Title: A process model to guide the integration of business processes and services within and across organisations

Authors: Dietmar Nedbal

Addresses: Research Unit Digital Business, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Wehrgrabengasse 1-3, 4400 Steyr, Austria

Abstract: Organisations are facing a major transformation from application-based to service-oriented architecture. It is the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that are especially confronted with both the opportunity and increasing pressure to establish efficient business-to-business (b2b) integration solutions to stay competitive in the globalised economy. As this integration involves business processes, services and technologies, they are complex and multi-disciplinary by nature and organisations have the need for a properly planned, methodological approach. To guide organisations in that process this paper introduces a process model for business integration. The methodology comprises an initial exploratory study, a thematic analysis focusing on process models in scientific literature, consolidated requirements for the model, and case studies conducted to refine and prove the practical applicability of the proposed process model. The process model was finally consolidated using triangulation of the results.

Keywords: B2B integration; business process modelling; business process integration; service integration; SMEs; small and medium-sized enterprises; business-to-business.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSEM.2013.051855

International Journal of Services, Economics and Management, 2013 Vol.5 No.1/2, pp.154 - 177

Received: 02 Jun 2012
Accepted: 16 Oct 2012
Published online: 30 Apr 2014 *

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