Capability and maturity models in business process management

With the increasing pressure to achieve greater efficiency, innovation, and competitiveness, organizations seek opportunities to use digital technologies to change the way they operate. Since business processes describe how an organization operates, organizations should pay sufficient attention to their business process management (BPM) adoption. Nevertheless, practitioners typically also experience BPM adoption as challenging and ask for guidance. In response, many consultants and scholars have created capability and maturity models that offer a step-by-step approach, including an assessment model and best practice advice for advancing toward higher states or adoption levels. More specifically, the capability and maturity models in BPM provide a framework for assessing and improving how an organization designs, implements, and manages its business processes. As such, these models can provide a valuable tool for organizations seeking to transform their operations through digital technologies. After presenting a conceptual background, this chapter introduces the reader to some of the most important capability and maturity models and their roles in BPM adoption. Besides describing and critically discussing their content, we also explain general criticisms linked to these models and offer promising avenues to secure their future use in the era of digital transformation.