Benefits and Challenges for Business Process Management in the Cloud

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ute Riemann
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Computing ◽  
Business Process ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Business Process Management ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Cloud Services ◽  
Cloud Infrastructure ◽  
Business Application

Business processes are not only variable they are as well dynamic. A key benefit of Business Process Management (BPM) is the ability to adjust business processes accordingly in response to changing market requirements. In parallel to BPM, enterprise cloud computing technology has emerged to provide a more cost effective solution to businesses and services while making use of inexpensive computing solutions, which combines pervasive, internet, and virtualization technologies (). Despite the slow start, the business benefits of cloud computing are as such that the transition of BPM to the cloud is now underway. Cloud services refer to the operation of a virtualized, automated, and service-oriented IT landscape allowing the flexible provision and usage-based invoicing of resources, services, and applications via a network or the internet. The generic term “X-as-a-Service” summarize the business models delivering almost everything as a service. BPM in the cloud is often regarded as a SaaS application. More recently, BPM is being regarded as a PaaS as it facilitates the creation and deployment of applications, in this case business process solutions. The PaaS landscape is the least developed of the four cloud based software delivery models previously discussed. PaaS vendors, such as IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft delivered an application platform with managed cloud infrastructure services however, more recently the PaaS market has begun to evolve to include other middleware capabilities including process management. BPM PaaS is the delivery of BPM technology as a service via a cloud service provider. For the classification as a PaaS a BPM suite requires the following capabilities: the architecture should be multi-tenant, hosting should be off premise and it should offer elasticity and metering by use capabilities. When we refer to BPM in the cloud, what we are really referring to is a combination of BPM PaaS and BPaaS (Business Process as a Service). Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) is a set of pre-defined business processes that allows the execution of customized business processes in the cloud. BPaaS is a complete pre-integrated BPM platform hosted in the cloud and delivered as a service, for the development and execution of general-purpose business process application. Although such a service harbors an economic potential there are remaining questions: Can an individual and company-specific business process supported by a standardized cloud solution, or should we protect process creativity and competitive differentiation by allowing the company to design the processes individually and solely support basic data flows and structures? Does it make sense to take a software solution “out of the box” that handles both data and process in a cloud environment, or would this hinder the creativity of business (process) development leading to a lower quality of processes and consequently to a decrease in the competitive positioning of a company? How to manage the inherent compliance and security topic. Within a completely integrated business application system, all required security aspects can be implemented as a safeguarding with just enough money. Within the cloud, however, advanced standards and identity prove is required to monitor and measure information exchange across the federation. Thereby there seems to be no need for developing new protocols, but a standardized way to collect and evaluate the collected information.

Benefits and Challenges for Business Process Management in the Cloud

2016 ◽  
pp. 2096-2121
Author(s):  
Ute Riemann
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Computing ◽  
Business Process ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Business Process Management ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Process Development ◽  
Cloud Service ◽  
Cloud Infrastructure

Business processes are not only variable they are as well dynamic. A key benefit of Business Process Management (BPM) is the ability to adjust business processes accordingly in response to changing market requirements. In parallel to BPM, enterprise cloud computing technology has emerged to provide a more cost effective solution to businesses and services while making use of inexpensive computing solutions, which combines pervasive, internet, and virtualization technologies (). Despite the slow start, the business benefits of cloud computing are as such that the transition of BPM to the cloud is now underway. Cloud services refer to the operation of a virtualized, automated, and service-oriented IT landscape allowing the flexible provision and usage-based invoicing of resources, services, and applications via a network or the internet. The generic term “X-as-a-Service” summarize the business models delivering almost everything as a service. BPM in the cloud is often regarded as a SaaS application. More recently, BPM is being regarded as a PaaS as it facilitates the creation and deployment of applications, in this case business process solutions. The PaaS landscape is the least developed of the four cloud based software delivery models previously discussed. PaaS vendors, such as IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft delivered an application platform with managed cloud infrastructure services however, more recently the PaaS market has begun to evolve to include other middleware capabilities including process management. BPM PaaS is the delivery of BPM technology as a service via a cloud service provider. For the classification as a PaaS a BPM suite requires the following capabilities: the architecture should be multi-tenant, hosting should be off premise and it should offer elasticity and metering by use capabilities. When we refer to BPM in the cloud, what we are really referring to is a combination of BPM PaaS and BPaaS (Business Process as a Service). Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) is a set of pre-defined business processes that allows the execution of customized business processes in the cloud. BPaaS is a complete pre-integrated BPM platform hosted in the cloud and delivered as a service, for the development and execution of general-purpose business process application. Although such a service harbors an economic potential there are remaining questions: Can an individual and company-specific business process supported by a standardized cloud solution, or should we protect process creativity and competitive differentiation by allowing the company to design the processes individually and solely support basic data flows and structures? Does it make sense to take a software solution “out of the box” that handles both data and process in a cloud environment, or would this hinder the creativity of business (process) development leading to a lower quality of processes and consequently to a decrease in the competitive positioning of a company? How to manage the inherent compliance and security topic. Within a completely integrated business application system, all required security aspects can be implemented as a safeguarding with just enough money. Within the cloud, however, advanced standards and identity prove is required to monitor and measure information exchange across the federation. Thereby there seems to be no need for developing new protocols, but a standardized way to collect and evaluate the collected information.

