these ???
-- Can you help us find new customers?
-- Deciding how to pick a software vendor is almost more important than deciding which one to pick
-- ULTIMUS PASSES THE 1000 CUSTOMER MARK

Dear Frank,

My late June newsletter turned out to be an early July edition. We reached our 1000th customer milestone in June and things got pretty hectic around here.

l try to help keep you up to date on things going on at Ultimus and other information I hope you'll find useful. Your comments, suggestions and stories are always welcome. If you find that my efforts here aren't useful - please feel free to opt- out.

Quote of the Month....
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"Restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress." Thomas Edison

Looking for your next process to automate? Hang around the water cooler, your complaint department, you customer service department. Check out the suggestion box. You'll be amazed at how these sources can point you in the right direction.

It's the process....
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After reading this article I began to think about processes that could make the world a better place. This is the first example, in a new series, of such a process.

Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy of The Aravind Eye Hospital has given sight to more than 1 million people in India. Dr. V. may not run a business, but it's important to note that Aravind's surgeons are so productive that the hospital has a gross margin of 40%, despite the fact that 70% of the patients pay nothing or close to nothing, and that the hospital does not depend on donations. A cataract removal operation in the US costs about $1,650 Dr. V's cost is $10! Dr. V. has done it by constantly cutting costs, increasing efficiency, and building his market. If you've run across a remarkable process please let me know. I'll be glad to include it in future newsletters.

Read this remarkable story ...

IT Must build value
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Erik Brynjolfsson, MIT's director of the Center for eBusiness said in this eweek article "The irony of the information age is that you have more data than ever before, yet you have a poorer and poorer understanding of the real sources of value in the corporation. While IT can do a good job at measuring the infrastructure's performance-server uptime, disk capacity and so on-it has a much more difficult time measuring the other end of the spectrum: IT's business value to the corporation"

"The sooner CIOs can restore the focus of their IT departments to the concept of competitive advantage, the better off they will be." This article decribes the necessity of focusing on increasing top line revenues rather than figuring out how to cut business costs. Interesting...

To read this article....

Ultimus v6.0 beta is now available to Ultimus customers
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We're getting closer to the relase of version 6.0.

Ultimus v6.0 will have following integrated Web Services features: Ultimus Process Web Services Ultimus Step Web Services Ultimus Web Services Flobot Ultimus Events Web Services -ability to call web services from Ultimus Forms and Steps These new features will dramatically simplify x- platform, x-app integration. In addition, Ultimus customers will be able to easily communicate with enterprise applications (SAP, PeopleSoft) through point-and-click interfaces

A book you should read... "Business Process Management-Profiting from Process"
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Roger Burlton, founder of the Process Renewal Group, provides the strategic guidance and tactical steps to build a process-managed enterprise.

Roger describes a process management framework consisting of eight phases. For each phase, the book provides detailed descriptions of the steps, their inputs, outpts, guides, and enablers, as well as the tricks, traps and best practices learned by experienced practicioners. For those of you about to embark (or are in the middle) on a process automation journey, this book provides a compelling call to action, a guide for management and an invaluable reference.

To learn more about this book...

How can we help you?
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We're always looking for suggestions on how we can improve our software, professional services, support, etc. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or comments you'd like me to send up the flagpole. Almost every enhancement that's been built into Ultimus came from our prospects and our customers. Thanks!

or to suggest an enhancement directly to Ultimus

Do you recognize any of these ???
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Larry Puleo of Parente Change Management recently published an article about the kinds of things that indicate that you may need to consider a consultant to help you with your process automation project. He states that "What is interesting is that most companies know they have inefficient processes but don't know how to go about addressing the problem."

This is a high level review of the kinds of issues company's face and potential benefits of implemeting an business process automation project. Quick read.

to read this article...

Can you help us find new customers?
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If you know anyone or any company that could benefit from Ultimus would you please let us know. We'll be glad to help them too. Thanks

Deciding how to pick a software vendor is almost more important than deciding which one to pick
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In this Baseline article, Sean Gallagher says that the vendor selection process is almost as important as the final selection. See his criteria and selection process.

We run into this all the time. When you're looking for a workflow automation solution you should have predefined selection criteria, the outcomes you expect from the implementation of automated process, a method to compare the vendor solutions in a side by side comparison. Ask your potential vendors to build your process, in your environment, in the presence of your entire selection team. Take a training class from your short list to get first hand knowledge of the software. Get past the hype- you'll make the right selection.

to read this article...

ULTIMUS PASSES THE 1000 CUSTOMER MARK
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Milestone Marks Nearly Nine Years of Delivering Workflow and Business Process Management Solutions on Microsoft Technologies for Companies Worldwide

On the surface, workflow automation and BPM seem relatively easy, but there is a lot going on that is not always readily apparent," said Ultimus CEO and co- founder Rashid Khan. "Nearly nine years of experience with more than 1000 customers has taught us things about workflow and BPM that can only be learned through experience, and we've built that experience right into our products. Newcomers to the market may be surprised by some of the exceptions and special situations companies face in deploying a workflow and BPM solution, but Ultimus is well equipped to address these challenges

to read this story....