Business Orchestration

and Automation
Technologies (BOAT):
A Guide for Automation
Leaders
How consolidating
automation technology is driving
an exciting emerging market —
and enhancing automation maturity

December 2024 camunda.com

2 Contents

Contents

Introduction to BOAT 3

What is BOAT?  4

The Convergence of Automation Technology 5

What Shifted the Market Toward BOAT? 6

What Does the Right Process Architecture Look Like for BOAT?  7

How to Know if BOAT is the Right Automation Strategy for You? 10

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3 Introduction to BOAT

Introduction to BOAT What is a task vs. an end-

to-end business process?
As automation becomes more prevalent, it’s
also becoming more complex for enterprises. Most automation tools (e.g. RPA) are
According to the 2024 State of Process designed to automate single tasks, or
Orchestration Report, more than half of IT and a small subset of tasks. To contrast,
business leaders see an increase in complexity a more complex business process
due to processes spanning multiple systems. involves a series of tasks orchestrated
What’s more, 62% say legacy technology is across multiple endpoints (e.g. ­people,
standing in the way of achieving their auto­ systems, and devices). Think of a
mation goals. mortgage approval business process.
It involves tasks such as collecting a
Between legacy systems and the many other mortgage application online, verifying
technologies involved in automation, it can identity and financial information,
be difficult to gain visibility and control over checking credit, assessing risk, applying
the end-to-end process. That’s where process human checks, and more — before the
orchestration works to coordinate the ­various customer receives a decision on their
endpoints involved in a business process. application at the end of the process.
Process orchestration often integrates common Some tasks within a fully orchestrated
tools for automating tasks, such as customer end-to-end business process may
relationship management (CRM), enterprise happen in parallel with one another, and
resource planning (ERP), robotic process auto­ they typically follow a certain logic.
mation (RPA), IT service management (ITSM),
and more. It can also orchestrate human tasks, Enterprises need to think holistically
alongside other devices and systems (including about their end-to-end business
legacy systems). processes to improve their own internal
efficiency and the customer experience.
Lately, thought leadership from Gartner has If a process is broken or inefficient, it
taken the idea of process orchestration a step could result in lost revenue or customer
further with a new category of integrated churn. Process orchestration plays
solutions called Business Orchestration and a vital role in ensuring that business
Automation Technologies (BOAT). processes operate successfully.

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4 What is BOAT?

What is BOAT?
Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (BOAT) are
defined by Gartner as “a class of software technologies that ­enables
enterprises to automate and orchestrate end-to-end business
processes while connecting multiple enterprise systems of records
via any applicable integration method. We are calling such a class
of technologies — as the business orchestration and automation
platform, aka BOAT.1”

As the market for automation tools consolidates, a BOAT platform

integrates the capabilities from tools such as business process
­automation (BPA), RPA, and integration platforms-as-a-service
(iPaaS) into a single solution. BOAT platforms can also help to
operationalize AI via the orchestration of AI endpoints across
an end-to-end process. In some cases, a BOAT platform can
incorporate ­deterministic processes (where the outcomes are
mapped in advance and clearly defined) with non-deterministic
AI agents (which can take action, or make decisions with or
without human approval).

A BOAT platform is a powerful way for enterprises to orchestrate

a wide range of business processes and automate them using
their tools of choice. However, not all orchestration technology is
­created equal. True process orchestration capabilities are critical
for ­delivering end-to-end automation — helping teams avoid both
the management complexity and silos that typically exist within
disparate automation technologies.

Let’s take a closer look at BOAT, why it’s important, and how to
decide if it’s right for your enterprise.

1 Gartner, “Quick Answer: Beyond RPA, BPA and Low Code — The Future Is BOAT,” by:
Saikat Ray, Keith Guttridge, Akash Jain, Sachin Joshi, Arthur Villa, July 11, 2024.
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its
affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission.
All rights reserved.

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5 The Convergence of Automation Technology

The Convergence of Automation Technology

What are the benefits of Business Orchestration and

Automation Technologies?

