Most business processes are at least partially automated to shave manual work and shorten cycle times. But to function correctly, even heavily automated processes must still have people to provide and receive information, analyze data, and make decisions. Take online retail transactions for example: this common-place process includes automated calculations, encryptions, account approvals, and data storage. But to keep online retail moving, people must update web content, respond to inquiries, detect and fix system outages, and coordinate handling and delivery. Business operations must rely on people, so inevitably, human latency must be dealt with. It is incumbent on people to recognize and respond to a need for their intervention and action. Unfortunately, in the vast majority of processes, the communications needed to coordinate an effective organizational response are poorly automated or not automated at all. Business process reengineering efforts focus on optimizing business applications and data management, but often don't address human interaction in processes. Better Human Performance Equates to Better Business Performance
Gartner's Bern Elliot wrote recently in Network World, "The largest single value in Unified Communications lies in its ability to reduce human latency within corporate processes and improve a business' ability to respond and be agile." This is where Communications Enabled Business Processes, or CEBP, comes in. With CEBP, business processes are further automated so they can detect events that require human participation, and then respond by tracking down the appropriate decision makers. CEBP uses every available communication channel to connect people quickly and easily, providing relevant information and options for collaborating on the fly and capturing decisions. True CEBP solutions take in real-time data and then move processes to the appropriate next steps. CEBP can be used effectively across many industries and enterprise applications to increase business agility, manage risk, and provide competitive differentiation. | 
