Automate Any Process,

Anywhere
The Digital Transformation
Imperative

April 2022

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2 Contents

Contents

Processes are the Algorithms that Define How

Organizations Run 4

Getting to the Heart of Digital Transformation 4

Factors that Drive Change 5

Every Transformation Starts With Process 6

Three Roadblocks to Digital Transformation 6

Successful Transformation is Gradual 7

Reinventing Process Automation for the Digital

Enterprise8

Automate Any Process, Anywhere 9

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3

Create a world where you can capitalize on

new opportunities and improve customer
experiences – at the right time and with the
flexibility to change quickly.

A world where you can automate precisely as

needed, improving continuously as you gain
further insights over time.

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4 Processes are the Algorithms that Define How Organizations Run

Processes are the Algorithms that

Define How Organizations Run

Like so many, you’ve probably thrown up

your hands in frustration more than once as
your efforts to streamline operations and
accelerate growth get derailed. Roadblocks
can appear at every turn: legacy systems that
can‘t be changed, organizational silos that
make collaboration impossible, infrastructure
that doesn’t scale. The list goes on and on.
Your digital transformation initiatives are
ambitious and well planned, but progress
crawls at a snail’s pace, seriously limiting your
opportunities and putting the future of your
company at risk.

Processes are the algorithms that define the

inner workings of any organization. Successful
businesses are masters in optimizing these
algorithms, improving their operations as they
leave no part of a process behind. They’re
delivering better customer experiences,
streamlining operations, and improving the
bottom line.

This paper uncovers the most fundamental

approach to digital transformation, which starts
with business processes. At the heart of every
transformation are business processes, as they
determine how an organization runs. You’ll
learn the market drivers of change, how every
transformation starts with process, the three
roadblocks to digital transformation, and the
process automation principles that will deliver
results.

Getting to the Heart of Digital

Transformation

Companies, government agencies, and As a result, organizations around the world

organizations of all sizes have found themselves are racing to not only adapt, but to transform
in the perfect storm of opportunity and peril as their entire business to take advantage of
technology, consumer expectations, and new new technology, build new revenue streams,
business models have turned the corporate and create meaningful, real-time digital
world upside down. This leaves established relationships with their customers, partners,
titans of industry fighting for their survival suppliers, employees and the overall ecosystem
and allows innovative market entrants to take they live in. Organizations that cannot transform
markets by storm. in such a way are quickly left behind.

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5 Factors that Drive Change

This means organizations of all sizes have to otherwise successful and competitive business.
reinvent how they: All of these rely on business processes that
require management, systems, and operations
▪ Organize processes between people, that are ready to adapt to new market demands
systems, and devices or pressures practically on the fly.

▪ Provide seamless and amazing experiences

across different channels for all interactions

▪ Effectively streamline and optimize

activities to reduce operational costs and
improve profitability

At the heart of such a transformation are Failing to respond to such factors can
business processes, as they are what erode competitive advantage and
determine how an organization runs. Successful stop your business in its tracks. That’s
organizations take advantage of effective
processes to compete and thrive. Your success why transformation is an imperative.
in delivering on your transformation initiatives is Modernize or die is the familiar mantra.
tied to your ability to view processes holistically More than moving the customer
and automate them to their fullest extent, no
matter what they entail and where they may experience to digital or adopting new
be, to lay the true foundation for a new digital technologies, transformation starts with
enterprise. a willingness to reinvent the business
in ways that will create growth and
Factors that Drive Change opportunity.

Consider the convergence of factors driving

organizations to reinvent the core of their
business – both the methods powering their Whether reimagining the customer
operations and delivering on the customer experience, discovering new markets
experience.
for products and services, or
Consumerism of IT streamlining operations, transformation
The proliferation of IT in everyday life requires some reinvention. All of the
and experience has created entirely new
expectations for corporate IT. From online elements that underpin such change
shopping to social media apps, payment apps require not only the strategy, but also
to smart speakers, consumer IT quickly resets the capability to employ new innovation,
expectations, ultimately raising the bar for
enterprise IT. Consumer tech ripples quickly and the ability to operate efficiently
to the business world, and the diversity of and advance the processes that are
technology and innovation only adds complexity powering an organization. These
to company IT roadmaps.
capabilities live in the core processes
Proven business models can quickly fall prey on which your business operates.
to innovation
Sustainable competitive advantage doesn’t only
come from delivering an in-demand product or
service. Customer service models, modes of
business operation, disruptions in marketing
and sales processes can all compromise an

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6 Every Transformation Starts With Process

Technical innovation creates opportunity

92
Advances in AI, the cloud, big data, and IoT

%
have created limitless opportunities to change
the fundamental ways that business gets done.
Beyond the digitalization of modern business
that moved formally manual and paper-based
tasks to online technologies, these innovations
make it possible to profoundly disrupt the status
quo and completely reset how information of IT leaders agree process
may be gathered, analyzed, and acted upon. automation drives digital
Organizations may find themselves reimagining
previously proven and effective strategies for ­transformation1
this new world.

