Business Modeling and (Human) Context Awareness

Business is a social endeavour, performed by humans, requiring flexibility and adaptation to a dynamic environment. Efficiency and stability in business processes require standardisation. IT systems, are highly efficient and important tools for business. At the same time, business processes must be capable of adapting to unforeseen circumstances. This requires human awareness, both in making sense of the situation and in finding solutions. The challenge is how to combine the computer world and the human world for the best results in the business world. This requires a distinction between two types of information, strongly coded such as computer data (which allows for automated processing) and weakly coded such as conveyed by natural language (which allows for a much more accurate representation of complex circumstances). The paper will discuss these issues in two parts. The first part is theoretical and analytical, discussing theories relating to the business world, the computer world and the human world. The second part analyses practical issues of information in business and business processes and the role of context awareness in business processes. The paper ends with making a case for considering business information systems in a broader perspective than is common practice, founding business modelling on the human world of perception and action (Merkwelt and Wirkwelt).