Benefits and Challenges for BPM in the Cloud

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ute Riemann
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Computing ◽  
Business Process ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Process Development ◽  
Cloud Service ◽  
Cloud Services ◽  
Cloud Infrastructure ◽  
Business Application

Business processes are not only variable, they are dynamic as well. A key benefit of BPM is the ability to adjust processes accordingly in response to changing market requirements. In parallel to BPM, enterprise cloud computing technology has emerged to provide a more cost effective solution to businesses and services while making use of inexpensive computing solutions, which combines pervasive, internet, and virtualization technologies (). Despite the slow start the business benefits of cloud computing are as such that the transition of BPM to the cloud is now underway. Cloud services refer to the operation of a virtualized, automated, and service-oriented IT landscape that allows the flexible provision and usage-based invoicing of resources, services, and applications via a network or the Internet. The generic term “X-as-a-Service” summarized the business models delivering almost everything as a service. BPM in the cloud is often regarded as a SaaS application. More recently, BPM is being regarded as a PaaS as it facilitates the creation and deployment of applications, in this case business process solutions. The PaaS landscape is the least developed of the four cloud based software delivery models previously discussed. PaaS vendors, such as IBM, Oracle, Microsoft delivered an application platform with managed cloud infrastructure services however more recently the PaaS market has begun to evolve to include other middleware capabilities including process management. BPM PaaS is the delivery of BPM technology as a service via a cloud service provider. In order to be classified as a PaaS a BPM suite requires the following capabilities: the architecture should be multi-tenant, it should be hosted off premise and it should offer elasticity and metering by use capabilities. When we refer to BPM in the cloud what we are really referring to is a combination of BPM PaaS and BPaaS (Business Process as a Service). Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) is a set of pre-defined business processes that allows the execution of customized business processes in the cloud. BPaaS is a complete pre-integrated BPM platform hosted in the cloud and delivered as a service, for the development and execution of general-purpose business process application. Although such a service harbors an economic potential, questions that need to be answered are as follows: Can an individual and company-specific business process supported by a standardized cloud solution, or should we protect process creativity and competitive differentiation by allowing the company to design the processes individually and solely support basic data flows and structures? Does it make sense to take a software solution “out of the box” that handles both data and process in a cloud environment, or would this hinder the creativity of business (process) development leading to a lower quality of processes and consequently to a decrease in the competitive positioning of a company? How to manage the inherent compliance and security topic. Within a completely integrated business application system, all required security aspects can be implemented as safeguards with just enough money. Within the cloud, however, advanced standards and identity prove is required to monitor and measure information exchange across the federation. Thereby there seems to be no need for developing new protocols, but a standardized way to collect and evaluate the collected information.

Benefits and Challenges for BPM in the Cloud

2019 ◽  
pp. 1844-1868
Author(s):  
Ute Riemann
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Computing ◽  
Business Process ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Process Development ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Cloud Service ◽  
Cloud Infrastructure