1 State of Process Automation Report 2022

Every Transformation Starts
With Process

At the heart of every transformation are

business processes, as they determine how an
organization runs. Processes define the inner
workings of any organization.
Three Roadblocks to Digital
A strategy isn’t worth the paper it’s written on
if you are not putting in place the organization
Transformation
and processes to implement it. Successful
businesses are masters in managing and Just as proven, repeatable processes can
improving business processes. They take deliver more efficient operations and increase
advantage of effective processes to compete customer satisfaction, broken processes are
and thrive. bound to create hurdles that prevent growth
and success.
This is why processes matter. How you align
your organization for success in building Incomplete or broken processes can shackle
automation with proven, repeatable processes a business, and lack of insight into these
is an imperative for profitable operations and inefficiencies can create added cost and,
customer delight. potentially, loss of customers or new growth
opportunities.
As a result, process automation has emerged
as a linchpin for digital transformation, Systems
powering innovation across a company. Process An organization’s legacy IT systems – the digital
automation is equally sought after to improve revolution of yesteryear – are often the biggest
an organization’s top line as well as its bottom roadblock to the digital transformation of today.
line – helping to improve customer service, It’s often outtmoded, infleible, and expensive
lower costs, and drive business growth. In fact, technology that’s preventing you from innovating
in a recent survey 92% of IT leaders agreed that and integrating with more modern systems.
process automation delivers transformative
business value, enabling them to deliver Infrastructure
new levels of service and expand business Legacy infrastructure also creates challenges.
opportunities. Despite innovations inn both datacenter and
cloud technology, many organizations still
struggle to scale their infrastructure and find
critical systems are siloed.

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7 Successful Transformation is Gradual

Organization
Finally, organizational boundaries and legacy
business practices can be a significant barrier
to transformation. Ultimately, such roadblocks Deutsche Telekom is taking
prevent businesses from implementing the
processes they need to scale, optimize, become a step-by-step approach
more competitive, and transform into a true to digital transformation2.
digital business. The company embraced
Because of these roadblocks, organizations process automation to drive
often experience: a company-wide initiative to
improve customer service and
Serving the lowest-common ­denominator with
solutions defined by their technology limitations replace inefficient processes.
instead of business needs
Deploying more than
Working in silos with business and IT
misaligned on expectations because they’re not 3,000 RPA bots, Deutsche
working together Telekom achieved automation
at scale that resulted in annual
An inability to innovate with applications
delivered much later and more limited than the savings of approximately
business requires 100 million euros. The next
step for the company is to
Added legacy debt with limited “band-aid”
solutions that may make part of a process more transform this “front-end
efficient, but don’t transform the business automation„ technology –
which is expensive to
Rigid legacy systems that make it difficult to
change with the needs of the business maintain, manage errors, and
control business processes
A lack of transparency into end-to-end end-to-end – into back-end
processes that leaves no clear path to
improvement automation, integrated more
strongly with core IT systems.
Successful Transformation is
Gradual 2 “Digital Transformation: Deutsche Telekom Counts on
Camunda for Process Automation and RPA Orchestration”,
Camunda, March 2020; “Bots and Process Improvements
How do you turn your digital transformation at the Same Time”, CamundaCon Live 2020.2 presentation.
strategies into reality before it is too late? How
do you implement the algorithms that make
your organization more competitive, delight
your customers, and make your business more
efficient?

Companies and government agencies have

built up a tremendous amount of systems,
infrastructure, and organizational solutions to run
their existing processes. It has taken decades
and billions in investments to acquire, design,
implement, and integrate these systems.

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8 Reinventing Process Automation for the Digital Enterprise

