The Microsoft Business Process Alliance is comprised of 10 industry-leading software vendors focused on increasing the availability and accessibility of business process management solutions and tools based on the Microsoft platform. Microsoft has unveiled the Business Process Alliance today, aiming to enhance the benefits of BPM.

"The business process management space has become a classic case of the haves and have-nots between very large enterprises and the rest of the industry," said Steven Martin, director of product management in the Connected Systems Division at Microsoft. "The formation of the Business Process Alliance serves as a great opportunity for a wider range of customers to adopt game-changing business process management technologies that drive efficiency through automation."

Via the Business Process Alliance, Microsoft is taking on the role of Robin Hood, announcing simple, cost-effective BPM options for all organizations. In concert with the BPA announcement, Microsoft also revealed that it will introduce enhancements to the Windows Workflow Foundation technology in .NET Frameworks 3.0, in order to support the BPEL 2.0 standards.

"Partnering with Microsoft is exciting for IDS Scheer as it helps extend the value of business process management to companies of all sizes," said Kapi Attawar, vice president of strategic technology alliances at IDS Scheer, one of the Redmond Company's partners. "Microsoft's ability to bring BPM to the masses and get information workers involved in business processes via people-ready process functionality in the 2007 Microsoft Office system is a boon for customers."