Many digital transformation initiatives begin with a solution.
A new ERP, a workflow platform, an automation initiative, an AI project.
But one critical question may still remain unanswered:
How does the process actually work today?
Not how people think it works.
Not how it was designed years ago.
How it really works in practice.
This is where Process Mining creates significant value.
By analyzing system event logs, it can reveal how work actually flows across the organization — including variants, bottlenecks, rework and delays that may not have been clearly visible before.
In many cases, the issue is not just the technology.
The issue is that the process being transformed is itself unclear, fragmented or poorly understood.
And that creates a particular risk.
Transforming a process you do not properly understand may simply mean digitizing — or automating — existing inefficiencies.
A new system can more efficiently execute a process while, unfortunately, the process itself remains inefficient.
Automation can accelerate activities that should perhaps have been reconsidered first.
And an AI Agent can perform its assigned task successfully without necessarily improving the process around it.
That said, Process Mining is not always the right starting point.
Not every process requires it.
Not every organization has the right data available.
And not every transformation challenge is primarily a visibility problem.
But when process complexity is high and suitable data is available, Process Mining can provide a factual view of the existing process before decisions are made about how to transform it.
Before investing in transformation, it may therefore be worth asking:
Do we truly understand how the process operates today?
#ProcessMining #DigitalTransformation #BusinessProcessManagement #OperationalExcellence