New study reveals Celonis platform delivers major benefits

A Forrester Consulting study has found that companies using the Celonis Process Intelligence platform saw a payback period of six months and a three-year return on investment of 383%.

The Total Economic Impact study, commissioned by Celonis, assessed the financial and process-related benefits of implementing Celonis' process mining and intelligence tools across large international organisations.

The report stated that the composite organisation, based on customer interviews, experienced benefits totalling USD $44.1 million over three years.

Measured benefits

The study highlighted several specific quantified benefits achieved by the composite organisation across supply chain, finance, and IT functions.

One area of improvement was order management, where an additional USD $3.3 million in revenue was captured through the elimination of order blocks. Prior to adopting the Celonis platform, the organisation experienced revenue loss due to automatic rejection of orders not meeting minimum quantity requirements. By improving the order management process, the company was able to identify and consolidate low-quantity orders and capitalise on sales that would have previously been lost.

Delivery cycles also benefitted. The study found that Celonis' technology identified unnecessary credit and inventory blocks, enabling faster delivery processing. As a result, the percentage of deliveries that proceeded without human intervention rose from 33% to 86%, leaving only 14% of deliveries requiring manual attention.

Inventory management saw significant improvements.

Process enhancements reduced the delivery cycle time and increased access to liquid cash flow, as well as decreased regional penalty payments. The financial impact of these changes amounted to USD $24.5 million in present value over three years. Additionally, reducing redundant inventory saved 1% of factory operating costs, worth USD $8.9 million over two years. These changes not only optimised inventory storage costs, but also provided clearer insights into material requirements, helping to avoid production shutdowns.

There were also savings in logistics. By consolidating transport lanes and optimising shipping, the composite organisation saved 1% of its total transportation costs, equating to over USD $5.7 million in present value over two years.

Finance process improvements contributed to further efficiencies. Streamlining invoice processing and automating routine tasks led to a reduction of 62 full-time equivalent roles, with cost savings of USD $1.7 million in present value across one year and four regions.

Operational context

The study indicated that participating organisations faced challenges including lack of visibility in their supply chains and persistent process inefficiencies. Many of the existing automation tools could not provide a comprehensive understanding of workflow realities, hindering decision making.

"Today's organisations are under immense pressure to maximise efficiency, reduce costs, and accelerate value realisation," said Carsten Thoma, President and Board Director at Celonis. "

We believe these findings quantify the significant impact that our Process Intelligence platform has on achieving these critical objectives and delivering continuous operational improvement."

According to the study, customer interviewees reported that, before implementing Celonis, their organisations struggled to uncover process inefficiencies using existing tools, resulting in revenue leakage and deviation from sales targets. The study noted, "Interviewees said that prior to using Celonis their organisations were unable to discover process inefficiencies with existing tools, causing revenue leakage and sales deviation. After the investment in Celonis, the interviewees' organisations reduced operating costs for the processes that implemented Celonis."

The Forrester report concluded that the Celonis Process Intelligence platform enabled significant cost savings and operational benefits within a relatively short period, driven by optimised processes in supply chain, finance, and logistics operations across large international organisations.