What is a Business Process?
Every organization—no matter the size or industry—runs on business processes. From handling customer orders to managing employee onboarding, these processes are the invisible engines driving efficiency, quality, and value. But what exactly is a business process?
While the term is used widely, it can mean slightly different things depending on the source. To clarify, we’ve gathered six trusted definitions from globally respected standards, academic thought leaders, and top consulting firms. Together, they provide a well-rounded understanding of what business processes are and why they matter.
1. CBOK – The BPM Professional’s Perspective
From the Business Process Management Common Body of Knowledge (CBOK), created by the Association of BPM Professionals (ABPMP):
A defined sequence of activities performed by humans or machines to achieve a specific organizational goal. These activities are initiated in response to a business event and result in an outcome that adds value to the organization or its customers.
This definition is widely adopted in the BPM community. It emphasizes that business processes are not just structured activities—they’re value-generating responses to real-world events. Whether manual or automated, each process exists to fulfill a clear purpose.
2. BPMN – The Standard for Modeling and Automation
The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standard, used globally to design and automate workflows, defines a process as:
A defined sequence of activities and tasks that are executed to achieve a specific organizational goal.
This definition focuses on structure and measurability. BPMN enables organizations to visualize, simulate, and improve their processes. It’s foundational to digital transformation and workflow automation efforts.
3. ISO 9000 – The Quality Management Approach
According to the ISO 9000 family of quality management standards:
A set of interrelated or interacting activities that transforms inputs into outputs.
This definition highlights the transformational nature of processes. It’s particularly valuable in industries focused on compliance, consistency, and continuous improvement, as it forms the basis of quality assurance systems like ISO 9001.
4. Hammer & Champy – The Customer-Driven Redesign
In their landmark book Reengineering the Corporation, Michael Hammer and James Champy offered this now-classic definition:
A business process is a collection of activities that takes one or more kinds of input and creates an output that is of value to the customer.
Their definition was revolutionary—it shifted the focus from internal efficiency to customer value. It laid the foundation for Business Process Reengineering (BPR), urging companies to rethink and radically improve how they deliver results.
5. Gartner – The Strategic Integration View
Gartner, a global leader in technology and business advisory, defines a business process in broader, strategic terms:
A business process coordinates the behavior of people, systems, information, and things to produce business outcomes in support of a business strategy.
This definition reflects the complex, integrated nature of modern organizations. It highlights how processes are not just operational tools—they are strategic assets that connect people, technology, and data to drive outcomes.
6. EY – The Value Delivery Focus
Ernst & Young (EY), one of the Big Four consulting firms, emphasizes the role of processes in service and product delivery:
Business processes show how an organization delivers products and services to customers and employees. This includes desired outcomes, end users, and interdependencies.
EY’s perspective centers on the end-to-end delivery of value. It underscores how processes orchestrate activities across departments, systems, and stakeholders to meet expectations and fulfill business goals.
What These Definitions Have in Common
Although each definition approaches the concept from a slightly different angle—quality, modeling, strategy, or customer value—they share a set of core characteristics:
✅ Structured and repeatable – Processes are made up of organized activities and tasks.
🎯 Goal-oriented – Each process aims to deliver a specific result or outcome.
🧠 Cross-functional – Processes often span people, systems, and departments.
💡 Value-driven – The end result should benefit the organization or its stakeholders.
Understanding your core business processes is fundamental to running, improving, or transforming your organization. Whether you manage operations, lead change, or implement automation, clarity on how work flows and creates value is essential. More than just diagrams, these processes are your organization's operational DNA, linking strategy to real-world impact and inputs to outcomes.
