Companies looking for growth opportunities when the economy recovers should invest in business process management (BPM) now, according to market watcher Gartner.

Michele Cantara, research vice president at Gartner, is encouraging businesses to ramp up their BPM investments to help prioritise existing, suspended and new projects when the economy picks up.

According to findings from Gartner, most BPM practitioners expect customers to increase their spending on BPM by at least five per cent over the next year.

More than half of those surveyed plan to increase their spending on BPM by more than five per cent, and more than a third of respondents plan to increase BPM spending by more than 10 per cent.

The findings are based on surveys that were conducted at two Gartner BPM conferences. In February, 300 businesses and IT professionals attended the fourth annual Gartner BPM Summit in London, and March saw 500 business and IT professionals attend the seventh annual Gartner BPM Summit in San Diego.

Cantara, said: “Most of the BPM practitioners we surveyed were somewhat optimistic about their companies' growth prospects in fiscal year 2009. Only 23 per cent anticipated any degree of revenue decline, while 42 per cent anticipated some growth, suggesting that BPM helps companies thrive and is not just a survival tactic.

“Overall, the survey responses suggest an optimistic outlook for the BPM market and also highlight trends we have observed in customer enquiries and reference checks – which is that companies don't see BPM as a luxury. Instead, BPM is quickly becoming an alternate and better way of developing solutions and improving processes for many companies.”

According to the research, respondents are not aggressively adopting technologies but all were implementing or planning to implement BPM projects du ring the next year.

Jim Close, country manager at vendor Software AG UK, said: “In a tough economic climate, organisations are increasingly differentiating their offering through strategic investment in critical business processes to cut costs, reduce inefficiencies and improve service delivery. As part of this transformation, the days of IT departments only providing technology to the business are now extinct.

“Boards and shareholders need chief information officers who can deliver hard cash savings to the bottom line. By managing and modelling business processes, chief information officers can spot problems, reduce inefficiencies and deliver genuine ROI to the business.”

Cantara is set to give a more detailed analysis at the Gartner BPM Summit taking place on 5-7 October in Orlando, Florida.