What is our primary use case?
My name is Gulshan Mishra, and I currently work for a private company where I hold 4.5 years of experience in Celonis Process Mining. I did multiple projects including Order-to-Cash process, Purchase-to-Pay process, and Accounts Payable process. I have also worked on new functionalities of Celonis, including Object-Centric Process Mining, Action Flows, Process Simulation, and AI-related functionalities such as Agent AI, Agent C, Copilot, Annotation Builder, and others.
My total and relevant experience is 4.5 years, entirely focused on Celonis Process Mining since I started my journey in the IT industry. My main use cases for Celonis involve working on different scenarios, with most being business process-related and some being custom processes as well. The specific use cases depend on the client and the processes where I have worked, though I have majorly focused on business processes as well as custom processes.
Specific examples of business processes I have worked on using Celonis include the Order-to-Cash process and Purchase-to-Pay process. In those processes, my first step with Celonis was establishing connectivity and extracting the data. I extracted relevant tables and columns, and when required, I pseudonymized those columns and performed Vertica SQL transformation using case activity table creation. After that, I identified bottlenecks as well as automation-related tasks.
Regarding my main use cases for Celonis, whenever working on any business processes or custom processes, I ensure to first create a wireframe to understand how to proceed with dashboard creation and what KPIs are required for building those business processes. I identify the pinpoint areas where root causes are happening and determine what solutions can be implemented. These findings can be presented to the client. By identifying these areas through data analysis and connecting with stakeholders to highlight pinpoint areas or root causes, I can indicate that working on those areas will generate more revenue.
What is most valuable?
The best features Celonis offers, in my opinion, include Object-Centric Process Mining and Annotation Builder. Object-Centric Process Mining provides a depth of understanding of every object, while Annotation Builder allows for customization of free text columns. For example, if a resolution is provided but later the IT team finds it incorrect, Annotation Builder can be used to suggest the correct category or product name.
In Object-Centric Process Mining, I first create objects, which can be anything from products, invoices, categories, customers, or billing. After that, I identify the event log, which should consist of activities, such as creating purchase orders or purchase requisitions. Once I identify the objects and events, I define the relationships between them, which can be one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many. The benefit of Object-Centric Process Mining is that I gain a detailed view of every object. If I want to see the detail level for any particular object, I can do that. In case-centric process mining, however, I can only choose one case ID and see all the details related to that case ID, which is a more restricted view compared to the 3D layer of view available in Object-Centric Process Mining.
Celonis has positively impacted my organization as it holds a Titanium partnership with Celonis. Whenever I find myself stuck, I can directly connect with Celonis team, which offers many resources. For example, in my company, if I am not familiar with the data connectivity part, there is a dedicated team that can handle those tasks. Even when it comes to value realization, the Business Value Architect can take care of those needs.
What needs improvement?
There are a few things about Celonis that need improvement. One specific limitation is in the view module; when creating a filter bar, I cannot resize the filter section beyond the default size provided by Celonis. If I wish to include more than 15 filters, I cannot do so due to this limitation. Additionally, I feel that Copilot feature has several areas for improvement, as it sometimes gets stuck after providing a few responses, requiring me to restart the chat. For specific incidents, if I mention an incident with a certain service tier, the system uses the like operator and shows related results that may not be exactly what I need, which I have already raised with Celonis support team for resolution.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Celonis is stable. Celonis is reliable, and whenever there are downtime activities, they provide notifications. Generally, downtime occurs on weekends, and I have not experienced any significant issues during weekdays.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate Celonis's scalability at five to six.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have not previously used a different solution before Celonis.
What was our ROI?
In terms of return on investment, for money-saving KPIs, I would point to the importance of on-time delivery in the Order-to-Cash process. Other KPIs I focus on include investigating root causes, such as rework cases for late deliveries and identifying vendors that do not make payments on time. By analyzing these KPIs, clients can identify root causes and enhance their revenue generation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Regarding pricing, I find that the costs for Celonis are higher than other market products. However, the functionality it offers justifies the investment, as it provides numerous features and benefits that make it worthwhile for clients and stakeholders.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for others looking into using Celonis is to become familiar with SQL functionality as well as the ETL concept—extract, transform, load. A basic understanding of data warehousing is also essential. Although Celonis is not overly complicated, understanding the basic level of SQL, data warehousing, and ETL is beneficial. Only a familiarity with the UI is required for effective utilization. I would rate my overall experience with Celonis as an eight.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other