AI Success Hindered By Process Shortcomings Worry 72% of Business Leaders, Celonis Research Finds

December 05, 2023 at 11:06 AM EST

The majority of business leaders surveyed (89%) are actively implementing AI. 72% of them are worried that process shortcomings may be holding further implementations back over the next two years

Over 80% surveyed said that processes are the lifeblood of their organization, and 99% consider it essential or important to optimize their processes to meet their business objectives

81% are either already investing in or planning to invest in process optimization technologies in the next three years, and 82% of business leaders believe process excellence will emerge as a core business discipline within the next five years

Celonis, the global leader in process mining, today launched The 2023 Process Optimization Report, an independent third-party research report that surveyed over 1,200 global business leaders and highlighted the critical importance of optimizing organizational processes. In fact, the vast majority of senior business leaders (99%) say process optimization is important, or even essential, to meet their business objectives. And for most (89%), those objectives include unleashing the full potential of AI. But there’s a catch as 72% are concerned that process shortcoming could hinder their AI success.

“The potential of emerging technologies, including AI, is top of mind for every enterprise right now, and it's clear that business leaders understand the need to optimize their processes to be able to harness that potential. However, they’re facing numerous barriers in doing so; departments speak their own languages, data and teams are siloed, systems don’t play well together, and processes are hard to see,” said Alex Rinke, co-Founder and co-CEO, Celonis. “With the recent advancements to our process intelligence platform, we are enabling our customers to overcome these barriers and bring their teams together around a common language for understanding how their processes run end-to-end and how to improve them, fast.”

Senior business leaders recognize the value of optimizing their processes

83% see processes as their greatest lever for realizing value, and their fastest lever for change.
82% said process optimization is particularly important in times of economic instability, recognizing that it is one of the quickest ways to reduce expenditure and get cash flow under control.
84% believe process optimization can deliver bottom, top and green-line value at the same time.
The top five factors driving process optimization according to business leaders are:

Interest in harnessing emerging technologies such as AI (70%)
Cutting costs (69%)
Competitive pressure (64%)
Changing customer expectations (64%)
Compliance with legislation or regulation (64%)

Business leaders acknowledge that sub-optimal processes are negatively impacting their organizations

63% say it costs their department time and reduces productivity
46% say it results in missed opportunities to capture value
43% say the lack of efficiency costs them money
39% believe it negatively affects employee morale
19% are worried that it prevents innovation

The opportunity ahead: Business leaders are investing in process optimization technologies to unlock value opportunities

The results show that business leaders understand the critical importance of optimizing their processes and the significant costs of not doing so. Many are already taking action, and many more will soon. Over 80% of those surveyed are either already investing in process optimization technology (49%) or plan to in the next 3 years (32%).

Over a third (38%) of respondents are already using process mining, while a further 32% are evaluating it. Process mining’s importance as a key enterprise technology is highlighted by the fact that Gartner® published its first Magic Quadrant™ for Process Mining Tools in 2023, and 82% of the surveyed business leaders believe process excellence will emerge as a core business discipline within the next five years.

To learn more about how enterprises are using processes as a lever for value and a driver for change, download the full report from https://www.celonis.com/processreport/. Along with the data shared here, the report contains information on factors driving process optimization, barriers to optimization as well as tools and technologies used for process improvement. Breakdowns by job function and region-specific takeaways are also available.

Methodology

The research was conducted by Insight Avenue, an independent, third-party, specialist B2B and technology research consultancy. 1,217 interviews of senior business leaders across a wide range of sectors were conducted during August and September 2023. The interviews included around 400 business leaders in each of the three regions (US, DACH, Rest of EMEA) and 300 in each of the four job functions (listed below). Respondents were from organizations with a minimum revenue of $500 million, with 85% having revenue above $2 billion.

Job Functions:

Operations / Process improvement / Process excellence
IT / Digital
Supply chain / Procurement / Demand planning / Logistics / Order management
Finance / Shared services

About Celonis

Since 2011, Celonis has helped thousands of the world’s largest and most esteemed companies yield immediate cash impact, radically improve customer experience, and reduce carbon emissions. Its Process Intelligence platform uses industry-leading process mining technology and AI to present companies with a living digital twin of their end-to-end processes. For the first time, everyone in an organization has a common language for how the business runs, visibility into where value is hiding, and the ability to capture it. Celonis is headquartered in Munich, Germany and New York City, USA with more than 20 offices worldwide.

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