BOAT platforms transform how organizations approach auto­mation

by providing a framework for managing and scaling business
processes. Process orchestration lies at the heart of BOAT, seam­
lessly integrating diverse automation methods including APIs, RPA,
microservices, AI/agents and more. This orchestration ensures
more effective end-to-end automation, reducing the complexity that
comes from juggling multiple tools. By orchestrating connectivity
across an end-to-end process, BOAT improves process efficiency
and agility, and can even accelerate automation implementations.

Another key advantage of BOAT is its focus on consolidation. It

brings together fragmented automation tools into a unified platform.
This reduces the operational overhead, lowers the application foot­
print, and minimizes licensing costs. Consolidation also improves
the user experience, since having a single platform is much simpler
than working across disparate systems. For businesses struggling
with the inefficiency of managing multiple disconnected tools, BOAT
offers an integrated approach that can drive major efficiency and
cost savings.

BOAT as a Catalyst for AI and Future Growth

BOAT platforms also excel in AI enablement, acting as a ­repository

of unified metadata that fuels advanced AI capabilities like ­agentic
AI (we’ll talk more about that later). BOAT consolidates data
and process insights across systems, making the goal of intelligent
automation easier to reach. Over time, the objective for many
businesses is to adopt smarter, more autonomous workflows. For
organizations that face challenges with integration, scalability,
and strategy alignment — BOAT can provide the structure to
advance their automation efforts. That’s because BOAT gives teams
the ability to manage both human and machine tasks within a
unified process orchestration and automation platform.

Finally, BOAT is a tool for future-proofing. As the automation land­

scape shifts toward intelligent, autonomous systems, BOAT gives
organizations the infrastructure to evolve. Its blend of orchestration,
connectivity, and AI features ensures that enterprises can stay
competitive as the business environment (along with its underlying
technology) changes. It’s important to note that a composable
architecture is essential for organizations that want to advance their
automation maturity. These teams often gradually adopt the best-
of-breed capabilities they need to meet their business objectives,
and demand the flexibility of a composable platform.

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6 What Shifted the Market Toward BOAT?

What Shifted the Market into end-to-end business processes, lead­

Toward BOAT? ing to business process inefficiencies and
bottlenecks. As a result, organizations
often find themselves unable to evolve their
Most automation challenges today stem from automation capabilities, trapped in a cycle
a combination of rapid technological advance­ of maintaining their existing systems.
ments and the compounding technical debt
teams face when attempting to integrate and ▪ Lack of business-IT alignment: Aligning
scale diverse automation tools. These c­ hallenges business and IT teams is essential but
underscore the need for holistic, orchestrated challenging. Without a shared framework
approaches like BOAT. or language, misunderstandings between
these teams can delay progress. Standards
▪ Siloed automation tools: Over years, like BPMN and DMN help bridge the gap by
­ rganizations have accumulated a patch­
o enabling clear, standardized communication
work of tools — including RPA, iPaaS, across teams.
BPM, and low-code platforms — resulting
in disjointed, siloed implementations. BOAT platforms are designed to address these
These systems lack cohesion and create challenges by providing a unified automation
a “­spaghetti architecture.” Custom AI environment. By consolidating tools and
­solutions or standalone automation tools providing a cohesive orchestration layer, BOAT
within SaaS products also operate inde­ minimizes the overhead of maintaining frag­
pendently, making integration challenges mented systems. Centralized control ensures
even more complex. that processes are transparent, secure, and
compliant.
▪ Pace of innovation: New developments like
generative AI and agentic AI occur in rapid, When combined with cloud-native and com­
unpredictable waves. Organizations often posable architectures, BOAT platforms enable
struggle to determine which innovations will organizations to scale efficiently and adapt to
provide sustainable value. Their existing future technological waves. Embedded intelli­
automation infrastructures often lack the gence and orchestration capabilities allow
adaptability to incorporate cutting-edge teams to harness AI for meaningful, controlled
AI technologies. In other words, the option automation.
to simply “add AI” into an existing automa­
tion system may be too complex, deepen The rapid pace of technological change and the
technical debt, and limit the value of AI to burden of technical debt have made traditional
that system. automation approaches unsustainable. To
contrast, BOAT platforms represent the next
▪ Management and governance: Updating step in automation’s evolution, combining the
disparate automation tools consumes strengths of existing tools into a unified frame­
significant IT resources and adds to their work that enables agility, scalability, and true
maintenance burden. Not to mention, business transformation.
automation spread across multiple tools
makes it difficult to achieve end-to-end
visibility into workflows and business
processes. Without proper governance,
AI and automation tools can lead to unin­
tended outcomes — or even risky regulatory
compliance issues.

