ProcessMaker’s founder, Brian Reale, was invited to contribute to an exclusive piece on the BPM skills outlook for 2025. He shared his insights based on years of experience in the field of business process management and automation.
Brought together by BPMtips, he shared the stage with other influential figures in the BPM space, such as Prof. Wil van der Aalst, Dr. Mathias Kirchmer, Madison Lundquist, and others.
Impact of Global Megatrends
The first question posed to process management thought leaders was about the impact of global megatrends such as digital transformation, climate change, demographic shifts, digital technologies, and, most importantly, AI on BPM. The experts were also asked to share their ideas on how companies should effectively adapt to this changing environment.
Brian emphasized the significant influence of climate change causing disruption in supply chains and requiring a constant adaptation to regulatory shifts. Major demographic shifts, like the aging workforce, skill shortages, and increased workplace diversity, are pushing companies to adjust their processes and turn to AI to fill gaps.
As technology progresses, digital transformation continues to shape BPM. Automation technologies are altering processes dynamically and on-the-fly. In the age of massive data, having the right information is key to the game. The customer experience is also evolving, with traditional interfaces predicted to disappear by 2030, replaced by voice and text commands. On the impact of digital technologies, Brian shared three main points:
Digital Technologies:
- Automation: Automation technologies like RPA and now Agentic AI are transforming processes. We are less than a few years away from AI being able to dynamically change its own processes on the fly to react to change. The idea of drawing a BPMN diagram will not exist by 2030.
- Data-Driven Decisions: AI depends on data. Whoever has it wins. Period.
- Customer Experience: Web 2.0 revolutionized customer experience. Apple capitalized on this. Now, all those beautiful interfaces will disappear. The interface won’t exist by 2030. Everything will be a command line controlled via voice and some text.
Reale’s most substantial emphasis was on AI’s role in shaping the future of BPM. He predicts the extinction of traditional BPMN diagrams by 2030, replaced by AI’s ability to process raw data and make immediate decisions within processes. This evolution will redefine how businesses manage and streamline their operations in the face of global megatrends.
How BPM helps organizations adapt
The next question posed to process excellence leaders was about the impact of BPM on organizations in light of recent changes.
Process leaders highlighted that Business Process Management (BPM) offers numerous advantages for organizations looking to adapt and thrive in a fast-changing business environment. These include the design and execution of flexible processes conducive to change, data-driven decision-making through insightful monitoring of process performance, and the integration of automation technologies.
It also helps organizations handle complexities, mitigate cybersecurity risks, and foster agility, resilience, and innovation. With shifting demographics, BPM supports the formulation of inclusive strategies. Practitioners must also be proficient in using AI technologies to enhance efficiency and derive actionable insights.
Brian has beautifully summarized these points:
- Agility and Flexibility: BPM enables organizations to design and execute flexible processes that can quickly adapt to change, such as supply chain disruptions or shifts in customer demand.
- Data-Driven Decision-Making: BPM+AI can provide data-driven insights into process performance, allowing organizations to identify areas for improvement and make better decisions
- Automation and AI Integration: AI will kill BPM, but for the next few years it will help it work much better. Sound familiar? The same will happen to humanity, unfortunately.
Key skills for BPM practitioners in 2025
The BPM landscape is changing forever, and the skills needed to succeed in this field are no longer the same. Brian suggests that the following categories of skills are essential to thrive in process automation:
- Foundational: Practitioners should still master process modeling (BPMN, DMN), and analysis.
- Advanced: It is becoming more important to gain advanced skills in AI/ML to understand where and how to apply it.
- Essential Behaviors: As always, teams need strong abilities in collaboration, communication, problem-solving, innovation, and results-orientation.
Other experts also suggest that certain technical skills are significant to stay relevant in the BPM game. These include mastery of AI technologies to enhance business processes, data literacy to validate AI models, proficiency in interpreting outputs from AI-driven tools, and understanding and optimizing AI-powered BPM solutions. However, these hard skills should be complemented by effective communication and leadership skills. Change management expertise is also crucial to navigate and foster adoption during transitions.
Finally, agility and resilience to adapt quickly to market dynamics, technological advancements, and regulatory requirements are more important than ever. A continuous learning attitude, curiosity, and abductive approaches are also necessary to handle new technologies and demand shifts.
Brian adds that some skills are no longer relevant for BPM practitioners in the coming years:
“Building connectors and scripts by hand is a skill that will die in the next 24 months. I would not waste time learning to do a lot of manual coding. Also, building forms will die off as well. It is important to get good at the big picture business analysis and not get lost in the technical weeds of BPM implementation.”
Other ideas discussed in the article
Wil van der Aalst, another eminent contributor, suggests that the global megatrends necessitate a rethink in how organizations design, manage, and optimize their processes. He highlighted the importance of sustainability, demographic challenges, and the need for BPM practitioners to develop specific data-related skills, techniques, behaviors, and attitudes for creating organizational value in 2025.
Madison Lundquist proposes the key skills for BPM practitioners in 2025, such as change management, analytics, problem-solving, design thinking, storytelling, and strong process management for successful technology implementation.
Jim Sinur lists out the top seven skills for BPM professionals, including journey mapping, embedded advanced analytic capabilities, agentic AI, AI productivity focus, cognitive collaboration, signal and pattern detection, and business professional process creation. He also pinpoints skills that are becoming less relevant in BPM, such as central control-only approaches, waterfall project methods, and large blocks of frozen code.
Read more on BPM from Brian
2025 Predictions for Business Process Automation (BPA) and Orchestration
The Changing Face of Business Process Automation
Agentic AI is about to Change the World of Process Orchestration
Task Mining as a New Powerful Alternative to Time Studies
