Who owns the data your business generates? ‘You do’ would be the obvious answer, but unfortunately this isn’t always the case. Too often, restrictive systems and vendor lock-in prevent you from using your critical operational data—the data you need to unleash enterprise AI’s full potential and drive business transformation. The EU Data Act, which went into application in September 2025, is about to change that. The Act serves as the legal foundation for our belief that each business, not vendors, are the rightful owners of their data.
For businesses, this isn't just a compliance exercise. It's a strategic opportunity to unlock trapped value, drive innovation, and redefine competitive advantage. And the potential impact is staggering. The European Commission projects that the new data rules could generate up to €270 billion in additional GDP for EU Member States by 2028.
The Act grants users (businesses and consumers alike) greater access to and control over the data generated by the products and services they use, and allows them to switch data processing services more easily. This directly challenges the outdated paradigm where a system vendor holds the keys to the insights that can be derived from a company’s data. These newfound data access protections, vendor interoperability, and flexibility will be critical to the success of enterprise AI. And as Celonis Lead Evangelist Rudy Kuhn explained in a recent article “enterprise AI is not a luxury”.
“AI is not a nice-to-have. It’s not an upgrade. It’s the operating system of the next decade,” writes Kuhn. “A company that delays AI adoption isn’t choosing to wait – it’s choosing to fall behind. The ‘AI moment’ won’t wait for budget cycles or comfort zones. That’s why we must move from asking whether to use AI, to how well we use it – and how soon.”
But to deliver on its full potential, AI needs to understand the context of how a business runs. It needs to be deployed strategically—where it can create meaningful impact. And, it needs the ability to work effectively with humans and systems.
In short, AI needs a shared understanding of how a business actually runs as well as the ability to improve it. And the single most accurate description of how a business runs, and the method through which it runs, are its processes. The Act provides the legal framework needed to ensure companies can free their processes, decoupling them from outdated or restrictive systems. Agents and AI solutions can be freed from these silos so they can reinvent operations. And, this is what the Celonis Process Intelligence Platform does. It frees processes from the restrictions of legacy systems.
The Platform’s Data Core enables an organization to extract raw process data from its systems, applications and devices. Using this high-performance data infrastructure, organizations can query billions of records at speed, scaling seamlessly to the largest enterprise volumes. This data is then enriched with unique business context (e.g., rules, KPIs, benchmarks, models, enterprise architecture, etc.) to build a living digital twin of business operations—the Process Intelligence Graph (PI Graph). It’s system agnostic and without bias. On top of the graph, the Platform provides the capabilities to analyze, design, and operate composable, AI-driven processes.
- Analyze: Understand business operations and feed that context to AI, giving it the ability to sense, reason, and learn. Uncover strategic opportunities to deploy AI.
- Design: Re-engineer operations to incorporate AI technologies such as generative AI, agentic AI, and machine learning into processes.
- Operate: Execute coordinated operations, with AI solutions governed and orchestrated alongside business processes. Ensure people, processes, systems, and AI operate in sync toward business-critical outcomes.
“To truly operationalize AI, you need to identify the right use cases, redesign your business processes, and orchestrate the agents alongside your people and existing systems," said Daniel Brown, Chief Product Officer at Celonis, during the recent Celosphere 2025 keynote. “Our enhanced capabilities empower our customers and their partners to build AI solutions that will transform and continuously improve your operations.”
By mandating that vendors make data more accessible, the Act recognizes that companies are best served when they are able to adopt the best AI solutions for their specific needs, regardless of which system vendors they use.
This legislation also fosters a more open and collaborative digital ecosystem. The law's emphasis on data sharing and interoperability enables a wider range of players to develop new solutions that can integrate seamlessly across systems. As market leaders, we have a responsibility to champion this open approach.
As Celonis President Carsten Thoma wrote in an open letter to our customers: “An open ecosystem gives you - our customers and partners - greater optionality. And it pushes us, as market leaders, to deliver what you want and need rather than rest on our laurels.”
Companies gain increased choice, and the entire industry is spurred to new levels of innovation.
The Act provides organizations not only with extensive data access rights but also with additional leverage to freely switch data processing services and demand interoperability from their vendors. By embracing the principles of the Act, they not only future-proof their businesses but also position themselves as leaders in an era where enterprise processes are finally free from the dictates of systems. We stand ready to partner with them, providing the platform and perspective they need to turn this regulatory change into a competitive advantage.
The time for debate is over. The EU Data Act has made it clear: your data is your own.