▪ Scalability and resilience issues:

Traditional siloed systems struggle to scale
effectively. Many task-oriented automation
tools lack the ability to integrate seamlessly

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7 What Does the Right Process Architecture Look Like for BOAT?

What Does the Right Process Architecture

Look Like for BOAT?

At the heart of BOAT lies process orchestration, a critical capabil­

ity that integrates diverse automation endpoints into seamless,
end-to-end business processes. You’ll see process orchestration
at the base of the process architecture diagram below. It ensures
that all people, systems, and devices within an automated busi­
ness ­process are operating effectively and in the right progression.
What’s more, process orchestration gives teams control over their
­automation e ­ fforts, offering a single view of their end-to-end busi­
ness ­processes to enhance visibility, governance, and efficiency.

Process orchestration can help organizations avoid some of the

common automation challenges highlighted above, including
mounting technical debt from fragmented tools and diminished
value from siloed automation solutions. In other words, a unified
process orchestration layer can optimize and future-proof your
automation efforts.

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8 What Does the Right Process Architecture Look Like for BOAT?

From there, look for these other critical task What are the Key Strengths
automation capabilities, as demonstrated in the of Process Orchestration
diagram above:
Capabilities within BOAT?
▪ Human-in-the-loop functionality integrates
Composability
human decision-­making into automated
workflows, ensuring that high-stakes sce­ Modular architecture to support
narios are verified and approved as needed. customizable, flexible processes

▪ Decision automation, powered by DMN, Scalability and Resilience

Cloud-native infrastructure for
embeds repeatable, rule-based decisions
into workflows, enabling faster and more ­handling large-scale, business-­
consistent business processes. critical processes

▪ Connectivity through a composable Embedded Intelligence

Integration of AI for decision-­
architecture allows seamless integration of
automation technologies into existing tech making, task automation, and
stacks, providing teams with full visibility intelligent document processing
into end-to-end p ­ rocesses — while main­
taining the flexibility to replace or ­upgrade Orchestration of AI
individual components without disrupting Orchestrate AI endpoints
the system. and agents (with variable and
objective outcomes) alongside
▪ Robotic Process Automation (RPA) trans­ deterministic automation and
human tasks.
forms isolated task automation into com­
prehensive workflows by embedding bots
directly into orchestrated business pro­ Standardization
cesses, ensuring that legacy systems can be Use of BPMN (Business Process
integrated without exposing APIs. Model and Notation) and DMN
(Decision Model and Notation)
▪ Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) to facilitate cross-functional
collaboration and consistency
replicates human tasks using AI and
machine learning to classify, extract, and
process information from documents, mini­
mizing errors and a
­ ccelerating workflows.

In addition, a BOAT platform should provide

the flexibility to connect with existing busi­
ness solutions. For example, on the Camunda Others cover complete business process
Marketplace, there is an extensive library of solutions, including BPMN process models,
connectors to integrate various applications, DMN decision tables, and task forms. For
from OpenAI to Salesforce. A rapidly grow­ example, the Process Orchestration for SAP
ing pool of solution blueprints informed by solution integrates S/4HANA and ECC into
real-world projects also kick-starts solution Camunda processes, enabling SAP users to be
development. Some provide reusable process involved in end-to-end processes orchestrated
patterns, for example AI-powered routing of by Camunda while staying in their usual SAP
customer enquiries. environment.

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9 What Does the Right Process Architecture Look Like for BOAT?

AI in BOAT: Enhancing automation through embedded intelligence

Generative and agentic AI are ­reshaping Enterprises should be cautious with agentic
process automation. Generative AI, AI, especially in mission-critical business
­powered by large language models, accel­ processes and within heavily regulated
erates process design by translating natural ­industries. AI agents run the risk of compli­
language into BPMN models, streamlining cating compliance, creating operational risks,
documentation, and providing decision and ultimately undermining customer trust.
support. For example, tools like Camunda A better approach combines agentic AI’s
Copilot make it easy to rapidly deploy AI- adaptability with deterministic frameworks
powered suggestions into process design like BPMN, ensuring the right balance of AI is
and automation workflows, particularly in used in relation to the risk — and that actions
industries where speed and accuracy are and decisions are traceable, justifiable, and
critical. aligned with regulatory requirements.

