What is really happening out there in the Business Process Mapping and Modelling market? Are people actually buying and using tools? Are they using specialist tools or just the modeling front ends that come as part of their BPMS suite? Is the modeling market saturated with free tools? These are just some of the questions that I get asked as I travel around the world.

It is now quite a few years since a really comprehensive study of the mapping and modeling tool market has been undertaken. So I thought that as the year drew to a close it would be nice to do one. The aim of the survey is to look at what tools people are actually using and find out how they are being used. For me it will be fascinating to see how people differentiate BPM from BPMS or whether people actually understand the difference between mapping and modeling (initial indications suggest there is still much confusion around this) Hopefully this will help us all to get a picture of real world utilization, rather than just the usual marketing story. It will also be interesting to see how the real world usage compares to the Analysts perspectives of which tools are being used most widely. I would ask that as many people as possible take the time to complete the survey and indeed pass the link on to others. You can access the survey via this link.

Already the survey has been taken by a few hundred people and the data is making fascinating reading.

By way of a thank you/incentive then there are prizes on offer for those who complete the survey. There are two first prizes of an in-house 4 Day BPM Certification course (all expenses to be met by the client and a maximum of 15 delegates will be accommodated) and 10 runners up will receive a copy of "Thrive - How to Succeed in the Age of The Customer." In addition all those who participate will be entitled to a free copy of the report once it is complete.

Prize winners will be notified by the 10th January 2009 and the report will be published by the end of January 2009.

In order to qualify for entry into the prize draw all questions will need to be answered properly.

Copyright Mark McGregor 2007 www.markmcgregor.com