Business processes are not only variable, they are dynamic as well. A key benefit of BPM is the ability to adjust processes accordingly in response to changing market requirements. In parallel to BPM, enterprise cloud computing technology has emerged to provide a more cost effective solution to businesses and services while making use of inexpensive computing solutions, which combines pervasive, internet, and virtualization technologies (). Despite the slow start the business benefits of cloud computing are as such that the transition of BPM to the cloud is now underway. Cloud services refer to the operation of a virtualized, automated, and service-oriented IT landscape that allows the flexible provision and usage-based invoicing of resources, services, and applications via a network or the Internet. The generic term “X-as-a-Service” summarized the business models delivering almost everything as a service. BPM in the cloud is often regarded as a SaaS application. More recently, BPM is being regarded as a PaaS as it facilitates the creation and deployment of applications, in this case business process solutions. The PaaS landscape is the least developed of the four cloud based software delivery models previously discussed. PaaS vendors, such as IBM, Oracle, Microsoft delivered an application platform with managed cloud infrastructure services however more recently the PaaS market has begun to evolve to include other middleware capabilities including process management. BPM PaaS is the delivery of BPM technology as a service via a cloud service provider. In order to be classified as a PaaS a BPM suite requires the following capabilities: the architecture should be multi-tenant, it should be hosted off premise and it should offer elasticity and metering by use capabilities. When we refer to BPM in the cloud what we are really referring to is a combination of BPM PaaS and BPaaS (Business Process as a Service). Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) is a set of pre-defined business processes that allows the execution of customized business processes in the cloud. BPaaS is a complete pre-integrated BPM platform hosted in the cloud and delivered as a service, for the development and execution of general-purpose business process application. Although such a service harbors an economic potential, questions that need to be answered are as follows: Can an individual and company-specific business process supported by a standardized cloud solution, or should we protect process creativity and competitive differentiation by allowing the company to design the processes individually and solely support basic data flows and structures? Does it make sense to take a software solution “out of the box” that handles both data and process in a cloud environment, or would this hinder the creativity of business (process) development leading to a lower quality of processes and consequently to a decrease in the competitive positioning of a company? How to manage the inherent compliance and security topic. Within a completely integrated business application system, all required security aspects can be implemented as safeguards with just enough money. Within the cloud, however, advanced standards and identity prove is required to monitor and measure information exchange across the federation. Thereby there seems to be no need for developing new protocols, but a standardized way to collect and evaluate the collected information.

Benefits and Challenges for BPM in the Cloud

Web Services ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 1681-1705
Author(s):  
Ute Riemann
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Computing ◽  
Business Process ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Process Development ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Cloud Service ◽  
Cloud Infrastructure

Business processes are not only variable, they are dynamic as well. A key benefit of BPM is the ability to adjust processes accordingly in response to changing market requirements. In parallel to BPM, enterprise cloud computing technology has emerged to provide a more cost effective solution to businesses and services while making use of inexpensive computing solutions, which combines pervasive, internet, and virtualization technologies (). Despite the slow start the business benefits of cloud computing are as such that the transition of BPM to the cloud is now underway. Cloud services refer to the operation of a virtualized, automated, and service-oriented IT landscape that allows the flexible provision and usage-based invoicing of resources, services, and applications via a network or the Internet. The generic term “X-as-a-Service” summarized the business models delivering almost everything as a service. BPM in the cloud is often regarded as a SaaS application. More recently, BPM is being regarded as a PaaS as it facilitates the creation and deployment of applications, in this case business process solutions. The PaaS landscape is the least developed of the four cloud based software delivery models previously discussed. PaaS vendors, such as IBM, Oracle, Microsoft delivered an application platform with managed cloud infrastructure services however more recently the PaaS market has begun to evolve to include other middleware capabilities including process management. BPM PaaS is the delivery of BPM technology as a service via a cloud service provider. In order to be classified as a PaaS a BPM suite requires the following capabilities: the architecture should be multi-tenant, it should be hosted off premise and it should offer elasticity and metering by use capabilities. When we refer to BPM in the cloud what we are really referring to is a combination of BPM PaaS and BPaaS (Business Process as a Service). Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) is a set of pre-defined business processes that allows the execution of customized business processes in the cloud. BPaaS is a complete pre-integrated BPM platform hosted in the cloud and delivered as a service, for the development and execution of general-purpose business process application. Although such a service harbors an economic potential, questions that need to be answered are as follows: Can an individual and company-specific business process supported by a standardized cloud solution, or should we protect process creativity and competitive differentiation by allowing the company to design the processes individually and solely support basic data flows and structures? Does it make sense to take a software solution “out of the box” that handles both data and process in a cloud environment, or would this hinder the creativity of business (process) development leading to a lower quality of processes and consequently to a decrease in the competitive positioning of a company? How to manage the inherent compliance and security topic. Within a completely integrated business application system, all required security aspects can be implemented as safeguards with just enough money. Within the cloud, however, advanced standards and identity prove is required to monitor and measure information exchange across the federation. Thereby there seems to be no need for developing new protocols, but a standardized way to collect and evaluate the collected information.

