Introduction
The promise of artificial intelligence has long been framed as a panacea for the most stubborn inefficiencies in modern enterprises. Yet the reality on the ground is often a more tempered one: pilots that look impressive in a lab setting rarely translate into the predictable, measurable gains that boardrooms demand. Celonis, a global leader in process intelligence, is tackling this disconnect head‑on at its upcoming Celosphere 2025 event. The conference is not simply a showcase of new features; it is a manifesto that the future of enterprise AI cannot exist without a deep, data‑driven understanding of the processes that drive business value. In a world where autonomous agents are becoming the norm, tariffs are reshaping supply chains, and legacy systems still dominate, the need for a contextual foundation has never been clearer.
Celosphere 2025 will bring together customers, partners, and thought leaders for three days of strategy sessions, hands‑on workshops, and live demonstrations. The focus is on turning AI from a laboratory experiment into a repeatable engine that delivers tangible ROI. By weaving process intelligence into every layer of the AI stack—from analysis to orchestration—Celonis claims to unlock a flywheel effect: better data leads to smarter decisions, which in turn refine the data itself. This article explores the key themes of the conference, the real‑world success stories that illustrate the power of process intelligence, and why a platform‑first approach is essential for enterprises that want to stay competitive.
Main Content
The ROI Gap in Enterprise AI
According to a recent Gartner survey, 64% of board members now view AI as a top‑three priority, yet only 10% of organizations report meaningful financial returns. The gap between expectation and outcome is largely due to the lack of context in which AI models operate. Without a clear view of the underlying business processes, AI solutions can become “internal social experiments” that generate insights but fail to drive change. Celonis counters this narrative with data from a Forrester Total Economic Impact study, which found that organizations using its platform achieved a 383% ROI over three years, with a payback period of just six months. One case study highlighted a company that improved sales order automation from 33% to 86%, saving $24.5 million in a single year. These numbers underscore a simple truth: when AI is anchored to process intelligence, the path from insight to action becomes far more efficient.
Process Intelligence as the Contextual Backbone
Process intelligence is essentially a living digital twin of an enterprise’s operations. It aggregates data from disparate systems—ERP, CRM, supply‑chain platforms—and stitches them into a coherent, real‑time view of how work actually flows. This context is critical for AI because models trained on siloed data often misinterpret signals or miss the nuances that differentiate one process from another. For example, AstraZeneca used Celonis as the foundation for its partnership with OpenAI to reduce excess inventory while maintaining critical medicine flows. The platform’s ability to surface bottlenecks and inefficiencies in real time allowed the company to adjust procurement and distribution strategies before stockouts or overstock situations could arise.
In the public sector, the State of Oklahoma leveraged process intelligence to answer procurement status questions at scale, unlocking over $10 million in value. The platform’s visibility into the entire procurement lifecycle—from requisition to payment—enabled the state to identify and eliminate redundant steps, streamline approvals, and reduce cycle times. These success stories illustrate that process intelligence is not a luxury; it is a prerequisite for any AI initiative that seeks to deliver measurable, repeatable value.
Agentic AI and the Need for Orchestration
The shift from AI-as‑advisor to AI-as‑actor is one of the most profound changes in the industry. Autonomous agents can now trigger purchase orders, reroute shipments, and approve exceptions without human intervention. This leap from recommendation to action raises the stakes dramatically. If an agent operates without a clear understanding of the business context, the consequences can be catastrophic. A single misstep could trigger a cascade of downstream errors, from inventory misallocations to compliance violations.
Celonis addresses this risk through its Orchestration Engine, which coordinates AI agents alongside human operators and legacy systems. The engine provides a set of “rails” that guide agent behavior, ensuring that autonomous actions align with business rules and process constraints. By embedding these controls into the orchestration layer, Celonis mitigates the risk of agents working at cross‑purposes or duplicating efforts. The platform’s ability to monitor and adjust agent behavior in real time is a critical safeguard in an environment where the margin for error is shrinking.
Navigating Trade Volatility with Real‑Time Visibility
Global trade volatility is no longer a headline; it is an operational nightmare that forces companies to rethink how they deploy AI. New tariffs can trigger cascading effects across procurement, logistics, and compliance, affecting thousands of SKUs. For AI systems trained on static conditions, such volatility is almost impossible to predict. Traditional AI models struggle to adapt to rapid changes in the external environment.
Process intelligence solves this problem by providing real‑time visibility into how policy shifts ripple through operations. Smurfit Westrock, for instance, uses Celonis to optimize inventory and reduce costs amid tariff uncertainty, while ASOS leverages the platform to fine‑tune its supply‑chain operations, maintaining efficiency and customer satisfaction even in turbulent markets. By continuously updating the digital twin with new data, the platform allows AI models to recalibrate on the fly, turning disruption into an opportunity for optimization.
Platform‑First vs Point Solutions
Many enterprises still rely on bolt‑on optimization tools that address isolated pain points. Celonis argues that this approach is fundamentally limited because it fails to provide a holistic view of operations. The platform’s strength lies in its ability to create a comprehensive, continuously updated model that spans process analysis, design, and orchestration. This end‑to‑end capability ensures that AI solutions are not just reactive but proactive, anticipating issues before they manifest.
The platform’s visibility across systems and offline tasks is essential for true intelligent automation. Without a unified view, AI can only operate in silos, leading to fragmented insights and suboptimal decisions. Celonis’s platform, by contrast, offers a single source of truth that empowers AI to act with confidence and precision.
Open Foundations and the Future of Intelligent Automation
Celonis champions openness through its “Free the Process” movement, which promotes fair competition and liberates enterprises from legacy lock‑in. By providing full access to process data, open APIs, and a growing partner ecosystem—including The Hackett Group, ClearOps, and Lobster—the company is building the connective tissue for a new era of interoperable automation. This openness is not just a marketing slogan; it is a strategic imperative that turns AI from a set of experiments into an enterprise engine.
Alex Rinke, co‑founder and co‑CEO of Celonis, encapsulates this vision: “Process intelligence creates a flywheel. Better understanding leads to better optimization, which enables better AI, and that, in turn, drives even greater understanding. There is no AI without PI.” The message is clear: for enterprises that want to harness the full potential of AI, process intelligence is not optional—it is the foundation.
Conclusion
Celosphere 2025 is more than a conference; it is a rallying cry for enterprises that are ready to move beyond the hype of AI and into a future where technology is tightly integrated with business processes. By demonstrating how process intelligence can unlock measurable ROI, enable autonomous agents safely, and provide resilience against supply‑chain shocks, Celonis offers a compelling blueprint for the next wave of digital transformation. The evidence is in the numbers—ROI, cost savings, and operational agility—and the evidence is also in the stories of companies that have already made the leap. For leaders who want to ensure that AI delivers real, sustainable value, the message is unmistakable: invest in process intelligence now, or risk being left behind.
Call to Action
If your organization is still debating the role of AI in your operations, Celosphere 2025 offers a unique opportunity to see the technology in action, learn from proven success stories, and engage with experts who can help you build a process‑centric AI strategy. Register today to secure your spot, and discover how a platform‑first approach can transform your enterprise into a data‑driven, resilient, and future‑ready organization. The time to act is now—don’t let your competitors outpace you in the race to intelligent automation.
