Process transparency is the key to fact-based decision-making

The article was originally published in Helsingin Sanomat’s technology attachment 19 Oct 2022 and translated internally by QPR Software. Helsingin Sanomat is the largest subscription newsletter in Finland.

With the help of process mining, firms can locate inefficient operations and identify root causes and consequences of problem areas. This fuels fact-based decision-making and can result in significant cost savings.

Text: Saana Lehtinen

Data volumes are perpetually expanding across businesses, regardless of their size. While this growth presents new data management challenges and risks, it also unlocks a virtually boundless array of opportunities. Data stands as a valuable currency, offering avenues for business development, cost reduction, and the avoidance of critical errors. Astonishingly, Finnish companies often underutilize these prospects. Process mining emerges as a powerful means to harness a company’s data effectively. It empowers organizations to identify, analyze, and monitor their business processes by tapping into existing data from information systems like ERPs, CRMs, or ticketing systems, resulting in dynamic process flowcharts.

“The more data generated, the better a company should be able to harness it. Process mining can produce information that would otherwise not be available or that would be very difficult to produce. The biggest benefit of process mining is granted when it is integrated into the wider development of functions and processes – and the entire organization”

– Jussi Vasama, CEO of QPR Software Plc, a software and consulting service provider, summarizes.

At the heart of QPR Software’s global operations, under the guidance of Vasama, lies process mining software that illuminates the inner workings of businesses and organizations.

Process mining offers a notably more efficient, rapid, and objective means of pinpointing inefficiencies and bottlenecks in processes when compared to conventional information-gathering methods. Unlike traditional business process management, process mining not only identifies issues but also extends its insights to uncover the root causes and their business impacts. Once inefficiencies and their underlying triggers are identified, they can be addressed, often through automation, as an effective solution.

“Process mining is beneficial especially to large companies and public entities, whose operating model is characterized by complexity caused by internationality, strong regulation, or rapid changes. At the same time, it is good to remember that there is no industry or part of the business where process mining cannot be used”, Vasama emphasizes.

Decisions based on data instead of guesswork

Process mining integrates comprehensive insights into business processes, data analytics, modeling, visualization, and systemic thinking. It utilizes technology to process, analyze, and leverage vast datasets for any company’s benefit.

Common process mining applications include intelligent automation, digitalization, compliance, auditing, KPI reporting, process enhancement, logistics, and ERP development.

“Important decisions made by Finnish organizations still rely too heavily on experience-based information, on analyzes based on heavy consulting exercises, and at worst, on gut-feelings”, Vasama explains.

Decisions tied to transformations, like major ERP system changes or business acquisitions, driven by subjective information, can lead to costly errors, sometimes in the millions of euros.

“For example, the success of an ERP project requires companies to understand how they operate today and what the change will look like when moving to new processes. Process mining offers many opportunities for this understanding.”

Process mining aids companies in making data-driven investment decisions. Amid the current market challenges, marked by component shortages and logistical issues, businesses encounter novel risks.

This advanced and future-ready process mining solution not only offers visibility and insights into existing process inefficiencies but, employing artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, it extracts insights from extensive data sets, provides recommendations, and enables organizations to proactively respond to events. Process mining empowers the development of entirely new processes, services, and data-driven businesses.

A new generation of modern process mining technology

QPR Software, renowned for pioneering process mining, has utilized cutting-edge technology from Snowflake, an American Data Cloud company. They have recently launched a new version of their leading process mining software, QPR ProcessAnalyzer, designed to run seamlessly on Snowflake’s data cloud.

This combination of QPR and Snowflake technology introduces an entirely fresh solution to the market. It allows for more effortless, rapid, and cost-effective extraction of critical business insights from extensive data volumes. Notably, unlike other process mining solutions, there’s no need to transfer customer information to the supplier’s system. This eliminates the complexities of data migration, which often pose risks to an organization’s information security and management practices.

“Our task is to shape the future of process mining technology so that it is in line with organizations’ data strategy and requirements, also in the future. In the current challenging business environment and world situation, decisions made based on comprehensive data-based analyses, recommendations, and suggestions are essential for companies. I strongly believe that in order to have a competitive advantage, business decision-makers should seize the opportunities of process mining now, if they haven’t already”, Vasama sums up.

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