\n
![](\"https:\/\/images.ctfassets.net\/jdtwqhzvc2n1\/uV4vD3ySkvCA0p9ZGxJhR\/2ad630e0970a0d2668b8a78dd5c9e013\/2025_10_04_Celosphere_3O7A5496__1_.jpg?w=300&q=30\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
Presented by Celonis<\/i><\/p>\n
\n
After a year of boardroom declarations about \u201cAI transformation,\u201d this was the week where enterprise leaders came together to talk about what actually works. Speaking from the stage at Celosphere in Munich, Celonis co-founder and co-CEO Alexander Rinke set the tone early in his keynote:<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly 11 % of companies are seeing measurable benefits from AI projects today,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not an adoption problem. That\u2019s a context problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a sentiment familiar to anyone who\u2019s tried to deploy AI inside a large enterprise. You can\u2019t automate what you don\u2019t understand \u2014 and most organizations still lack a unified picture of how work in their companies really gets done.<\/p>\n
Celonis\u2019 answer, showcased across three days at the company\u2019s annual event, was less about new tech acronyms and more about connective tissue: how to make AI fit within the messy, living processes that drive business. The company framed it as achieving a real \u201cReturn on AI (ROAI)\u201d \u2014 measurable impact that comes only when intelligence is grounded in process context.<\/p>\n
At the heart of the keynote was what Rinke called a \u201cliving digital twin of your operations.\u201d Celonis has been building toward this moment for years \u2014 but this was the first time the company made clear how far that concept has evolved.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe start by freeing the process,\u201d said Rinke. \u201cFreeing it from the restrictions of your current legacy systems.\u201d Data Core, Celonis\u2019 data infrastructure, extracts raw data from source systems. It\u2019s capable of querying billions of records in near real time with sub-minute refresh \u2014 extending visibility beyond traditional systems of record.<\/p>\n
Built on this foundation, the Process Intelligence Graph sits at the center of the Celonis Platform. It\u2019s a system-agnostic, graph-based model that unifies data across systems, apps, and even devices, including task-mining data that captures clicks, spreadsheets, and browser activity. It combines this data with business context\u2014business rules, KPIs, benchmarks, and exceptions. Every transaction, rule, and process interaction becomes part of a continuously updated replica that reflects how the organization actually operates.<\/p>\n
On top of the Graph, the company\u2019s new Build Experience allows organizations to analyze, design, and operate AI-driven, composable processes \u2014 integrating AI where it delivers business impact, not just technical demos:<\/p>\n
Analyze where processes stall or repeat<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Design the future state, setting outcomes, guardrails, and AI touchpoints<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Operate with humans, systems, and AI agents working in sync \u2014 now orchestrated through a generally available Orchestration Engine that can trigger and monitor every step in one flow<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
It\u2019s a deliberate shift from discovery-driven AI pilots to outcome-driven AI operations \u2014 and a blueprint for orchestrating agentic AI, where human teams, systems, and autonomous agents work together through shared process context rather than in silos.<\/p>\n
The Celosphere stage offered real proof of theCelonisPlatform in action, through live stories from customers already building on it.<\/p>\n
Mercedes-Benz shared how process intelligence became their \u201cconnective tissue\u201d during the semiconductor crisis. \u201cWe had data everywhere \u2014 plants, suppliers, logistics,\u201d recalled Dr. J\u00f6rg Burzer, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG. \u201cWhat we didn\u2019t have was a way to see it together. Celonis helped us connect those dots fast enough to act.\u201d<\/p>\n
The partnership has since expanded across eight of the company\u2019s ten most critical processes, from supply chain to quality to after-sales. But what impressed the audience wasn\u2019t just the scale \u2014 it was the cultural shift.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you show data in context, and let teams visualize processes, you also change the culture,\u201d Burzer said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just process transformation \u2014 it\u2019s people transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Vinmar, CEO Vishal Baid described Celonis as \u201cthe foundation of our automation and AI strategy.\u201d His global plastics distribution business has already automated its entire order-to-cash process for a $3 B unit, achieving a 40 % productivity lift. But Baid wasn\u2019t there to just celebrate finished work \u2014 he was looking ahead. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow we\u2019re tackling the non-algorithmic stuff,\u201d he said. \u201cMatching purchase and sales orders sounds simple until you have thousands of edge cases. We\u2019re building an AI agent that can do that allocation intelligently. That\u2019s the next frontier.\u201d<\/p>\n
