Top six BPM trends for 2023

Process automation. Low-code. Artificial intelligence. Cloud technology.

Want to know what BPM trends will shape the industry in 2023 and beyond?

In this blog, we gaze into our crystal ball to predict the future of BPM with our BPM trends for 2023.

With the pandemic accelerating digital transformation initiatives, many businesses are rushing to automate business processes to survive – and thrive - in the next few years.

Subsequently, conversations about BPM in the boardroom have increased as businesses seek to keep themselves ahead of the competition by implementing technology solutions to increase efficiency, improve productivity, and boost revenues. This is supported by analyst reports that show the BPM market is expected to increase at a CAGR of 12.0% between 2021-2028, from $11.84 billion in 2021 to $26.18 billion in 2028.

#1 - Automation on the to-do list of every CEO

In our opinion, organisations will look to move business processes online over the next 12 months. This is supported by research from McKinsey & Co who found 66% of organisations are at least piloting the automation of processes in one or more business units or functions.

Fuelled by the pandemic and growing economic uncertainty, automation will be an agenda item at board meetings everywhere as CEOs and CTOs seek a cost-effective method of optimising and automating manual tasks in their organisation whilst further enabling home working.

The rush towards process transformation is visible in all areas - even businesses that rely on paper forms are going paper-lite by scanning documents or automating the forms processing as manual transcription is time-consuming and error-prone.

Others are going one step further and breaking free of paper by moving to electronic forms in the online world.

#2 - Cloud hosting surges forward

We saw above that the BPM market is expected to increase at a CAGR of 12.0% between 2021-28. Much of the anticipated growth is attributable to the continued adoption of cloud-based applications.

This year we expect the shift to cloud-hosted applications to accelerate, fuelled by greater accessibility by home workers, less capital expenditure, and fixed ongoing costs.

#3 - Growth in low-code application platforms (LCAP)

Low-code platforms have been growing in popularity in recent years as organisations empower citizen developers to build digital applications quickly.

For anyone with little or no coding experience, these platforms replace the need for programming by using drag-and-drop form designers, point-and-click workflow engines and pre-built industry templates and data connectors to launch processes quickly.

According to Gartner, 80% of technology products and services will be built by those who are not technology professionals by 2024.

#4 - Artificial intelligence continues to gain prominence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) makes BPM smarter. Combined with machine learning, it continually evaluates data to predict the future and suggest data-driven process improvements to operational performance.

AI is still in its formative stages. The last few years have seen BPM vendors build or acquire AI and machine learning (ML) capabilities and integrate the technology into their platforms. We anticipate adoption will reach a wider audience in the next 3-5 years.

BP Logix Process Director, which ePC resells in Europe, has included machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities since version 5.0.

"Over the last year, we have seen several examples of AI capabilities being integrated into existing BPM platforms—so far, with limited success and minimal adoption. What sets Process Director apart in this regard is the incorporation of straightforward machine learning design-and-modelling facilities into its studio environment. By extending its intuitive, GUI-based design tools, Process Director allows these innovations to be leveraged natively in the platform. Indeed, Process Director is the first low-code Intelligent Automation platform we have examined that is capable of delivering a full portfolio of true machine learning capabilities, without requiring the data sciences skill set and related investments demanded by other platforms"

Nathaniel Palmer, Analyst, BPM.com

#5 Case management is now mainstream

Traditional BPM focuses on predictable processes represented by sequential steps in a flowchart, but many processes are inherently unpredictable.

Step forward case management which combines the advantages of human collaboration and decision-making with the process automation of traditional BPM. It allows business users to build, route and monitor human-directed casework that contains modular items consisting of multiple forms and processes that would otherwise be hard to relate to one another.

Like traditional BPM, the destination is known with case management, but the route depends on how the case evolves. From the decisions taken to new documents uploaded, any number of activities may change the context and affect how the case progresses and reaches the end event.

Whilst this can be achieved with giant monolithic workflows, they become impossible to manage and predict, often with duplicated or unnecessary steps for certain scenarios. A case allows you to bring together much smaller and more manageable workflows, as required for each specific scenario.

BPM vendors have spent the last 5-10 years integrating case management capabilities into their platforms and the last few years have seen it enter the mainstream.

Driven by the need for increased collaboration and better user experiences, we expect it to continue to grow in the near term.

#6 Better customer experience (CX) and more collaboration

Traditionally BPM focused on re-engineering manual processes to transform operational performance.

Driven by consumer products, both clients and their users (internal or external) have high expectations and now expect BPM systems to deliver better CX, not just process improvement.

Citizen developers expect to build apps with low code development tools quickly. And their colleagues who use the system daily want to manage processes (and associated data, tasks, events, and documents) in a user-friendly interface and collaborate across several departments in real-time.

Meanwhile, users expect a responsive, interactive experience with digital forms that are easier to use on all device types.

With case management and cloud technology supporting remote working/collaboration and low code facilitating better CX, the trend will continue in 2023 and beyond.

Are you planning to automate business processes in 2023?

Since the pandemic, many organisations have implemented (or plan to) business process automation solutions to meet business objectives such as reduced costs, increased efficiency, and better productivity.

This trend will continue over the next few years despite shrinking budgets and concerns over the economic outlook in the UK.

Accelerate your business transformation journey with our automation solutions and process experts. Talk to us today and get 2023 off to a great start. Call us on 03300 100 000 or complete this form.