scholarly journals Roadmap for operational sustainability: an approach based on Integrated Management Systems and Business Process Management

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-212
Author(s):  
Camila dos Santos Ferreira ◽  
Camila Fabricio Poltronieri ◽  
Diego Rodrigues Iritani ◽  
Mônica Tani Vicente ◽  
Stefano de Nadai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Business Process Management ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Integrated Management ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Integrated Management Systems

Purpose - This paper proposes a roadmap for the sustainability of operations based on the principles and practices taken from Integrated Management Systems (IMS) and Business Process Management (BPM). Theoretical framework - Companies must consider results based on the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of the Triple Bottom Line, and as such, some researchers point to the contribution made by IMS for sustainability. Another important aspect of changing to more sustainable business models is organizational structure. BPM focuses on implementing horizontal management in the organization through business processes. Design/methodology/approach – Within this context, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was carried out to identify IMS and BPM principles, practices and techniques, then a roadmap was designed and field research was carried out by specialists. Findings - Field research findings indicate that the roadmap represents a framework which can support organizations to achieve their sustainability goals. Research limitations/implications - One of the limitations in the study was the reduced number of specialists who analyzed the roadmap. Therefore, it is suggested, as a further study, that this roadmap is validated by other experts, including people from other countries. Another limitation is that the study must progress further on the issues of implementation posed by the proposed roadmap. As such, a further study should be carried out to address this point. Originality/value - This study uses concepts that have already been consolidated in the literature (IMS and BPM) as support for companies that seek to become more sustainable. Key words - Integrated Management System; Business Process Management; Roadmap; Sustainability; IMS; BPM.

scholarly journals BPM and ECM: Similarities, differences, conceptual, and technological limits

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-105
Author(s):  
Marco Aurélio de Souza MENDES ◽  
Marcello Peixoto BAX
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Business Process Management ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Content Management ◽  
Enterprise Information ◽  
Technological Support ◽  
Enterprise Content Management ◽  
Unstructured Information

Abstract Enterprise information architectures still do not deliver all the value that comes from integrating structured and unstructured information. Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Management were developed as autonomous disciplines. Thus, Enterprise Content Management still occurs without formally considering the business processes that generate and manipulate content, while Business Process Management initiatives arise without a documented treatment of materials produced by the processes. The non-integrated approach to these disciplines collaborates to reduce the potential benefits expected in Organizational Change Management programs. In such context, the article discusses the interrelation between Business Process Management and Enterprise Content Management, approaching from a historical view of these disciplines, their conceptual limits, technological support, and dialogues that would benefit both initiatives. The paper contributes to clarify a question still vague in the field of Information Management, which is how to integrate Business Process Management and Enterprise Content Management treating structured and unstructured information in a unified manner. It discusses how to approach this issue in a broad scope of IM by combining the concepts of Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Management. Based on a literature review, the paper analyzes and synthesizes experiences in Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Management acquired in the context of a project carried out in a Power Sector Company. The article reveals problems in separating approaches to Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Management. It shows the importance of an effort for integration and presents three instruments that promote the linkage of the two initiatives, approximating process offices and analysts’ information.

A theory of contingent business process management

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 1291-1316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Zelt ◽  
Jan Recker ◽  
Theresa Schmiedel ◽  
Jan vom Brocke
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Business Process ◽  
Business Process Management ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Process Performance ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Content Type

Purpose Many researchers and practitioners suggest a contingent instead of a “one size fits all” approach in business process management (BPM). The purpose of this paper is to offer a contingency theory of BPM, which proposes contingency factors relevant to the successful management of business processes and that explains how and why these contingencies impact the relationships between process management and performance. Design/methodology/approach The authors develop the theory by drawing on organizational information processing theory (OIPT) and applying an information processing (IP) perspective to the process level. Findings The premise of the model is that the process management mechanisms such as documentation, standardization or monitoring must compensate for the uncertainty and equivocality of the nature of the process that has to be managed. In turn, managing through successful adaptation is a prerequisite for process performance. Research limitations/implications The theory provides a set of testable propositions that specify the relationship between process management mechanisms and process performance. The authors also discuss implications of the new theory for further theorizing and outline empirical research strategies that can be followed to enact, evaluate and extend the theory. Practical implications The theory developed in this paper allows an alternative way to describe organizational processes and supports the derivation of context-sensitive management approaches for process documentation, standardization, monitoring, execution and coordination. Originality/value The theoretical model is novel in that it provides a contextualized view on BPM that acknowledges different types of processes and suggests different mechanisms for managing these. The authors hope the paper serves as inspiration both for further theory development as well as to empirical studies that test, refute, support or otherwise augment the arguments.

