Transformation of the Business Process Manager Profession in Poland: The Impact of Digital Technologies

Abstract

The increasing role of emerging technologies, such as big data, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence (AI), cognitive technologies, cloud computing, and mobile technologies, is essential to the business process manager profession’s sustainable development. Nevertheless, these technologies could involve new challenges in labor markets. The era of intelligent business process management (BPM) has begun, but how does it look in real labor markets? This paper examines the hypothesis that the transformation of the business process manager profession has been caused by certain determinants that involve the need for an improvement in BPM skills. The main contribution is a model of the dimensions of the impact of digital technologies on business process management supplemented with skills that influence the business process manager profession. The paper fills the gap in research on perspectives of the impact of digital technologies on business process management, considering both a literature analysis and labor market research. The purpose of the literature review was to identify the core dimensions that drive the use of emerging technologies in business process management. The labor market study was conducted in order to analyze the current demand for core skills of business process managers in the Polish labor market with a particular emphasis on the intelligent BPM concept. Additionally, to study the determinants that slow down the iBPM concept’s development, the digital intensity level of the enterprises and public administration units in Poland was studied. Finally, a fuzzy cognitive map presenting the core determinants of the business process manager profession’s transformation is described.