A guest lecture at Pforzheim University in December 2021. It focuses on my cases related to business process management, customer service, business model innovation and supply chain management.

1. Business process management –
selected examples and cases
Pforzheim (online)
December, 8 2021
Peter Trkman

2. Disclaimer
• This set of slides is intended for a guest lecture at Pforzheim
University
• The slides are not meant as a stand-alone study resource
but as a companion to the lectures (My lectures are namely
never perfect, but they are always original.)
2
Feel free to use the slides under the
CC BY-SA license

3. Starting point
• You know a lot about BPM already*
• You can read & watch a lot more (use COVID-19 „free“ time
wisely)
• My teaching philosophy in such situations:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-teach-new-audiences-peter-
trkman/
• Use my examples, cases & research
• Feel free to interupt & ask at any time with questions (either orally
or in chat)
* I know this based on discussions with prof. Morelli & with your colleagues currently in
Ljubljana doing a double-degree program.
3

4. Content
1. Brief personal introduction
2. BPM in general – which are the main principles of BPM
3. BPM in practice – why it does (not) work (critical success
factors)
4. Case study – BPM in customer process management
5. The COVID-19 opportunity and challenges for BPM
6. Further learning opportunities
4

5. About me
• 43 years old
• Published many scientific papers.
• Participated in several research and consulting projects (mainly in the area
of business process & supply chain management) for organizations such as
Mobitel, DBS, Hypo, Chrysler, ZZZS, Post of Slovenia, National Research
Agency of Slovenia, Ljubljana Municipality etc.
• Taught various courses at FELU and WU Wien; Humboldt University, Berlin;
ATU, Kazakhstan; UFES, Vitoria, Brasil, IMT Dubai, IMT Ghaziabad,
GSOM, Saint Petersburg; KNU, South Korea; University of Sarajevo; QUT,
Brisbane, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia; and Sichuan University,
Chengdu.
• Published 42 papers in highly ranked (SCI/SSCI indexed) international
journals related to various aspects of digital transformation; I was cited over
7000 times
• Several awards for research
• Serve as panel member/reviewer/thesis reviewer, mentor etc.
5

6. My family
Family picture 6
Celebrating paper‘s acceptance
Easter celebration

7. External recognition
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8. Lecturing to diverse audiences
Sometimes you lecture to Ph. D. students or professionals from industry. Sometimes to
primary school kids (this picture was taken during 'Researchers night' event at University
of Ljubljana, Faculty of Economics) Adapting to the audience is important. If you present
with passion, the audience will respond very well, regardless of their background (or
age). I thoroughly enjoyed the "How the yogurt comes to your fridge" event last Friday.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6320888989729505280
My motivation to learn more about various countries:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/professor-your-lecture-racist-peter-trkman/
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9. My country: Slovenia
»On the sunny side of the Alps«
9

10. Let‘s go for a night walk
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Source: https://landgeist.com/2021/11/26/how-safe-do-people-feel-to-walk-alone-at-night-in-europe/
„These numbers come from Numbeo.com and are the numbers as they were on the 15th of November
2021“

11. My school of economics
and business (SEB LU)
• Member of University of Ljubljana
• Established in 1946
• The biggest member of University of Ljubljana with over 5.000 students
• EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA accredited
• Certificate for quality in internationalisation (CEQUINT) - Master program
in International Business
• Leading research institution in Slovenia and South-east Europe in the
fields of business and economics. Ranked by FT rankings
• According to Eduniversal rankings our Supply Chain Program is 2nd in
Central & East Europe (behind WU, Vienna, Austria) while Business
Informatics is 3rd in East Europe
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12. SEB LU & BPM
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Contributions per university
on BPMS
Review of the state of the art of Business Processes
Management Systems research. Source: Martín-
Navarro, A., Sancho, M. P. L., & Medina-Garrido, J.
A. (2018). BPMS for management: a systematic
literature review. Revista española de
Documentación Científica, 41(3), 213.
Top universities in BPM research
Source: Lizano-Mora, H, Palos-Sánchez, P Aguayo-
Camacho, M: The Evolution of Business Process
Management: A Bibliometric Analysis, IEEE Access
March 2021

13. Contact
Email: peter.trkman@ef.uni-lj.si
Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peter_Trkman2
Google Scholar:
https://scholar.google.si/citations?user=nT2RSqwAAAAJ&hl=en
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-trkman/
(I am glad to connect but do add a brief note)
Zoom: https://uni-lj-si.zoom.us/j/681817290
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14. Part 2:
10 „commandments“ of BPM - intro
Main source: vom Brocke, J., Schmiedel, T., Recker, J., Trkman, P., Mertens, W., & Viaene, S. (2014). Ten principles of
good business process management. Business Process Management Journal, 20(4), 530-548.
Shorter summaries
https://www.bptrends.com/10-principles-of-good-bpm/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ten-principles-business-process-management-peter-trkman/
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15. Principles of BPM
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16. Principles of BPM (cont)
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17. Principles of BPM (cont.)
Description of principles:
We will explain the text written at:
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https://www.bptrends.com/10-principles-of-good-bpm/ and
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ten-principles-business-
process-management-peter-trkman

18. Part 3: Critical success factors
of BPM – the benefits
You know it well:
BPM is beneficial for companies
https://www.google.com/search?q=bpm+benefits
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In consulting studies….
but how is it in practice?

