Process Mining: in action

Efficiency is key to staying competitive. Every organization relies on a multitude of processes to carry out its daily operations, from processing payments to customer support. But how do you know if these processes are running at their best?

Process inefficiency is one of the biggest issues businesses face, not just financially, but with their employees, clients and customers. It can affect workflows, employee morale and even brand reputation if processes are slow. What’s more, process inefficiencies can cost companies 30% of their annual revenue and waste 26% of an employee’s workday⁽¹⁾.

But process mining can help resolve this issue.

What is process mining?

Essentially, process mining is a technology that analyzes data from business systems to understand how processes really work. It shines a light on the process inefficiencies costing companies revenue by creating visual models showing the steps, order and variations in processes, and providing an objective view of how they truly function. Process mining helps organizations find ways to improve efficiency and make better decisions.

How does it work?

Not to be confused with task mining, process mining involves three main steps: data extraction, process discovery, and analysis and enhancement. In the data extraction stage, log data is collected from various sources like CRM systems and other software, forming the basis for analysis.

Next, process mining algorithms create visual process models, showing an overview of the activity discovered, such as connections, the order in which they occur as well as any deviations. Process discovery helps identify both the main process flow and potential variations that may exist in practice.

The final step involves analyzing the data using techniques like performance analysis and bottleneck detection to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes. Ultimately, it highlights where to optimize and streamline processes, leading to improved business outcomes.

Using process mining to improve employee experience

To better illustrate the tool, picture a human resources department within the healthcare sector. Let’s say it’s hiring and onboarding up to 55 new employees per month across an array of positions, from nursing to radiography.

Using process mining, the department can track the time it takes to hire and onboard new employees, allowing the department to identify areas where the process can be improved, such as reducing the number of steps in the process or automating certain tasks and generally removing waste, delay and variants from the process.

Removing bottlenecks with process mining

The beauty of process mining also lies in being able to identify where businesses can streamline operations. Imagine a logistics company that has multiple assets, warehouses and goods that are shipped daily. But there are always a number of bottlenecks that cause delays in shipments.

Using process mining, the company can identify where manual paperwork, like PO management for purchasing, reducing time and costs is causing shipment delays. Businesses can use process mining to avoid supply disruptions caused by incorrect or delayed POs, using this information to improve their supply chain.

(1) FormAssembly, 5 Inefficient Work Processes You Should Break Up with in 2022