=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2388/short1
|storemode=property
|title=What's going to happen to Business Process Management?
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2388/short1.pdf
|volume=Vol-2388
|authors=Matthias Lederer
}}
==What's going to happen to Business Process Management?==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2388/short1.pdf
What's going to happen to Business Process
Management?
Current Status and Future of a Discipline
Matthias Lederer
ISM International School of
Management Munich
matthias.lederer@ism.de
ABSTRACT approaches. In the S-BPM community as well as
on many other process management platforms
In recent years, business process management (e.g., panels, workshops) discussions about the
(BPM) has developed many concepts and current and future significance of BPM take
methods for IT-supported cross-functional place.
optimization within enterprises. The megatrend
of digitization, however, raises the question of Thanks to new technologies, smarter IT systems,
what significance the discipline currently and in the digitization of many processes, fully
the future still has. This article analyzes the automated business models and many other
general importance of BPM in science and trends, the BPM discipline, which has formerly
research. From this, four theses on the future of been described, becomes more diverse. Many
the discipline are derived (including decreasing opportunities can arise from this, because process
relevance of classical terms and commoditization orientation is a main paradigm in many
of concepts), which can be used as an orientation digitization initiatives. The built-up BPM
for further BPM initiatives. knowledge base can make many contributions –
this might only be the modeling, execution,
CCS Concepts optimization or monitoring. At the same time, a
Applied computing ➝ Enterprise computing ➝ sense of loss of identity can be observed – for
Business process management. example, when ideas from other disciplines
cannot be easily combined with the classical
Keywords teachings of BPM, when new digitization experts
Business Process Management, Digitization, are appearing on the field or when the term
Research community. "process management" is no longer used.
This contribution serves as a reflection paper to
1 Motivation encourage discussion at the conference on the
The conference series of the S-BPM ONE exists future of BPM, and probably of S-BPM in
since 10 years. Conceptually, it can be particular.
understood as a further development or
supplement to the original and traditional BPM
S-BPM ONE ‘29, June, 2019, Sevilla, Spain M. Lederer
First, selected developments of BPM in science integrate data, functions and tasks in a company.
and practice are outlined. They do not claim to be Nonetheless, these topics are nowadays
complete in their entirety, but provide insights subsumed or specifically referred to as digital
into the developments that can be observed in business. For example data analytics, predictive
BPM research and entrepreneurial practice. Since maintenance, data mining, industry 4.0, design
this text is about general observations, thinking, big data integration, AI for agents,
hypotheses, and interpretations, it explicitly does smart production or dynamic orchestration are
not use any sources as evidences. The article typical keywords for currently trendy concepts.
concludes with four theses, which are to be However, the BPM and S-BPM community is
understood as an assessment of the author. They providing contributions in these fields for years,
should serve as an introduction to an open but under classic terms such as workflow, ERP,
discussion at the conference. activity-based analysis, formal languages,
business IT alignment, BPM software, automated
execution, process semantics and process
2 Collection of ongoing training. In summary, the classic BPM topics are
developments still under discussion and application - but under
First, some observations from business practice different, modern or specific terminology.
and science are collected.
On a second level, digitization means a holistic
transformation of companies (e.g., with their
BPM in companies business models, transactions and resources) and
Despite all the talk about the exact meaning, also of the entire society (e.g., work 4.0,
GoogleTrends can certainly be used to derive the generation Y). Many of the ideas are build on
general interest in topics. Figure 1 shows that digital processes (and the underlying available
global interest in BPM (search requests) has been data, tools, and competencies organized in
falling slightly since 2009 and has remained at a process models). In line with new technology,
constant level for several years. more (especially structured) business processes
have been optimized (e.g., automated). This is
still happening today at the first level of
digitization. The focus of companies shifts
towards the second level with the available data
and IT services in flexible and strategic topics. IT
is used to (i) implement digital leadership, (ii)
digital products and services (innovations), (iii)
digital partnerships, and (iv) digital business
Figure 1: Relative Google searches for BPM and
digital business
models. Often, however, a classic BPM basis is
needed for (i) roles, (ii) process data, (iii)
Digitization is usually addressed at two levels in collaboration workflows, and (iv) reliable
companies. First, it is about transferring analog transactions (= business processes).
data or manual steps into digital information or
automated workflows. At this stage, classical
BPM has its beginnings, because processes
What's going to happen to Business Process Management? S-BPM ONE ‘29, June, 2019, Sevilla, Spain
BPM in science BPM publications only grow significantly in the
management world. Perhaps this can be
This trend can also be seen in science and
explained by the fact that IT, data and technology
research, where there are still contributions,
related issues have always been relevant to
findings and new results on classic BPM topics.
engineers, but have now arrived in management
Figure 2 shows 8.914 BPM-related publications
as well (e.g. functions such as online marketing,
of three databases over the last years (see Figure
digital HR, automated finance, automated
2).
administration, transactions such as e-
Although some methodological approaches have procurement and e-commerce). In the mainstream
been used in the sample and analysis, they are not (SpringerLink), however, other keywords seem to
described here – this article focuses on reflection become more relevant, even if BPM publications
rather than the exact measurement methodology. continue to have equal shares.
