I was in “fly-on-the-wall” mode this morning in the first of our two Ask the Analyst Breakfast sessions. Steve Hendrick from IDC and John Rymer from Forrester chatted with DIALOG attendees over coffee and croissants while I sat eavesdropping beside the Danish pastries…

A couple of topics in particular caught my ear…

The first of these related to user perceptions of business rule systems. One participant remarked that IT people seem to be very excited about business rules technology, but that the business people in her organization are concerned that implementing a system that captures their domain knowledge in automated business rules might impact their job security.

John Rymer, and a couple of others at the table were actually quite surprised at that reaction. While John understood why some users might think that way, in his experience he has found that in fact this type of knowledge-based rules-driven system actually has the exact opposite impact on job security for these business users. In many organizations, without a BRMS in place, analysts are often required to manually dictate or explain business rules and processes to their IT people who must then code those rules into the system.

In many firms, these same analysts, researchers and statisticians are driving the move towards BRMS solutions because it allows them to create and manage the rules in the system. This actually improves their job security by putting them back in control of how those rules get formalized and updated in the system, freeing up IT to concentrate on other tasks. And we all know that there aren’t many corporate IT departments out there who are worried about a shortage of work!

It was reassuring to hear ILOG’s vision of putting the rule creation and management tools in the hands of the business users vindicated in this way.

One participant remarked that ILOG’s BRMS was also helping to improve efficiency in other ways. Instead of the IT department trying to code business rules based on conflicting visions from different members of the business analyst team, their BRMS made it easier for business users to resolve their differences and agree on how particular business rules should be implemented without costly and time-consuming involvment from IT.

Over at the other table, IDC’s Steve Hendrick was mentioning how Business Rules systems seem to be popping up in all sorts of situations. He also said that while the large business rules tool vendors, such as ILOG and Fair Isaac, are building-in optimization technologies into their solutions that are enabling their rule execution environments to cope with many varied and complex parameters, he said that many organizations don’t necessarily need that complexity.

Steve is convinced that business rule systems need to become more pervasive and that the technology needs more visibility. This will benefit both customers and vendors such as ILOG, but they will only be able to achieve that pervasiveness if they can package their products into simpler solutions that are more accessible to larger markets.

Those companies looking to implement BPM solutions, for example, don’t need to handle so much complexity, and yet they can benefit enormously from business rule systems to automate workflows and day-to-day business processes. Simplicity, usability, reliability, and efficiency are the things these companies are looking for in a BRMS. As a former technical writer and someone who is convinced that less is more, I’m all over that!

With four days still to go before DIALOG 08 and one day to go before online registration closes, it looks like the conference is already exceeding expectations!

Over 140 clients are registered for the event (that’s 40 more than the conference team had originally targeted), and after factoring in partners, press/analysts and ILOG staff, there’ll be around 300 attendees altogether.

We’ve got people coming from the software, manufacturing, insurance and consulting, banking, healthcare, transportation, education, and energy industries. The BRMS and Optimization tracks appear to be the most popular, but the Supply Chain Management and Visualization tracks are also well represented. There’s a roughly 60%/40% split between technical and management profiles, and almost 20% of registrants are from outside the US. That certainly makes for a rich and culturally diverse crowd!

I don’t have any stats on how many were convinced to attend because of the prospect of some great golf and spa treatments (more than would admit it, I’m sure), but I do know that about 30 people are signed up for a free round at the Mission Hills Troon Golf Experience on Sunday February 24th, hosted by Software AG. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to spare the 4 hours or more that it takes to play a full 18-holes, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to at least practice my golf swing at some point during the event (DIALOG attendees get a reduction on both golf and spa activities throughout the duration of the conference).

I do know that I’m not the only one who’s looking forward to some great food, though! I got a sneak preview of the menu yesterday and, take it from me, you don’t want to miss the Welcome Cocktail Reception on Sunday evening (6:00-7:00 pm in the Solutions Hall). Marinated sirloin beef, shaved spicy cappicola, coconut shrimp with papaya salsa… Need I say more?

Talking of food, I already mentioned our Analyst Breakfast sessions in a previous post. These informal meet and greet events will be in high demand, so don’t forget to sign up at the registration desk when you arrive if you want to join analysts from Gartner, IDC and Forrester on Monday or Tuesday morning. Space is limited and places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

A final reassuring note: If you’re still a bit jet-lagged (like me), there’ll be enough Starbuck’s coffee on hand to float a battleship. And with so much to see and do, you really have no excuse for sleeping in!

Sorry, but I couldn’t resist the food theme again for today’s post. Food, after all, is an important part of any conference (just ask James) and it’s not every day you get to have breakfast with some of the top guys from Forrester, IDC, and Gartner, right? Well, at DIALOG 08 you do!

On Monday morning of the conference (February 25th), from 8:00 am - 9:00 am, John Rymer from Forrester and Steve Hendrick from IDC will be available to answer your questions about BRMS, BPM, SOA and other business technology trends. On Tuesday morning, from 7:30 am-8:30 am, it’ll be the turn of Gartner Fellows David McCoy and Daryl Plummer.

Later on Tuesday morning, Daryl will give a keynote address for the BRMS track where he’ll be predicting that, due to the increasing rate of change in the legal and geopolitical environment, dynamic business process management will soon no longer be an option, but a requirement.

Seems to me that missing either of these Ask the Analyst breakfast sessions is not an option either! See you there!