19. But….it’s not all rosy
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Research shows that between 60-80%
of business process management programs is unsuccessful
Why?

20. Picture by my friend & colleague Kevin McCormack, DRK Research Institute &
Nortwood University, USA
X You are here
Optimized Level
Ad Hoc
Defined
Managed
(Linked)
Leveraged
(Integrated)
20

21. CSF – theoretical background
CSF definition: Critical success factors can be defined as a limited
number of areas, in which results if they are satisfactory, will
ensure successful performance (Rockart, 1961)
Using the: contingency, dynamic capabilities
and task technology fit theories.
The main premise is that firstly the fit between the business
environment and business processes is needed (as claimed by the
contingency theory). Then proper organization and continuous
improvement efforts are needed to assure sustained benefits from
BPM (as stipulated by the dynamic capabilities theory). Also, the
proper fit between the tasks in the business processes and
information technology/systems must exist (as found by task-
technology fit theory).
Google for more if you are interested in academic work. Ignore this slide otherwise.
21

22. Critical success factors of BPM
• Strategic alignment
• Level of IT investment
• Performance measurement
• Level of employee’s
specialization
• Organizational changes
• Appointment of process
owners
• Implementation of proposed
changes (quick-win strategy),
• Use of a continuous
improvement system
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23. Critical success factors of BPM (2)
• Fit between IT and
business processes
• Standardization of
processes
• IS support
• Training and empowerment
of employees
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Based on: Trkman, P (2010) The Critical Success Factors of Business Process Management. International Journal
of Information Management 30: 125-134.
Note: we will discuss the factors based on https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/critical-success-factors-business-process-
management-peter-trkman/

24. Case study
Understanding
customer‘s processes
Note: everything until now was about single company.
But: do you understand the processes of your customer?

25. Optimizing customer‘s processes
Salesforce Research: State of the Connected Customer
https://a.sfdcstatic.com/content/dam/www/ocms/assets/pdf/service-cloud/state-of-connected-customer.pdf
25
89%
Of business buyers strongly
agree or agree they expect
comapnies to understand their
business needs and
expectations

26. Optimizing customer‘s processes
• One of the leading providers of „ultra-performance liquid
chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography,
mass spectrometry, thermal analysis and rheology
instrumentation and consumables“
• Moving into services as well (maintenance, repair, training)
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Source: Trkman, P., Mertens, W., Viaene, S., & Gemmel, P. (2015). From business process management to
customer process management Business Process Management Journal, 21(2), 250-262.
See: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/put-yourself-your-customers-processes-peter-trkman

27. Case study- motivation
A popular saying in marketing is that
“People don’t want to buy
a quarter-inch drill.
They want a quarter-inch hole!”
(attributed to Theodore Levitt).
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„In fact, the customer might want to hang a picture
of which the hole is only one requirement. In turn,
this activity can be part of many different customer
processes (e.g. building a house or decorating the room).“

28. The question
Which customers are the most important?
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Which individual
orders are the most
important?

29. Another problem – response time
SUPPLIER
„The end users were typically very dissatisfied, stating “your
equipment is crap, it breaks down every two weeks”.
But when we checked our logs, we couldn’t find
more than one call over the last year.“
Global Services Manager EMEA
END CUSTOMER
You finally understand what we do.
You are the first supplier to come and talk to us.
Scientific engineer of a large customer company (project document).
29

30. Why?
The one working with an apparatus and experiencing a
problem almost never came directly to us.
There was always a step taken internally first, or even four steps in
bigger organisations… so what we thought was: if you have to log
it internally anyway, why not immediately log it on our website as
well? If you show them on the process map that their problem
starts before our ‘clock’ starts, then that extra log doesn’t seem
such a big effort.
Global Services Manager EMEA
30

31. The digital solution
Easy digital solution:
when a customer is experiencing a problem with one of
Chromaterm’s products, the customer is asked to log the problem
on Chromaterm’s website immediately
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New role: “customer process owners”:
These would not only realize the most evident needs of
the customer, but really optimise the provided service to
the processes of the customer.

