Business Process Management Market Trends

Growth Drivers

• Integration of hyperautomation: This, coupled with the emergence of AI, ML, and robotic process automation, is readily driving the growth of the business process management market. As per an article published by DCMS in January 2022, there has been an increased adoption of AI in the UK is currently concentrated among larger businesses, with around 68% of large companies, 34% of medium firms, and 15% of small businesses using at least one AI technology. The study also observed that adoption is highest in IT, telecommunications, and legal sectors, whereas hospitality, health, and retail are following with minimal adoption rates. In addition, the report outlined that spending on AI technologies and associated labor is rising rapidly, with projected growth reaching more than £30 billion (USD 37.9 billion) by the end of 2025. By the conclusion of 2040, around 1.3 million UK businesses are expected to adopt AI, with total AI-related spending exceeding £380 billion (USD 475 million), hence denoting a positive business process management market outlook.

AI Adoption and Expenditure Trends in UK Businesses (2020-2040)

Source: DCMS

• Demand for operational efficiency: Both the public and private organizations across all nations are accelerating their digital transformation since there is a growing demand for systems that can streamline business processes. Testifying to this, a new report from the IBM Center for the Business of Government in 2024 revealed that the implementation framework provides a proper roadmap for modernizing public sector business processes. The study effectively distinguishes between incremental modernization, which is focused on operational efficiency, and full-scale transformation, which redefines service delivery. It also champions technologies such as robotic process automation for automating repetitive tasks. It further underscored that this framework allows government leaders to navigate legacy system debt and evolving citizen expectations to achieve improvements in service delivery as well as operational effectiveness.
• Shift towards cloud-based and SaaS solutions: The cloud deployment is making the business management solutions more accessible, scalable, and cost-effective, especially for small and medium enterprises. In November 2024, NTT DATA  announced that it had acquired Niveus Solutions, which is one of the leading Google Cloud engineering companies, adding 1,000 GCP experts to strengthen its cloud capabilities and industry-specific solutions across the globe. Therefore, the acquisition enhances NTT DATA’s Google Cloud business unit, enabling accelerated AI-driven digital transformations across sectors, including financial services, manufacturing, and retail. Furthermore, building on its strategic partnership with Google Cloud, NTT DATA aims to deliver highly scalable, secure, and innovative cloud and genAI solutions to meet growing global demand, hence positively impacting business process management market growth.

Challenges

• Skill gaps and talent shortages: This is one of the major drawbacks associated with the business process management market. Adoption is increasingly influenced by skilled professionals who understand process design, automation tools, process mining, and analytics. In this context, organizations are facing challenges such as a shortage of talent that is capable of bridging business strategy and technical execution. Also, all employees may not be familiar with low-code or no-code platforms, AI integration, or advanced analytics required for intelligent process optimization. Therefore, training existing staff can be time-consuming and expensive, whereas hiring experts adds on burgeoning costs to the organization, hence restricting widespread adoption in this field.
• Resistance to change within organizations: The business process management market often necessitates transformations in how generally the processes are executed, creating resistance among employees who are accustomed to traditional workflows. Also, staff may fear job displacement due to automation or worry that new process controls will increase monitoring and accountability. Simultaneously, the aspects of poor communication, lack of proper executive sponsorship, and insufficient training can make it challenging for the business process management market to witness widespread adoption. Furthermore, delays, incomplete adoption, or workarounds that hinder process improvements can hamper growth even in the most advanced BPM implementations.