Process-Technology Fit Decisions: Evidence From an Expert Panel and Case Studies

Business process management (BPM) combined with new technologies can trigger both incremental and disruptive improvements in how organizations operate. More specifically, today's fourth industrial revolution can bring rapid changes in an organization's process dynamics. Our study explores differences between possible process-technology “fit” and “unfit” situations in BPM innovative projects. We extend relevant past studies and theories using a mix of qualitative techniques consisting of expert panel interviews and a case design using two field studies. Our findings reveal that, although alternative process-technology “fit” and “no-fit” situations exist, elements such as creativity, efficiency, integration, user friendliness, and proper task monitoring turn out to be the most promising factors to gain a process-technology fit. Novelty in our work includes discovering “fit” and “no-fit” factors in terms of process-technology alignment, and the development of a decision framework with a generic set of suggestions for BPM practitioners and decision makers. Our mixed-method approach is based on qualitative results by emphasizing in-depth insights and lessons learned rather than building a generalizable theory. We intend to guide managers and decision makers to help them think about possible directions, as suggested by our experts and case participants at the time of their technology adoption in a BPM context.