In the process of developing a profile of Celonis, I submitted questions in writing to Co-Founder and co-CEO Alex Rinke, expecting the somewhat minimalist approach that sometimes results when top execs are answering questions in a format that doesn’t allow for back and forth engagement.
The experience with Rinke was different: He weighed in thoughtfully, and in-depth. His quotes from that exchange (below) are intact word for word — except the responses are edited for length. The intent has been to retain the spirit and intent of his comments in all cases.
Customer Buying Plans/Behaviors
“The current macroeconomic climate makes Celonis and execution management even more of an imperative. Businesses across the globe and across all industries must become more efficient to outrun supply chain disruptions, rising inflation, and talent shortages. We’re in a unique position where our purpose aligns with these challenges — to be able to help any business operate more efficiently, to better deal with, and even perform at levels they never thought possible, in today’s conditions.”
“Companies across industries like BP, Deutsche Bank, Siemens, and others talk on their earnings calls about our process mining and execution management technology helping their companies to become more efficient and to realize millions of dollars in savings.”
Alexander Rinke, co-CEO of Celonis
“We help our customers react quickly to changes, but also to simulate different scenarios to better prepare them for any kind of volatility. We’re helping our customers to meet the headwinds of today’s macro challenges. And, we see companies across industries like BP, Deutsche Bank, Siemens, and others talk on their earnings calls about our process mining and execution management technology helping their companies to become more efficient and to realize millions of dollars in savings.”
Future Growth Opportunities
“A common theme I hear from larger customers is that they have more than 250 systems that don’t work well together and that they lose around 30% of their revenue because of the inefficiencies these systems create.”
“We’ve witnessed demand grow across multiple sectors because processes are the foundation of every single business, regardless of industry. We combat corporate inefficiency to help any business, in any industry with any process across finance, procurement, supply chain, sales, customer service, and IT. Most of our customers start to ‘X-ray’ one or maybe just a handful of processes and once they can finally see and fix the hidden inefficiencies expand to multi-process environments — such as global supply chains.”
Supply Chains
“We’re seeing inflation as a second pandemic, disruption across the board, including fuel costs and variability in demand — all factors that have put a spotlight on the fragility and volatility in our global, regional and local supply chains. There’s been talk of a “supply chain control tower” for more than a decade but it requires more visibility and transparency to enable faster reactions and better preemptive action.”
“The challenge for most companies is that hidden inefficiencies get in the way — issues like:
- Order Management — 3% of shipped goods are never billed. (Leading Manufacturing Company)
- Inventory Management — 1 in 5 orders are canceled due to stock-outs. (Global CPG Company)
- Procurement — Supplier lead times change from 20 to 100 days. (International Telco Company)”
Co-Creation and Co-Innovation
“We’ve had a lot of customers come to us recently with challenges around how to better manage inflation. And one of the key things to recognize is that the quality of your business processes can change your exposure to cost and volatility. So improving your usage of existing contracts when purchasing so that you’re taking advantage of every hard-won sourcing negotiation, or understanding the downstream impact of price increases on raw materials throughout your bill of materials to your finished goods so you can prioritize the right goods and protect your margins — these are key levers for businesses right now.
And we created an inflation monitor to help companies do exactly this — monitor the impact of inflation across the key areas of their business — and take action in critical areas like procurement and inventory management. Co-innovation with our customers in the development of our product is part of our DNA — in fact, we developed the inflation monitor in close partnership with one of our longest-standing customers” (an energy holding company).
Sustainability
“Sustainability is a big focus for our customers and for Celonis, as ‘Earth is our Future’ is one of our core values. Increasingly, there are pressures from new regulations around disclosing emissions data or supply chain due diligence. A recent survey with IBM’s Institute for Business Value reflects our experience with customers, showing that ‘more than half of Chief Supply Chain Officers (CSCOs) said that they’re prepared to sacrifice some amount of profit to achieve sustainability gains.’ But important to note that, with Celonis, it doesn’t have to be this way.”
“Our customers see process optimization as a priority because it drives sustainability and value across the top, bottom, and green lines simultaneously. They understand that processes are the arteries of the enterprise and that every process is a leverage point for business, environment, social, and governance impact.”
“This is where Celonis comes in. Our EMS is already used across enterprises to help improve performance across the value chain processes that also lie at the heart of sustainability strategies — how you source products from responsible and reliable suppliers, how you make products with minimal waste, how you move products efficiently, and how you ship products on-time with minimal emissions. Customers now leverage our EMS to reveal, reduce, and prevent emissions and eliminate inefficiencies and inequalities from business processes.”
“Transforming how a business’ processes run is the easiest and fastest way to simultaneously achieve cost reduction, value creation, and sustainability goals.”
Independence and company growth
“We founded Celonis with a mission to help businesses in every sector and every region to become more efficient and to apply process excellence to the bottom line, top line, and the green line — and we remain fully committed to that mission. We focus on continuing to grow and scale our company.”
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