Business Process Management (BPM) has become a widely adopted management approach, prompting significant investments by private and public companies since 2000. Since neither the concept of BPM nor the factors leading to successful BPM initiatives are grounded in theory and also lack empirical support, Tahvo Hyötyläinen explores what business value BPM and BPM Systems can cause and how they can bring about improved firm performance. The author’s main implication is to show how to enhance the probability of success with BPM and its Systems. His research also adds to the understanding on how to increase customer-centricity – an empirically supported yet less studied direction of BPM. Contents Introduction to Business Process Management Maturity Models Historical Paths to BPM Describing Theory of the Stable State Work System Comparison of the BPM and ERP Initiatives Introduction to the Customer-Centric Approach Target Groups Researchers and students in the fields of information science and management science Enterprise and process architects The Author Tahvo Hyötyläinen has completed his Ph.D. thesis under the supervision of Prof. Pertti Järvinen, University of Tampere. He works as a Senior Architect in the fields of business and software architectures and development. The Editors The series Advances in Information Systems and Business Engineering is edited by Ulrike Baumöl, Jan vom Brocke and Reinhard Jung.