Table 1: Growth rates and relation (n=8914)
Database \ Rates Avg. annual Avg. annual growth
growth rate of rate of all publications
BPM publications in database
EbscoHOST 15% 7%
IEEE Xplore -1% 3%
SpringerLink 7% 7%
If one looks at classical conferences in the field
of information systems (see Table 2), BPM is
now completely seen as interdisciplinary field
between business and IT. Shown are the track
names in which researchers were/are invited to
submit BPM-related papers. The track names
from previous years and the ones form the current
Figure 2: BPM publications in (i) EbscoHOST, (ii) year are shown in the rows.
IEEE Xplore and (iii) SpringerLink (top-down)
It is noticeable that in the past either BPM-
At first glance, the number of general textbooks relevant topics were explicitly mentioned in the
and general publications (here SpringerLink) has track name or BPM was discussed in the context
increased slightly since 2009. On the one hand, in of organizational questions. At current
more management-oriented databases (here conferences, only one track has actually BPM in
EbscoHOST), a strong increase in peer-reviewed the title. As with business practice, BPM topics
journal contributions can be observed. Technical are mentioned in many different tracks (under
contributions to BPM (here IEEE) decline on the new categories) in Call for Papers but not in the
other hand. title anymore (no longer an own category).
However, looking at the relative proportions of
these samples (see Table 1), it becomes clear that
S-BPM ONE ‘29, June, 2019, Sevilla, Spain M. Lederer
Table 1: Relevant tracks for BPM-related contributions (ii) The special or modern names are more
Conference Former track Current track popular than BPM. (iii) Knowledge from the
WI Business process Enterprise Modeling BPM discipline is welcome in many tracks (e.g.,
(2014 vs. and service & Information
modeling, IT alignment), but more as a useful
2019) management Systems Design
Digital foundation and not as key driver (e.g. digital
Transformation and transformation).
Services
MKWI Business process The Customer in the
(2014 vs. management and Digital
3 Theses for discussion
2018) flexibility in Transformation - Based on the – not scientifically complete
workflow Creating Customer objective – findings on the state of BPM in
management Values business practice and research, this paper
systems Social Computing, presents four theses on the development of
Human-centric
process management, which should be used in the
Information Systems
Design and (S-)BPM community as a conference discussion.
Development Thesis 1: The importance of BPM as a concept is
Cyber-physical decreasing.
systems and digital The (sometimes only felt) status of homelessness
value networks of classical BPM scientists is certainly there
ICIS IS Strategy, Business Models because of a shift in the naming of classical
(2014 vs. Structure, and and Digital
process and information systems terms. Instead
2019) Organizational Transformation
Impacts of known terms (e.g., IT, process), (i) other
generic concepts (e.g., digital transformation that
ECIS IT and new Modelling and often includes BPM), (ii) concrete techniques
(2010 vs. organisational Managig the Digital (e.g., cyber-physical systems) or (iii) trendy
2019) forms and Enterprise and its terms (e.g., predictive maintenance) are in vogue.
innovations Business Processes In practice and science, the value of data (e.g.,
Business Intelligence, Data Science, Data
AMCIS n.a. AI and Smenatic
(only Technologies for
Analytics) is heavily highlighted, but its use in
2019) Intelligent processes/workflows is called different (e.g.
Information Systems Process Mining).
Data Science and This opens up the opportunity for BPM to
Analytcis for transfer existing knowledge into many other
Decision Support domains, functions, and divisions – even though
Organizational
the term process may not be needed in the end.
