Navigating software evolution: Advanced workflow automation at T-Systems’ ImageMaster

As part of T-Systems portfolio, ImageMaster has been around for more than 25 years as an enterprise content management (ECM) product that digitizes business processes and manages documents over their lifecycle. As Product and Tribe Leaders at ImageMaster, Thomas Günther and Jochen Bayer ensure companies and organizations of all sizes right across industries and sectors continue to experience ImageMaster as a top ECM industry leader.

In today’s dynamic landscape, businesses rely on high-end content management platforms among their core software product suites. At T-Systems, ImageMaster offers a range of functionalities from digital signature to automated document management, audit-proof archiving, and process digitalization — as such a platform. Alongside the product, we also offer comprehensive cloud-based services, as well as integration, project planning, and implementing for the realization of customer-specific requirements.

Ensuring ImageMaster’s document and workflow automation continuously provides customers with the latest functionality — as new technology continually arrives — is essential to us. And we achieve this by pairing with the best fit automation software engine out there.

The automation engine under our platform’s hood powers the business operations for so many of our clients, and the trust we invest in this solution is paramount.

Any lack of functionality is potentially damaging, from smaller issues to major threats like the dreaded scenario of integrated software functionality’s end-of-life (EOL). We found ourselves in this precise scenario with the looming shadow of our previous engine’s EOL, without further updates on some key workflow automation functionality.

The indispensable role of process management in ECM

Business process management (BPM) isn't merely an add-on for us at ImageMaster. It's woven into the very fabric of our platform. More and more, it's becoming an integral part of ECM due to the increasing focus on the automated steering of document-related business processes.

Documents are inherently part of processes, and a powerful, reliable BPM engine is crucial to make ECM truly alive, combining content with tasks, people, and decisions. It ensures compliance and traceability are at the forefront, while promoting user-centric work where tasks and related documents are directly assigned to users, enhancing flow, productivity, speed, and efficiency.

Relying on an outdated foundation would stifle our potential for growth. So, we sought a next-generation BPM solution driven by several objectives:

• Enhancing performance: To bolster our platform’s BPM capabilities to attract new customers.

• Developing existing customer value: To empower our current customer base with more cutting-edge tools.

• Ensuring long-term reliability: To guarantee longevity and dependability with a stable and future-secure foundation. 

Flowable emerged as our ideal partner. The engine’s strong adherence to BPMN standards meant technical migration required minimal adaptation, while compatibility between APIs and process models facilitated smooth transition by reducing development overhead and migration risks.

In addition to providing enterprise-grade performance and scalability characteristics, Flowable is easily embedded into other applications due to its lightweight architecture. And it can be run either on-premise or on cloud. This OEM approach aligns perfectly with our focus on ECM functionality and a best-of-breed approach. Both are enterprise scale software with complementary functionality.

The compatibility of its technology stack streamlined the development process. And crucially, its independence from direct competitors ensured a focused and collaborative partnership — that has unlocked a new era of possibility.

Unlocking new functionality and enhancing customer value

Flexibility, adaptability, and strategically sound partnerships are essential for long-term product success. With Flowable a strong commitment to ongoing support, open collaboration, and a shared vision for the future is making all the difference. What's even greater is that functionalities like CMMN case management mean fresh new possibilities for ImageMaster and even more dynamic and adaptive automation.

For existing customers paying yearly software maintenance fees, we must demonstrate ongoing product improvement. Introducing new capabilities is our commitment to enhancing our product — and this evolution supports ongoing satisfaction and loyalty, especially when supporting customers with a full list of features added since their last agreement.

Flowable’s low-code approach enables a wider adoption of sophisticated automation features, and is making process development more accessible. Until now, our customers largely relied on ImageMaster's expert support and development teams to implement process automation for document handling and workflows. Now, we’re extending development possibility on top of and outside of our existing support — by making it more possible for customers to implement new workflows on their own, even for teams without any programming skills.

This increases new opportunities for clients with smaller budgets searching for reduction of implementation costs or higher flexibility for adoption of BPM automation. Low-code dev and no-code AI-generated modelling extends the product to those with more limited resources and also brings workflow automation building to teams outside of IT to citizen developers.

We anticipate further positive outcomes down the road, for both ImageMaster and our customers. Enhanced BPM capabilities, coupled with the power of low code, will bolster our competitiveness, reduce the complexity of implementing advanced automation, and lower the entry barriers for organizations looking to implement additional workflows to departments around the globe.

Strategic considerations for software solutions providers today

It's vital for software evolution to align with product strategy. And we have some key learnings for others facing a similar situation:

• Proactive planning is essential for mitigating risks and ensuring business continuity.

• Aligning on a future-proof solution is a strategic investment in innovation and customer satisfaction.

• A well-integrated and flexible BPM platform provides a robust foundation for enhanced efficiency and agility.

• Partnerships with vendors who prioritize collaboration and ongoing support are invaluable in achieving long-term success.

The integration with Flowable is enabling us to innovate faster, serve our customers more efficiently, and to collaboratively shape the future of enterprise automation.