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is the reality for Reinventing Process Automation
virtually every organization around the world,
and even just the thought of changing some
for the Digital Enterprise
of the core systems that are the backbone
of any company’s operations will stop most Transforming step-by-step is a common-sense
modernization discussions in their tracks. approach that easily resonates. However,
The tough reality is, as businesses attempt its implementation is easier said than done,
to compete in the digital economy and especially when you need to show tangible
harness new technologies, it is exactly those results along the way.
legacy technologies, monolithic platforms,
and outdated workflows that are preventing The following key principles provide practical,
business from moving forward quickly enough. proven approaches and a working foundation to
deliver the process automation that is required
Yet, modernization is a matter of survival — the to drive truer digital transformation. They
solution is actually right in front of our eyes: include:
gradual transformation.
▪ Start with process: Bring together the
If you approach process automation in a way parts of your business activities in one
that works with the old, takes advantage of end-to-end process that reflects what your
the new, and brings both together seamlessly, customers need, not what your legacy
it offers the simplest, most powerful way to systems dictate
manage these challenges.
▪ Design for the business: Design your
Successful teams often start with individual processes to focus on business needs and
projects to try out new technologies and not technical boundaries, optimize for
approaches – some may be new greenfield a great customer experience and better
projects, others might be major changes to operations
one or two existing applications. Large “rip
and replace” initiatives are often fraught
with challenges such as unsurmountable
organizational disruption, high cost, and very
long timelines. Taking one project at a time gives
you the opportunity to test out new technologies
and strategies that over time will grow across the
organization. Step by step, you’ll get you closer
toward your ultimate goal of becoming a digital Create a world where you
enterprise – without breaking the bank. However,
it is important to tackle gradual transformation are not limited by legacy
not with the same old approach, but with a technology and organizational
strategy that allows your organization to forge a boundaries, where you
path towards the digital enterprise of the future.
automate business processes
One such example is the use of RPA bots. They that are designed precisely
are a quick fix to automate small tasks. After to your needs, and you can
this initial step, bots can be combined together
with other process steps in a more complete improve continuously as you
end-to-end process. Eventually organizations gain further insights over time.
transition to less maintenance-intensive,
more robust and secure API-based services
that can be an integral part of a modern end-
to-end process required in a scalable digital
organization.

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9 Automate Any Process, Anywhere

▪ Work together: Build and improve

processes with business and IT working
collaboratively
The Camunda Difference
▪ Be agile: Get ready to respond to new
business opportunities quickly and expect End-to-end Orchestration
business needs will constantly change Design, automate, and improve
all components of the entire
▪ Orchestrate everything: Choreograph business process end-to-end.
all pieces of a process to work together,
including people, systems or devices, Standards-based Business-IT
wherever they may be located — in the Collaboration
office, in the cloud or anywhere in the world Rely on the power of BPMN and
DMN standards as a common
▪ Find what’s broken: Establish transparency language for developers and
and get better insight to detect business stakeholders alike.
inefficiencies and bottlenecks
Open Architecture
▪ Review and optimize: Analyze your Camunda’s open, scalable
processes end to end to make them platform can be easily
smarter, faster, and more efficient over time integrated with most common
technical architectures or
When you invest in your processes and build frameworks.
your operational efficiency, you’ll undoubtedly
see a significant and measurable impact on the Developer-friendly Approach
business over time. Organizations are achieving Get started right away with
transformation through automation in an full access to all our docs,
effort to build new revenue streams, all while open APIs to integrate with
creating meaningful, real-time connections with just about anything, and a
customers, partners, and coworkers. vibrant community of 100,000
developers.

Automate Any Process, Anywhere

Camunda Process Automation software enables
some of the most competitive organizations
around the world to orchestrate and automate
complex processes. It allows them to overcome
legacy boundaries and lay the foundation for a
new digital enterprise – and follow the vision of
automating any process, anywhere. open architecture that is the foundation for
future growth.
At Camunda, we are innovating process
automation for the digital enterprise in a new Increase business agility and rapidly respond
and unique way. to market needs by continuously improving
your processes through business and IT
Build better customer experiences by leaving collaboration that is standards-based and
no part of a process behind and orchestrating all allows all collaborators to truly work together.
parts of your processes end-to-end.
Drive operational cost savings by reducing
Get to value and achieve your business goals manual tasks, minimizing errors, and optimizing
more rapidly by delivering mission-critical processes with deep insight into your process
projects faster while relying on a scalable and performance.

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Camunda enables true end-to-end process
orchestration, helping organizations design,
automate, and improve all components of
the entire business process across different
technologies, systems, infrastructures, people,
and devices.

Camunda’s open architecture fits into diverse

and complex enterprise environments and
technology stacks, and its developer-friendly
approach makes it easy for development teams
to use Camunda in their own environment and
get started right away.

As organizations look to transform their

business, process automation has come into
strategic focus. With Camunda, organizations
are laying the foundation for the new digital
enterprise, following our vision of automating
any process, anywhere.

About Camunda
Camunda is the leader in process orchestration software. Our software helps orchestrate
complex business processes that span people, systems, and devices. With Camunda,
business users collaborate with developers to model and automate end-to-end processes
using BPMN-powered flowcharts that run with the speed, scale, and resiliency required to
compete in today's digital-first world. Hundreds of enterprises such as Atlassian, ING, and
Vodafone design, automate, and improve mission-critical business processes with
Camunda to drive digital transformation. To learn more visit camunda.com.