Business process perspectives: Theoretical developments vs. real-world practice

Business processes have been discussed for more than a decade now. However, there are not as of yet comprehensive and substantial benefits that can justify the hype around the concept. This paper contrasts and summarises the main findings of literature research and a targeted survey conducted within the service industry in order to investigate the current state of research and practice regarding key aspects of business processes. The survey involved the participation of 25 respondents working in service industry sectors such as finance, public sector and consultancy. The paper demonstrates that although theoretical developments are dealing with sophisticated issues around business processes, the service industry is reluctant to adopt a similar perspective and still uses simple and manual techniques in dealing with business processes. The main reason is that the service industry is not convinced that a business process approach could bring significant tangible and measurable benefits. This is due to the fact that there is no comprehensive and systematic solution proposed in terms of a fully functional business process software suite. The requirements for an integrated business process management tool include some of the paper's findings.