Design Patterns for Business Process Individualization

Abstract

Competition is forcing organizations to constantly innovate and identify ways to deliver high quality services and products. The Business Process Management (BPM) discipline has contributed by providing a rich set of analysis and re-design techniques. However, BPM methods and guidelines are often driven by process standardization and economies of scale, while emerging digital technologies (e.g. advanced manufacturing, sophisticated data analytics) increasingly facilitate process individualization. In this paper we contribute to an extended BPM body of knowledge by presenting design patterns for process individualization. We argue that (1) technological developments have made scalable process variant management viable and that (2) these technologies enable new forms of process individualization altogether. In our research, we identified and analyzed design patterns that make use of rapid digitalization to obtain individualized products and services. A conceptual model supported by literature and case examples is presented. This model forms theory on design and action of business process individualization in the digital age. Companies can deploy the design patterns developed in this paper as guidelines in their quest for process individualization.