State of
Process Orchestration
& Automation
Are organizations at risk of
digital chaos and “Automation
Armageddon”?
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Table of Contents
03 Introduction
04 The Rise of Uncontrolled Complexity
07 AI: The Double-edged Sword
09 The Current State of Process Automation
12 Understanding the Value of Process Orchestration
16 The Risks of IT and Business Misalignment
19 Conclusion
20 About the Report
21 About Camunda
Introduction
Digital transformation has become ubiquitous – business as Furthermore, with many organizations increasing their investment
usual, even – as organizations look to increase efficiency and in AI, this will need to be orchestrated like any other endpoint
competitive advantage. It has been driving many businesses within automated business processes. This approach ensures
towards automation and, more recently, fueling the hype around organizations stay compliant, avoid adding siloed systems that
artificial intelligence (AI) as a means to manage and automate increase technical debt, and maximize the benefits of their AI
processes from end to end. investments.
This level of process automation is easier to achieve when you’re For this report, we talked to 800 senior IT decision makers,
building a business from scratch. But for most large organizations, business decision makers, and enterprise software architects
this isn’t the reality. Today’s digital infrastructures and processes responsible for process automation in large organizations
are complex and interdependent, making end-to-end process (1,000+ employees). We asked about the current state of process
automation a significant challenge. orchestration and automation in their business, the impact of AI,
and the challenges they face in managing process complexity.
Creating or changing an end-to-end process is often difficult,
since it leads to potential changes in many different systems. It’s
why process orchestration – bringing together and coordinating
all the manual or automated tasks that make up a process – is
important. Process orchestration doesn’t only allow tying together
all these different endpoints (people or systems), it also enables
organizations to update all their different processes from a single
location, providing IT and business teams with greater visibility and
control.
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The Rise of Uncontrolled Complexity
For large organizations, digital transformation increasingly means the In this landscape of constant change, and siloed tools and
digitalization of processes and data. However, the growing API economy technologies, organizations are struggling to streamline and
means there are more connected applications than ever, and most large gain visibility over operations. Most organizations say that as
organizations typically use hundreds of different systems daily. So the their business becomes more complex, digital, interconnected,
overall process complexity has grown significantly, because processes and automated, there’s an increased risk of core processes
are rarely a simple series of linear steps. failing – and that it’s increasingly difficult to effectively
analyze and optimize them.
Many organizations are seeing considerable year-on-year growth
in the volume and variety of endpoints, including core systems
such as enterprise applications (e.g. SAP, Oracle, and Salesforce),
task automation (e.g. robotic process automation (RPA) and decision
management tools), and AI or machine learning (ML) solutions.
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Reasons for Process Complexity
Organizations average about 78% say complex workflow patterns
50 components/endpoints. and/or long-running processes are increasing
50 This number has grown by
approximately 19% over the past
the difficulty in automation.
five years.
85% say as multiple automated
Most common components/endpoints: tasks are combined, managing
70% - Enterprise applications (SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, etc.)
the overall end-to-end process
becomes more complex.
65% - Task automation technologies (Robotic Process
Automation (RPA), iPaaS, decision management/
business rules) This complexity is caused by:
48% - AI/ML applications (OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Hugging
Face, intelligent document processing) 60% - Branching and/or conditional logic that spans complex
business rules
41% - APIs
56% - Systems are legacy and difficult to connect to
49% - Multiple systems need to be spanned
39% - Having to deal with human logic
34% - Systems are home-grown and difficult to connect to
86% say regulations have increased. 23% - Subprocesses or systems involved are owned by
another team
83% say they are considering tools to help orchestrate and coordinate tasks from
end to end across diverse process endpoints.
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As processes become more complex, digital, interconnected, and automated…
82% 77%
are concerned that a lack of control will say that a lack of control has resulted
lead to digital chaos. in increased risk that core business
processes are not working anymore.
82% 69%
say that a lack of control has resulted say that it becomes increasingly difficult to
in increased business risk in regard to effectively analyze and optimize them.
compliance.
82% say if this risk is left unchecked, it could lead to what could
be described as “Automation Armageddon.”
There’s overwhelming consensus that if these issues are not addressed with decisive action, it could lead to digital chaos and
“Automation Armageddon,” where automation errors snowball to deliver catastrophic outcomes. As a result, companies are increasingly
looking for better tools to help orchestrate and coordinate tasks from end to end, and across diverse process endpoints.
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AI: The Double-edged Sword
Organizations today understand the value that AI could bring to of transparency into how AI applications are being used
their business, transforming business operations and customer within business processes, and a corresponding risk to
experiences. AI can augment many different human workflows, regulatory compliance.
helping to streamline complex processes, improve decision making,
and unlock efficiencies that simply can’t be achieved manually. For AI to deliver positive impact and maximum benefit,
there’s overwhelming agreement that organizations need
Most organizations are looking to add more AI capabilities to their to develop robust strategies. There needs to be a clear
business over the next three years, with the aim of better analyzing definition of AI’s role within process automation – one
and improving processes. However, these organizations also admit that addresses security, governance, and integration
that they face challenges being able to scale and operationalize AI concerns and ensures alignment with the organization’s
across their whole business. AI strategies remain in their infancy broader goals.
as organizations also weigh the effects of AI on existing processes
and technologies, and the potential impact on compliance and Ultimately, almost all the people we spoke to believe that
security. