EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND PROCESS ORIENTATION: CASE OF CROATIAN COMPANIES

Aims: Companies today are moving to more process-based structures. It means that in this global environment business processes represent a core of the functioning of the company because they primarily consist of processes, not products or services. In other words, nowadays, managing a business means managing its processes. The theory and practice claim that information technology (IT) is a critical enabler for the transition to business process orientation (BPO). So, the aim of this paper is to empirically test the relationship between IT and BPO. Methodology: In the theoretical part of this study an overview of process IT is presented and the theoretical background on BPO is explained. The empirical part of the paper examines if there is a statistically significant connection between IT and BPO by using correlation coefficient and regression analysis. Results: The results of the research conducted in small, middle and big Croatian companies in 2018 determined their level of BPO and their use of process IT. It can be concluded that there is a statistically significant connection between IT and BPO and that the calculated correlation is strong. Also, it is proven that the use of IT has positive influence on BPO practice. Furthermore, it is shown that the trend of BPO exists in Croatia, but there is a lot of potential for further development, especially in the field of business process informatization which is still inadequate. So, the discovered knowledge about BPO and process IT can be used as a set of practical guidelines for any Croatian company that strives to achieve more efficient business processes.