Many organisations lack the skills needed to implement first-class business process management (BPM) practices, according to a new report from Gartner.

A superior BPM strategy will encompass a flexible system where business stakeholders can work with IT to change the solutions supporting business processes when required, said the analyst firm.

Report author Michele Cantara said that, rather than adopting a "waterfall approach" where IT departments figure out what they need and then implement the necessary systems, organisations need a system that continuously changes in order to keep up with the frequency of process change.

Cantara explained that this approach is only possible if organisations address the quality and quantity of skills provided by their external service providers (ESPs) as well as their internal resources.

"Most ESPs do not possess the governance, modelling and change-management skills to effectively foster this collaboration," she said.

Even if an ESP is used to advise on the implementation of the BPM project, the organisation's IT department needs to establish its own competencies so that the BPM project can be sustained over time, added Cantara, explaining that the competencies need to be a mix of IT and business skills.

"There are several key roles needed for BPM success, including BP champion, executive sponsor, BP director, BP architect, and application developers," noted the Gartner report.

"ESPs can help with any of these skills, but an organisation must ensure that its services contact with the ESP, emphasising knowledge transfer and mentoring so it can eventually become self-sufficient."

In related news, BPM vendor Cordys has announced version 4 of its Business Operations Platform. New updates include Web 2.0 technologies and extended workflow capabilities.

"Cordys strengthens its next-generation BPM suite and increases support of st andards and interoperability, additions which we strongly believe will further improve customer ROI," said Jon Pyke, chief strategy officer at Cordys.