If you are migrating to the cloud, make sure your processes have been tuned up and made intelligent. Intelligent processes can make your computing experience pleasant and meaningful. It can bring significant benefits to your business. It will be possible to measure your performance and even attribute numerical values to less tangible effects of cloud computing on your business.

The greatest contribution of the cloud is agility. The cloud uses agile tools to automate processes such as Document Management Systems (DMS) and Business Process Management Systems (BPMS). These tools allow organisations input rules and procedures into the system, and align the cloud to business policies on the fly. Process logs that record data as processes execute, allow organisations work with predictive and process analytical tools to understand the glitches and problems that retard the smooth execution of their processes. The results can then be used to improve the processes and reduce the latencies that may occur due to process slowdowns or network problems. Analytical outcomes can also be used to predict future “what if” scenarios and assist in enterprise decision making.

The knowledge worker regards the cloud as a boon. The anywhere, anytime, any device access that is made possible by the cloud, allows specialists apply their special skill and knowledge in decision making from wherever they are. The intelligent process will allow them to see all past and current information in a single window, and make informed decisions about current or future business actions at once. Since all information input is policy driven, the knowledge worker receives information in context, and is empowered to make the best decision possible.

All this results in greater customer satisfaction. Greater customer satisfaction then translates in to greater profitability for the business.

This brings us to the most important question: How can you make your processes more intelligent for cloud computing? Here are a few tips for starters:

1. Begin by modelling your individual processes;
2. Link all processes together into the value chain;
3. Add instrumentation to processes to collect business events information wherever possible;
4. Create analytical visualisations at runtime so that actual process activity can be observed and recorded accurately for future analysis;
5. Implement business rules based on business policies and observe how the rules impact the process flow. Do they retard the flow? Are process latencies increased by business rules?
6. Ensure process security and observe how security impacts process flow;
7. Improve process flows with process analytics and predictive analysis.