Strategic redesign of business processes in the digital age: A framework

Abstract

Organizations constantly seek ways to improve their business processes by using digital technologies as enablers. However, simply substituting an existing technology with a new one has limited value compared to using the capabilities of digital technologies to redesign business processes. Therefore, process analysts try to understand how the capabilities of digital technologies can enable the redesign of business processes. In this paper, we conduct a systematic literature review and examine 40 case studies where digital technologies were used to redesign business processes. We identified that, within the context of business process improvement, capabilities of digitalization, communication, analytics, digital representation, and connectivity can enable business process redesign. Furthermore, we note that these capabilities enable applying nine redesign heuristics. Based on our review, we map how each capability can facilitate the implementation of specific redesign heuristics. Finally, we illustrate how such a capability-driven approach can be applied to Metaverse as an example of a digital technology. Our mapping and classification framework can aid analysts in identifying candidate redesigns that capitalize on the capabilities of digital technologies.