New year, new you…or not? Every year, we survey process professionals to understand what their priorities and challenges are for the coming year. For several years now, the overall priorities have remained consistent – process management, continuous improvement, and data and measurement – come in as the top 3 year over year.
While the priorities and challenges are consistent, there are some shifts in trends as I dig deeper into the data, and this blog highlights my thoughts on where and how the shifts are happening.
Looking at the top process management priorities, defining and mapping end-to-end processes remains the top priority; however, it’s gained in popularity, rising to 40% from 34% in previous years. Throughout the many conversations I’ve had with members over the last year, value stream and cross-functional processes have become a common phrase, making this jump seem reasonable.
Another change in this area was the alignment of process management efforts to the organization’s strategy. While APQC knows this is critical to process management success, I’m excited to see that organizations are realizing this as well. Strategic alignment rose in popularity from the number four to number two priority in this year’s data.
BPM Teams
We asked survey participants if they had a process management team, and if so, how long the team had been in place. The past three years have seen an increase in the number of teams; however, in 2025, we saw that number decline from 82% of organizations with process teams in 2024 to only 73% in 2025.
However, on a positive note, those that have a team in place have a longer tenure; 21% of organizations with teams in place are 10 years or older, versus only 16% in 2025. So, while fewer organizations have a formal process management team, they are more mature in age.
Another interesting data point was the effectiveness of process management teams. Again, we saw a positive trend from 2023 to 2024; however, it dropped in 2025. Potentially it could be competing priorities, organizations becoming leaner, or employees who are not understanding the true value of process management enterprise-wide resulting in lower buy-in for process work. Additionally, organizations are met with a constant pace of change in the business, so perhaps they feel the rapid change is inhibiting the success of process management efforts, leaving their employees so fatigued with change that they don’t have the capacity to contribute to the process efforts.
Drivers of Change
I hear through a lot of my conversations that change is the only constant; and that rings true in this year’s priority data. Again, for the third year in a row, “pace of change in the business” is the number three driver for change within the process management discipline. Additionally, the growth of process automation options jumped from number six on the list to number two showing the pressing need for organizations to ramp up in their use of AI and automation to remain competitive.
We also asked survey participants what the needed changes are in the process management discipline. Given the growth in the digital space, automation, and AI, it makes sense that “integration with IT” has climbed up to number one, from the number two spot. Surprisingly though, process management methodologies dropped from number one down to number four which to me shows that professionals seem to be focusing on other initiatives in the organization; however, to increase the effectiveness of their teams, they may want to go back to basics and focus on their process management methodologies.
In Conclusion
While some things are shifting and changing with the ever-changing business environment, there are some things that we see remain consistent over the years. Learn more as I dig further into the data on next month’s webinar on Tuesday, February 18: What to Expect in Process and Performance Management in 2025.