"IBM BPM cloud" has meant three different things over the years; what you get differs a lot:
- IBM BPM on Cloud / BAW on Cloud (SaaS, 2014-2022): IBM-hosted Process Center + Process Servers (dev / test / prod), same product as on-premises, you only got Process Designer and Process Admin - no WebSphere console, no file system, no database access. Customisation limited to what the designer allows (no custom jars needing WebSphere config, no 100Custom.xml edits without a ticket), integrations only over public endpoints or a VPN.
- Cloud Pak for Business Automation (CP4BA, 2020+): the same capabilities as containers on OpenShift, on any cloud or on premises. Differences from traditional BAW: no WebSphere ND cell to administer (operators, custom resources, ConfigMaps), Zen / IAM for authentication (API keys, tokens), Liberty runtime, Workflow Center replaces Process Center, Studio + Workplace as the UIs, deployment through the CR and images; heritage coaches and some old integrations are not supported; sizing is in vCPU of the pods.
- CP4BA as a Service / Workflow Process Service (2022+): multi-tenant SaaS built on the container stack - fastest to start, least to administer, least control (no custom jars, only supported integration types).
Limitations to plan for in any cloud flavour: network path to on-prem systems (VPN, private link), LDAP / SSO federation, no OS-level access (logging goes to the platform's log stack), certificate handling by the platform, upgrade windows decided by the provider (SaaS) or by you through the operator (CP4BA), and license metering (VPC / users) instead of PVU.
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