Agentic AI takes automation a step further Look for a BOAT platform to balance AI’s
by enabling systems to act autonomously, innovation and control. Generative AI can
making ad-hoc decisions and adapting work­ fast-track process design, while agentic
flows in real-time. This flexibility is e
­ specially AI introduces autonomous decision-­making.
valuable in dynamic s­ cenarios like rerouting Together, they pave the way for p­ redictive
logistics or prioritizing customer inquiries. and adaptive workflows that optimize pro­
However, agentic AI’s complexity also cesses dynamically. By embedding a ­ gentic
introduces real risks, ­particularly when its AI within deterministic structures, enter­
decision-making operates as a „black box,“ prises can unlock AI’s potential, while main­
offering little transparency or auditability. taining the transparency and accountability
they need to earn valuable trust.

Real-World BOAT Application: One example they highlighted is the

Atlassian “Shoplassian” business use case. Atlassian
is using Camunda‘s process orchestration
At CamundaCon New York 2024, Atlassian‘s ­capabilities to improve the user experience
Intelligent Automation Platform Architect, and streamline procurement processes for
Davish Shah, and Finance Tech Lead, Senjam its ­marketplace. This initiative demonstrates
Sarpal, discussed the significant impact of how BOAT has enabled Atlassian to automate
BOAT on their organization. They established complex workflows, reduce manual
a Center of Excellence (CoE) dedicated to interventions, and improve their overall
process orchestration, which has been instru­ operational efficiency.
mental in driving innovation and continuous
improvement across various departments, Learn more about the business impact of
including finance, commerce, marketing, and Atlassian’s process orchestration here.
customer support.

Atlassian‘s journey with Camunda began in

April 2020, leading to the deployment of over
16 ­applications powered by Camunda, process­
ing more than 100 million decision instances
and 65 million process instances. The CoE
focuses on four key pillars: communication,
tools, enablement, and solution delivery. This
structured approach has streamlined processes
and enhanced efficiency across the organization.

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How to Know if BOAT is the Schedule a customized
Right Automation Strategy demo of Camunda’s
for You? Process Orchestration and
Automation Platform
A BOAT strategy may be right for your
­organization if you’ve been frustrated by the
­enterprise automation challenges detailed in
this e
­ Book. These range from technical debt, Book Now
siloed ­implementations that inhibit growth and
scale, and the inability to keep up with com­
petitive demands or the pace of AI innovation.

Think about the existing automation technolo­

gies you have in place. If you have a fragmented
automation tech stack made up of multiple
tools, BOAT can help you consolidate and
orchestrate your end-to-end business pro­
cesses. Beyond what you have today, consider
your future automation needs. For example, you
may need to adopt an AI-infused approach to
improve efficiency and scale your automation
efforts. A BOAT platform can balance AI’s
innovation alongside the structured, predictable
business processes at the foundation of your
organization’s successful automation strategy.

Above all, remember that process orchestration

is foundational to realizing the full benefits of
a BOAT strategy. Consider choosing a solution
that specializes in end-to-end business process
orchestration, so you’ll be set up to drive long
term value from your automated processes.
Organizations that are successful with process
orchestration have improved their customer
experience, streamlined their own operations,
and saved costs. When done effectively, a BOAT
strategy can help you experience the benefits of
process orchestration today, while embedding
the AI intelligence that will drive future automa­
tion success.

About Camunda
Camunda enables organizations to orchestrate processes across people, systems, and
devices to continuously overcome complexity and increase efficiency. A common visual
language enables seamless collaboration between business and IT teams to design,
automate, and improve end-to-end processes with the required speed, scale, and
resilience to remain competitive. Hundreds of enterprises such as Atlassian, ING, and
Vodafone orchestrate business-critical processes with Camunda to accelerate digital
transformation. To learn more visit camunda.com.