What is automated process discovery and how are enterprises using it to deliver business value?

For many enterprises, business process discovery is still a manual exercise. To understand how a business process flows – and try to find improvement opportunities – business analysts will manually create a process map or model, using interviews, workshops, and whiteboards to find out how people think the existing process runs.

Automated process discovery has the potential to change all that. So what is it, and how are enterprises already using it to capture millions of dollars in business value?

What is automated process discovery?

Automated process discovery, sometimes known as automated business process discovery, is a data-driven approach to visualizing how business processes actually run, not just how people think they run.

It pulls real-time data from the various systems and applications that are involved in a process, and creates an accurate process model so businesses can see how that process flows, in all its variations. This process data allows them to use other technologies to identify areas for process improvement across the organization, including process automation opportunities.

Automated processes discovery is currently leveraged as part of two key technologies that can be used in tandem to provide true visibility into business processes. These are process mining (which extracts business data) and task mining (which extracts user-interaction data).

Process mining explained

Each step in a business process leaves digital traces called “event logs” in the transactional systems that run enterprise operations. These include enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and supply chain management (SCM) applications, among others. Using automated process discovery, process mining takes this event log data and creates a real-time visualization of every single process variation.

Advanced process mining techniques, such as Object-Centric Process Mining (OCPM), allow businesses to see not just how single processes run end-to-end, but also explore the complex relationships between interconnecting processes.

Book an Introduction to Process Mining demo.

Task mining explained

Because some activities within processes happen outside of transactional systems, task mining can be used alongside a process mining tool to capture data from desktop interactions.

To create an invoice, for example, an employee may need to check spreadsheets, copy and paste information, or search for something in their browser. These manual activities are full of improvement and automation opportunities, so task mining collects and analyzes this data to understand how work is executed and find ways to optimize both employee experience and productivity.

Watch an introduction to task mining.

Process mining vs task mining

While a process mining tool and a task mining tool can be used independently, they are far more effective when used side by side to gain a complete view of how processes run and identify opportunities to capture value.

• Discover how Deloitte and Celonis worked together to combine process mining and task mining, revealing the manual effort and costs behind the global Order-to-Cash process at a large international manufacturer.

The benefits of automated process discovery

Here are some of the benefits of automated process discovery tools over more traditional, manual process discovery methods like process mapping:

Accuracy

Rather than using subjective perceptions, automated process discovery uses fact-based insights, derived from actual process data, to help organizations understand and improve existing business processes.

Granularity

While techniques such as process mapping give an overview of how a business process should run, automated process discovery provides a granular view of how that process actually runs, step by step, with every single variation and deviation.

Objectivity

Automated process discovery provides an objective, unbiased view of what’s actually happening within processes, helping teams avoid finger-pointing over issues and inefficiencies.

Recency

Because data is extracted in real-time, automated process discovery provides an up-to-the-minute view of how a business process runs. With manual techniques like process mapping, models are already out of date by the time they are complete.

Interoperability

Process mining and task mining are system-agnostic and work with existing business systems, without disruption to business operations or the need to rip and replace. This helps businesses make the most of their technology investments.

Actionability

Once automated process discovery helps them understand how their processes run, businesses can then apply other technologies to identify where value opportunities are hiding and take action to capture that value fast. They might, for example, start their automation journey with robotic process automation (RPA) or explore intelligent automation.

As Dr. Patrick Lechner, Head of Process Mining at BMW explains:

“BMW is operating in a VUCA [Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity] world. When we use process mining, it becomes a new VUCA world: Visibility, Understanding, Clarity, and Agility… We can react faster to the challenges we are facing. I think this is really, really crucial for the success of a company like BMW.”

Automated process discovery in action

Automated business process discovery can be used within technologies like process mining and task mining to visualize and improve pretty much any business process, and to tackle just about any use case, from preventing stock-outs in Supply Chain to driving consistent contract usage in Procurement. Here are three examples of how well-known enterprises are using automated process discovery as a starting point to capture millions in business value:

1 - PepsiCo unlocks millions of dollars in free cash flow

Organizational silos, a complex billing process, and difficulties prioritizing work made it hard for PepsiCo’s global collections team to bring cash through the door quicker. Using process mining, the team discovered that improving their days sales outstanding (DSO) had the highest value potential. They were able to surface delinquent accounts, rank them by invoice value, and use this information to prioritize their work, allowing them to clear high-value overdue invoices faster and unlock millions of dollars in free cash flow. Automated process discovery allows them to work smarter, not harder – driving better results with less effort.

Read more about how PepsiCo uses automated process discovery.

2 - Accenture delivers $35 million in annualized working capital benefits

With 1.3 million invoices a year to process, the accounts payable (AP) team at Accenture was primarily working on a first-in, first-out basis. By using process mining to get full visibility into AP processes, the team was able to prioritize invoices based on their impact on KPIs, automate some of the chasers, and focus on the invoices that should be paid first. Consistently paying on time delivered $35 million in annualized working capital benefits, and also helped Accenture build long-term strategic relationships with suppliers.

Read more about how Accenture uses automated process discovery.

3 - Deutsche Telekom saves €40 million a year by maximizing cash discounts

Deutsche Telekom Services Europe (DTSE) is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. Its Procure-to-Pay process handles over two million order items, and processes almost nine million invoices a year. It identified a number of opportunities, including blocked payments that prevented the business making use of cash discounts. By using process mining to connect data from multiple source systems, DTSE gained unprecedented visibility into business process flows. This enabled real-time reporting on open blocked invoices, which helped DTSE achieve a cash discount rate of 96% and savings of €40 million per year.

Read more about how DTSE uses automated process discovery.

Autom
ated process discovery is a significant change in business process management. It has moved the discipline from subjective, time-consuming, and largely inaccurate process maps to objective, real-time views of how processes actually run, that can be used alongside other technologies to drive continuous improvement and real business value.

Celonis uses automated business process discovery within both process mining and task mining to feed the Process Intelligence Graph. Powered by artificial intelligence and decades of standardized business process knowledge, the Process Intelligence Graph uses a business’s data to provide an end-to-end view of how processes run across functions and departments, as well as how they can be improved.

Explore these resources to find out more about automated process discovery and process mining:

• The In the Process video series explains what process mining is, how it works, why it matters, and how to get started.
• Process Mining For Dummies, Celonis Special 2nd Edition, tells you everything you need to know about process mining in the easy-to-understand (and hard-to-forget!) ‘For Dummies’ style.
• The 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Process Mining Platforms compares technologies based on completeness of vision and ability to execute — and has ranked Celonis as top in the field for multiple years running.