And in the energy sector, Uniper, with partner Microsoft, demonstrated how process-aware AI copilots are already reshaping operations. Using Celonis and Microsoft\u2019s AI stack, Uniper can predict when hydropower plants will need maintenance \u2014 and cluster those jobs to reduce downtime and emissions.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach technician, each part, each system plays a role in a living process,\u201d said Hans Berg, Uniper\u2019s CIO. \u201cThe human can\u2019t see all of it. But process intelligence can \u2014 and it can nudge the system toward the best outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agnes Heftberger, CVP & CEO, Microsoft Germany & Austria, who joined Berg on stage, summed it up crisply:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hard part isn\u2019t building AI features \u2014 it\u2019s scaling them responsibly,\u201d she explained. \u201cYou need to marry intelligence with the beating heart of the company: its processes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across the global community, Celonis reports more than $8 billion in realized business valueand over 120 certified value champions \u2014 proof that process intelligence is driving measurable impact far beyond pilots. Rinke called it \u201cthe early proof points of a true return on AI.\u201d <\/p>\n
Celosphere 2025 marked a shift from architecture to interoperability \u2014 from defining enterprise AI to making it work across boundaries.<\/p>\n
Rinke\u2019s vision for the future is unapologetically open: \u201cGood things grow from open ecosystems,\u201d he said. That philosophy is taking shape through deeper platform integrations \u2014 including Microsoft Fabric, Databricks, and Bloomfilter \u2014 with zero-copy, bidirectional lakehouse access that lets customers query process data in place with minimal latency. The company also announced MCP Server support for embedding the Process Intelligence Graph directly into agentic AI platforms like Amazon Bedrock and Microsoft Copilot Studio.<\/p>\n
These updates make \u201ccomposable enterprise AI\u201d tangible \u2014 organizations can now assemble and govern AI solutions across ecosystems rather than being locked into any single vendor.<\/p>\n
Rather than competing on who has the \u201cbest agent,\u201d the message was that enterprise AI will thrive when agents work together through shared context and models that mirror how businesses actually run.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery vendor is bringing out their own agent,\u201d Rinke said. \u201cBut each one is limited to that vendor\u2019s world. If they can\u2019t work together, they can\u2019t work for you. That\u2019s what process intelligence fixes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The idea drew sustained applause. For companies juggling multiple cloud platforms, ERPs, and data tools, composability isn\u2019t just elegant; it\u2019s survival.<\/p>\n
The closing moments of the keynote took an unexpected turn \u2014 from enterprise architecture to human courage. Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mar\u00eda Corina Machado joined live via satellite to share how her movement used data, encrypted apps, and civic coordination to expose election fraud and mobilize millions.<\/p>\n
It was a powerful contrast: the same principles \u2014 transparency, accountability, context \u2014 at work in both business and democracy.<\/p>\n
\u201cTechnology can be a weapon or a liberator,\u201d Machado said. \u201cIt depends on who holds the context.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her words landed with weight in a room full of people used to talking about data, systems, and governance \u2014 a reminder that context isn\u2019t just technical, it\u2019s human.<\/p>\n
Celosphere 2025 marked a shift in how enterprises approach AI \u2014 from experimentation to results grounded in process intelligence. The shift was evident in both tone and technology, with a more powerful Data Core, enhanced Process Intelligence Graph, and new Build Experience. But the deeper takeaway was philosophical: AI only scales when it\u2019s grounded in how people and systems actually work together.<\/p>\n
Celonis president Carsten Thoma was candid in acknowledging that early process-mining projects often \u201cstormed in with discovery\u201d before understanding organizational value \u2014 a lesson that now defines the company\u2019s measured, pragmatic approach to enterprise AI.<\/p>\n
Rinke put it best near the end of his keynote:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not just automating steps,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re building enterprises that can adapt instantly, innovate freely, and improve continuously.\u201d<\/p>\n
Missed it? <\/i><\/b>Catch up with all the highlights from Celosphere 2025 here<\/i><\/b>. <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\n
Sponsored articles are content produced by a company that is either paying for the post or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they\u2019re always clearly marked. For more information, contact <\/i>sales@venturebeat.com<\/u><\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n