Track description

Both business process management and enterprise architecture management became established in the 1990s. Since then, the interaction between IT and business has become fundamentally different, from automation and mutual alignment (co-evolution) to IT-dominated, novel business architectures. Starting from a more local or a more company-wide perspective, both business process management and architecture management therefore cover increasingly broader management perspectives. However, they are often criticized for not being able to cope with the current dynamics as a methodology and therefore may appear to be more of a hindrance than a support for digital innovations.

The aim of this track is to illuminate the many facets of managing digital processes and architectures, to better understand their current and future role, and to discuss lines of development.

This is particularly relevant in light of current digitization initiatives. In contrast to the traditional change effects of computerization, which primarily affected the business management processes of companies and public authorities, current digitization initiatives create considerable innovation potential. With agile product teams, new information systems (apps, APIs, etc.) are developed and used in short cycles. The classic differentiation between business and IT areas is increasingly disappearing. Instead, this dynamic creates tension in organizations between local, rather short-term (market, product, project, etc.) perspectives on the one hand and global, rather long-term perspectives on end-to-end processes on the other. While the former focus on flexibility, innovation speed and the customer experience, the latter often focus on efficiency, synergy and compliance goals. Both aspects are essential for the long-term success of organizations, so that modern information systems management approaches must address this area of conflict in addition to specific perspectives.