Published on the 11/10/2022 | Written by Heather Wright

Move over AI, process intelligence is the new ‘hottest tech’…

Increasing numbers of businesses are turning to process intelligence to transform substandard workflows according to a new report, which somewhat ambitiously dubs process intelligence as ‘the hottest tech in town’.

“To reap maximum benefits from game changing technologies, you first need to identify where to use them.” 

Knowing what to transform, and whether the steps you’re taking are actually working underpins transformation success, with business process inefficiencies holding the power to dramatically undercut modernisation gains. 

That’s where process intelligence can come in to play.

Process intelligence combines process mining, which captures enterprise operations data to find opportunities for improvement, and process discovery, which tracks how individuals interact with IT.

An HFS survey in H2 2021 found process mining and discovery were among the hottest tech ticket items for Global 2000 enterprises, leading the pack – and ahead of AI, cybersecurity and process automation – when it came to the top emerging technologies based on respondents current investments. 

Now a new HFS survey commissioned by professional services company Genpact ambitiously claims ‘almost every enterprise has plans to adopt process intelligence’.

In a survey of 400 executives (seven percent of whom were from A/NZ headquartered companies) across Global 2000 enterprises at different stages in the adoption of process intelligence products, just three percent said they had no plans for the technology. Almost 25 percent of those using the technology plan double-digit growth in the spend in the next 12-18 months. 

And unlike other technologies with longer term returns, the report suggests companies are particularly bolshy about getting quick returns, with most enterprises saying they’ve already realised the business impact of the technology, or believe they will in the next 12 months. Less than 10 percent expected it would take three or more years to realise the value. 

“AI, machine learning and cloud are all game-changing technologies. But to reap their maximum benefits, you first need to identify where to use them,” Genpact says. 

“Any technologies that can shed light on how work gets done and the opportunities for improvement are invaluable,” The Meteoric Rise of Process Intelligence: Connecting People, Processes and Data to Transform Businesses says. 

The report says back office functions such as finance and accounting, with their process silos and data disconnects, are prime candidates for process intelligence, with order-to-cash and accounts payable proving the biggest areas of demand within finance and accounting.

“Finance leaders increasingly focus on improving working capital and carefully assessing their payments and collections processes to work with suppliers, partners and customers through challenging times.”

Financial reporting and risk and compliance are also helping drive demand. 

The report cites data analytics and brand consulting firm Kantar, which used process intelligence to identify a poor process of converting draft invoices into delivered invoices. It was taking on average 36 days to bill customers – meaning that at any one time $60 to $70 million was in clients pockets, rather than Kantar’s bank account.

It’s not just F&A, however, with IT and digital actually ranking as the biggest demand for many organisations – though the report does note that the IT department usually holds the budget and sponsors process intelligence projects, which could be driving its high ranking.

“With the growth of cloud adoption, data-driven transformation and systems migration are high on many companies’ agendas.

“By using process intelligence products, IT teams can develop a baseline of business users’ habits and monitor systems migrations to new platforms, such as SAP S/4Hana and Oracle Fusion. 

“After migration, IT teams can use process intelligence to understand user adoption and address process gaps.”

But if companies are bolshy about process intelligence – about two-thirds of those surveyed described it as a ‘critical’ focus area, 88 percent say it’s making an impact in their company, and 91 percent say it significantly drives business value – doubt still accompanies the confidence.

Eighty-eight percent of those surveyed believe process intelligence is too complex to use effectively in their organisation, and 67 percent report being disappointed in the past by a process intelligence project.  

A lack of knowledge about which process could most benefit was identified as the biggest challenge by 30 percent of respondents, with siloed use of the technology, complexity of inter-related business processes also figuring high. Talent and skills were also a key issue. 

At most, just 29 percent of process intelligence projects have been scaled up and industrialised. 

“Most initiatives are at least in the piloting phase, and over a third of projects are in production.”

Most production-grade engagements were in functional business areas such as finance and accounting. 

“The number of engagements in production should be a positive indicator for enterprises looking to invest in process intelligence,” the report says, adding that it’s a health sign enterprises are experiencing ‘great success’ with process intelligence, where many other emerging technologies have failed to move beyond PoC.

“Technology products alone cannot generate an impact from process intelligence within enterprise operations. Execution requires integration in every sense of the word – data, technology, talent (internal and external), organisational change and leadership – to achieve scale and deliver benefits.”