Transformation &
Information Systems
The big risk is that new fields (e.g., business
functions, scientific tracks) cannot build on the
abundant knowledge. Many digital panels discuss
This allows three initial conclusions: (i) Process conceptual topics that have been worked on (or
management concepts are the content of various even solved!) in the BPM community for years.
cross-cutting issues and topics of the future (such By the way, a similar development is to be
as, digital transformation, artificial intelligence). observed in the classical knowledge management
What's going to happen to Business Process Management? S-BPM ONE ‘29, June, 2019, Sevilla, Spain
discipline. This community had already on the Along with thesis 2, BPM topics are often
WI2019 an open panel about their loss of identity discussed even more by managers (e.g. Chief
(freely interpreted under the thesis "Is the Digital Officers) today. IT and technology in
classical knowledge management still alive?"). general has arrived in almost all processes (first
Thesis 2: The importance of process management stage of digitization, see above). Thus, in the
as a discipline decreases. executive floors, the (perceived) competence to
Today, many self-appointed experts are participate in IT-supported processes grows.
discussing IT topics under the umbrella of Efficient processes are required to talk about
digitization. "Data Scientist" or "Digital business models and digital strategies. The
Transformation Consultant" are currently popular figures from the analysis show that digital
titles on business cards (or at the end of an e- business topics become a top priority. Industry
mail). 4.0 is, for example, actually a topic of data- and
Classical BPM knowledge, is needed on a lower IT-supported process optimization, but is heavily
level - one could say that processes take a discussed by managers under the business term of
development as described by Carr (“IT value networks. Engineers focus on technical
[Processes?] doesn’t matter”). Traditional terms such as smart devices.
questions of the community (process strategy, This would have to be a great opportunity for
modeling, execution, controlling) are standard BPM, because formal (or “nerdy”) BPM ideas are
today. However, BPM experts should not share actually hip and modern in the top management.
the same fate as the quality experts in the 90s: However, benefits of this liberal and visionary
Although they developed an immense body of trend are other communities that are frolicking
knowledge, they are often no longer welcome as around under the large umbrella of digitization or
experts in many companies, because their ideas are building up data and business models. A pity
seem to be old, formal and not trendy. for BPM, but true!
If we want to continue to be modern and in Thesis 4: Subject orientation is a paradigm of
demand as a BPM community, we need to open many trends, but is called different.
ourselves with bridges to new technologies (e.g., Subject orientation is understood by people
blockchain, virtual leadership). This is necessary outside of the community as a human-centered
in the discussion of contents and consequently (business experts) or agent-based (engineering
also in the naming. Actually, BPM is ready, experts) idea of BPM. As we know in the
because the concepts have been around for a long community, S-BPM is very powerful and can
time. Now we are in the lucky position to have cover many fields. Individualization is a big
the data and IT systems we often asked for to driver in digitization – if we just think of ways to
tackle great ideas like integration, media breaks use personalized information efficiently and
and data-based optimization. Or do we just have effectively (e.g., Google, Facebook, Netflix). The
concepts and as soon as we should become concept of the subject might not, like BPM as a
operational, we let others take precedence? BPM whole, fit the hip and trendy themes of the time.
knowledge must not be lost, but live as a cross- Design thinking, user-generated content, social
sectional function in other fields. media, intelligent agents, autonomous cars, smart
Thesis 3: BPM is becoming more management- devices, machine learning, artificial intelligence,
oriented and less technical. language assistants do not talk about subjects.
S-BPM ONE ‘29, June, 2019, Sevilla, Spain M. Lederer
Nevertheless, all of the topics described above
can certainly be modeled/supported using S-
BPM. It is probably similar to thesis 2 and 3.
In the first digital wave, especially B2C
transaction processes (in the broader sense
marketing processes) were discussed. Here are
U.S. company pioneer. In a next wave, B2B and
internal manufacturing processes are to be
digitally transformed. This is an opportunity for
S-BPM, as engineers and IT experts will
appreciate the formal and accurate scientific
contributions of S-BPM. However, this can only
happen if S-BPM profiles itself with real topics in
manufacturing processes and inter-organizational
optimization.
4 Summary
Like other traditional disciplines from
information systems, BPM is changing. This is
due to digitization, which holistically covers
many areas.
This reflection paper has no final result or
solution on how the BPM community should
react to these developments. Convert? Support?
Rename? Keep it up? The thoughts of the paper
should serve the discussion at the conference.
The author concludes that a significant
contribution from S-BPM must be in the
production of relevant results. Scientifically
founded findings with a practical relevance are
essential even if the three theses are taken into
account. Where other information systems
conferences today increasingly show meta-
studies, gather only existing literature (systematic
literature review) and merely reproduce known
opinions, S-BPM should develop pragmatic
approaches. Descriptive examinations may be
simpler to “investigate” digitization. However,
design science and case study research may be
the commandment of the hour in order to
strengthen a BPM community.