A Conceptual Model and Methodology for Sustainability-aware, IoT-enhanced Business Processes
For business process managers and sustainability researchers, it provides a structured approach to leverage IoT for holistic sustainability, but the contribution is incremental as it extends existing BPM and IoT concepts.
The paper proposes a conceptual model and methodology to systematically analyze and improve the sustainability of business processes by integrating IoT capabilities, demonstrated through examples in tourism and healthcare.
The real-time data collection and automation capabilities offered by the Internet of Things (IoT) are revolutionizing and transforming Business Processes (BPs) into IoT-enhanced BPs, showing high potential for improving sustainability. Although already studied in Business Process Management (BPM), sustainability research has primarily focused on environmental concerns. However, achieving a holistic and lasting impact requires a systematic approach to address sustainability beyond the environmental dimension. This work proposes a conceptual model and a structured methodology with the goal of analyzing the potential of IoT to measure and improve the sustainability of BPs. The conceptual model formally represents key sustainability concepts, linking BPM and IoT by highlighting how IoT devices support and contribute to sustainability. The methodology guides the systematic analysis of existing BPs, identifies opportunities, and implements sustainability-aware, IoT-enhanced BPs. The approach is illustrated through a running example from the tourism domain and a controlled case study in healthcare.