Social business process management

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-211
Author(s):  
Patricia Bazan ◽  
Elsa Estevez
Keyword(s):  
Business Process ◽  
Business Process Management ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Implicit Knowledge ◽  
Social Software ◽  
Social Business ◽  
Content Type

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the state of the art of social business process management (Social BPM), explaining applied approaches, existing tools and challenges and to propose a research agenda for encouraging further development of the area. Design/methodology/approach The methodology comprises a qualitative analysis using secondary data. The approach relies on searches of scientific papers conducted in well-known databases, identifying research work related to Social BPM solutions and those contributing with social characteristics to BPM. Based on the identified papers, the authors selected the most relevant and the latest publications, and categorized their contributions and findings based on open and selective coding. In total, the analysis is based on 51 papers that were selected and analyzed in depth. Findings Main results show that there are several studies investigating modeling approaches for socializing process activities and for capturing implicit knowledge possessed and used by process actors, enabling to add some kind of flexibility to business processes. However, despite the proven interest in the area, there are not yet adequate tools providing effective solutions for Social BPM. Based on our findings, the authors propose a research agenda comprising three main lines: contributions of social software (SS) to Social BPM, Social BPM as a mechanism for adding flexibility to and for discovering new business processes and Social BPM for enhancing business processes with the use of new technologies. The authors also identify relevant problems for each line. Practical implications Some SS tools, like wikis, enable managing social aspects in executing business processes and can be used to coordinate simple business processes. Despite they are commonly used, they are not yet mature tools supporting Social BPM and more efficient tools are yet to appear. The lack of tools preclude organizations from benefitting from implicit knowledge owned by and shared among business process actors, which could contribute to better-informed decisions related to organizational processes. In addition, more research is needed for considering Social BPM as an approach for organizations to benefit from the adoption of new technologies in their business processes. Originality/value The paper assesses the state of the art in Social BPM, an incipient area in research and practice. The area can be defined as the intersection of two bigger areas highly relevant for organizations; on the one hand, the management and execution of business processes; and on the other hand, the use of social software, including social media tools, for leveraging on implicit knowledge shared by business process actors to improving efficiency of business processes.

scholarly journals CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT OF BUSINESS PROCESSES WITHIN THE SUPPLY CHAIN OF FASHION INDUSTRY

2020 ◽  
pp. 36-39
Author(s):  
Andrea Dobrosavljević ◽  
Snežana Urošević
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Business Process ◽  
Business Process Management ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Demand Management ◽  
Relationship Management ◽  
Customer Relationship ◽  
Fashion Industry ◽  
The Impact

Business processes are present in all types of organizations, regardless of the size or industry within which the organization operates. Successful business process management (BPM) is an indicator of the level of process maturity of the organization. Within the supply chain, it is possible to observe the presence of business processes of a collaborative nature, as BPM relies on the principles of partnership, development, and exchange of information through links that exist within this chain between all actors [1]. Within this paper, BPM in the relations with suppliers and consumers within the supply chain of organizations operating in the fashion industry is considered. Lambert [2] lists eight macro processes that take place in the supply chain, between suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and end consumers, as follows: customer relationship management, supplier relationship management, demand management, order execution, fl ow management production, product development and commercialization and return management. Within this paper, a research is presented which analyzes the segments of managing collaborative business processes within the supply chain of the fashion industry, based on the responses of 508 managers and employees in the fashion industry in the Republic of Serbia. The needs for the development of certain segments in accordance with the needs of modern business process management have been explored.Scientifi c novelty. The research part of this paper relies on the application of Friedman's test which enables the analysis of the current state of BPM in relations with suppliers and consumers within the supply chain of the fashion industry, expressed through workers' responses with a ranking of their preferences. This paper contributes to the creation of a knowledge base within the research in the fi eld of the impact of BPM on improvements in the supply chain, on the basis of which it is possible to conduct further research and upgrade knowledge.Practical value. The fi ndings derived from the results of research of this type contribute to the development of the business from various aspects. The benefi ts can be refl ected not only through the strengthening of the competitive position but also through the sustainability of business on the basis of adequate application of BPM practices in all business segments. Accordingly, in addition to the scientifi c novelty, which is refl ected in the results of the rese arch work, there is a practical novelty, which is refl ected in the guidelines for the development of modern BPM within the supply chain of the fashion industry.

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