32. User adoption &
resistance always the key
It is ridiculous that I need to go through a call exchange system
and be left waiting for transfers to another country before I can
report a service problem. We spend up to a quarter of a million
with Chromaterm and the aforementioned practice is not
acceptable.
I would like to be able to directly contact a helpline for
trouble shooting issues by phone rather than having to go
through the reception desk then wait while a call is logged.
Customer satisfaction survey, 01/2011
32

33. Similar case - Hilti
See: https://www.slideshare.net/bmi-lab/hilti-holes-instead-of-
hammers-business-model-innovation-explained and
https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52550
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ten-principles-business-process-management-peter-trkman/ 33

34. BPM & Covid-19
What now?
You know it all:
COVID-19 is an unprecented crisis.
Different than 2nd world war..
Note: unless otherwise noted, the following slides are based on our paper Roglinger, Plattfaut, Borghoff,
Kerpedzhiev, Rosemann, vom Brocke , Trkman, van der Aalst, vanLooy, Santoro, DelRio, Rinderle-Ma,
Beverungen: Exogenous Shocks and Business Process Management: Challenges and
Opportunities, under review, not yet publicly available.
34

35. Sidenote
No, the Chinese character to crisis
is not a combination of danger & opportunity!
the jī syllable of wēijī most definitely does not signify
“opportunity.”
https://workplacepsychology.net/2014/08/
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36. BPM in shocks – the core message
36

37. Affected business processes
Source: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/Tax/dttl-tax-key-bps-
impact-areas-client-considerations.pdf 37

38. Sidenote: BPM in general
Source: http://digital-bpm.com/bpm-capability-framework/ (and many others). I will not explain in
detail but you need it to understand it for the next slide
38

39. Core elements
39

40. Challenges &
opportunities for each pillar
40

41. BPM in COVID-19 times
Processes are/will be more digital &
transparent than ever.
Great opportunities for process mining.
But broader challenges than that e.g.:
How to maintain employees (process participants) commitment
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/power-human-digital-world-peter-trkman
See also: https://www.ey.com/en_gl/advanced-manufacturing/how-to-navigate-supply-chain-disruption-
with-digital-process-mining-and-digital-twins
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42. Recommended reading
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-662-56509-4
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43. My sources
• Trkman, P (2010) The Critical Success Factors of Business
Process Management. International Journal of Information
Management 30, 125-134
• Trkman, P., Mertens, W., Viaene, S., & Gemmel, P. (2015).
From business process management to customer process
management Business Process Management Journal, 21(2),
250-262.
• vom Brocke, J., Schmiedel, T., Recker, J., Trkman, P., Mertens,
W., & Viaene, S. (2014). Ten Principles of Good Business
Process Management. Business Process Management Journal,
20(4), 530 - 548.
• Röglinger et al.: Exogenous Shocks and Business Process
Management: Challenges and Opportunities, under review, not
yet publicly available.
Further sources noted on slides
43

44. Further learning points
Picture source: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/weitere-bayerische-schule-nach-corona-fall-
geschlossen,SAUDo56
44

45. The main opportunity at SEB LU
http://www.ef.uni-lj.si/content/static_english/predmet/predmet.asp?l=123&li=2422&predmet_id=196604 45

46. Double degree at SEB LU
http://www.ef.uni-lj.si/content/static_english/izobrazevanje/podiplomsko/angl_programi/usmeritve_ANG_DDInfoMng.asp 46

47. Enhance you
knowledge on business models
https://www.ariscommunity.com/users/wj/2009-06-29-why-focus-b-business-process-management ; see also
DaSilva, C. M., & Trkman, P. (2014). Business model: What it is and what it is not. Long Range Planning, 47(6),
379-389.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024630113000502 47

48. Enhance you
knowledge on digital transformation
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/digital-transformation-does-matter-peter-trkman/
48

49. Enhance you
knowledge on customer experience
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Recommended
reading

50. Enhance you knowledge on supply
chain management
Trkman, P., Budler, M., & Groznik,
A. (2015). A business model
approach to supply chain
management. Supply Chain
Management: An International
Journal, 20(6), 587-602.
50

51. Enhance your knowledge on changing
human processes to reduce CO2 emissions
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268401221001365
51

52. And some reading for
rainy winter days in Pforzheim
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/summary-my-linkedin-posts-peter-trkman/
Some general posts:
• My perspective on social media, (lack of) happiness and self-help
books.
• And some guidelines on how to raise kids
• Explaining the hidden value proposition of shopping offline
• Importance of getting out of your comfort zone and mingle with
diverse audiences
52

53. International stories
• My motivation for going abroad:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/professor-your-lecture-racist-peter-trkman
• Colombia:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/teaching-universidad-de-los-andes-peter-trkman
• China:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/teaching-china-peter-trkman and
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-i-learned-while-learning-chinese-peter-trkman/
• South Korea:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/e-business-models-korea-peter-trkman
• India:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/visiting-indian-business-school-general-experience-peter-
trkman and https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/autonomous-vehicles-virtual-tourism-technology-
adoption-peter-trkman/
• Peru: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/visit-universidad-del-pacifico-peter-trkman/
And my most shocking
experience on cultural
differences:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cultural-differences-what-
i-learned-literary-festival-peter-trkman/
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54. 54
Thank you
for your attention
Peter Trkman
peter.trkman@ef.uni-lj.si
https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-trkman/