A Practitioners’ Point Of View On How Digital Innovation Will Shape The Future Of Business Process Management: Towards A Research Agenda

Abstract

While the benefits of digital innovation are compelling (e.g. economic growth and productivity), the often disruptive and unpredictable character of new IT gives us food for thought on how digital innovation can be applied to an organization’s business processes. Since the link between Business Process Management (BPM) and digital innovation is still under-investigated, this article helps advancing the field by exploring how practitioners see the future of BPM evolve in a digital economy. Based on an expert panel of 19 West-European managers and consultants, we identified seven expected trends in BPM practices affected by digital innovation. Research opportunities are derived from these trends and attributed to the research traditions within the BPM discipline. The resulting research agenda can be an input for academics and, based on their research, provide beneficial aspects for industry. Moreover, this article sensitizes business executives to potential investments and practical challenges of digitalization in the workplace.