Many of our clients they are reaching the point of the first renewal of process mining tools. It's essential to rigorously assess whether your current approach still aligns with your evolving needs and how to plan for growth before it happens. Here are six critical questions to guide your evaluation, tailored for process mining renewals for owners in large companies to help maximize the return on your investments in process mining.
1. Are Your Current Focus Areas Still Relevant?
Start by conducting a comprehensive review of the processes and business areas currently under using process mining. Consider whether there have been shifts in business strategy or new operational pain points that need addressing. For example, if your initial focus was on order-to-cash processes, but now supply chain optimization has become a priority due to recent disruptions, you need to ensure your solution can effectively analyze supply chain data. Technically, check if your solution supports the integration of new data sources relevant to your shifting focus areas, such as IoT data from logistics operations or real-time inventory management systems.
2. Does the Process Mining Solution Meet Your Evolving Objectives?
This step is critical, think about three years back, process mining has grown and evolved. Where will it be in two - three years and where do you want to be in two – three years.
Reflect on your initial objectives and how they have evolved. Are you now prioritizing process discovery, conformance checking, or continuous improvement initiatives? For instance, you might have initially aimed to identify bottlenecks, but now you could be more focused on ensuring compliance with new regulatory standards. Evaluate the solution's ability to perform advanced conformance checking against custom rule sets or regulatory requirements and ensure it can handle dynamic rule updates without extensive reconfiguration.
3. How Well Does Process Mining Fulfill Your Functional Requirements?
Evaluate the current solution's capabilities in data collection, process discovery, and process enhancement. Identify any gaps or new requirements based on recent business changes. If your organization has adopted a hybrid cloud strategy, does your solution support seamless integration with both on-prem and cloud data sources? Technically, verify support for multi-environment data ingestion, real-time processing capabilities, and advanced analytics features like predictive modeling or machine learning-based process recommendations.
4. Does Process Mining Still Meet Your Technical Requirements?
Assess how well the solution integrates with your current IT infrastructure, considering any changes in architecture, security policies, or performance needs. For example, if your IT environment has recently migrated to a microservices architecture, ensure the process mining tool can interact with microservices and handle containerized applications. Check for compatibility with container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes, support for API-based data exchange, and adherence to new security protocols such as OAuth 2.0 for secure data access.
5. What's the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) after your Process Mining Renewal?
Beyond the renewal cost there is more to consider, we are growing now. Factor in ongoing maintenance, support, and any additional resources required to maintain the solution effectively, including third party support 😊. Calculate the costs associated with scaling the solution to accommodate increased data volumes or additional users. Include expenses for infrastructure upgrades (e.g., additional storage or compute power), software licenses for dependent systems, and potential costs for custom development or third-party integrations.
6. What is the Impact of Process Mining on ROI?
Evaluate the tangible benefits and cost savings your current solution has delivered. Quantify its impact on process efficiency and business outcomes using specific metrics like reduction in process cycle time, decrease in compliance violations, or improvements in resource utilization. Leverage data analytics to provide a detailed ROI analysis, including year-over-year performance comparisons, and use statistical methods to project future gains based on past performance.
By thoroughly addressing these questions, you'll be well-equipped to make an informed decision on whether to renew your existing process mining solution or explore alternatives that may offer enhanced capabilities and better alignment with your current and future needs.
Need assistance with your evaluation? Feel free to reach out to me for questions, mpavlik@doculabs.com
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