Adapting to the Dynamic Nature of Business Processes in the Digital Age

Every organization’s changing and increasingly complex environment poses increasingly serious challenges for BPM. Many processes are difficult to design, which reduces the chance of their predictability. Investigating the nature of processes and increasing efforts to support unstructured and knowledge-intensive processes becomes necessary. Therefore, the paper aims to explore the intricate nature and diversity of business processes in a multifaceted way, recognizing their dynamic adaptation to the evolving economic landscape. This study utilizes established classifications in order to categorize processes into four types: structured, structured with ad hoc exceptions, unstructured with pre-defined fragments, and completely unstructured. It takes a survey-based opinion research approach, employing CAWI for data collection, and utilizes statistical analysis. The analysis reveals that traditional, structured processes still constitute a substantial portion of organizational processes. Nevertheless, unstructured processes and unstructured processes with pre-defined fragments are gaining increasing relevance. The study also identifies significant correlations between the implementation of IT tools and the prevalence of unstructured processes. The research results can serve as a crucial knowledge resource for managers implementing and using BPM and software suppliers developing IT tools supporting BPM.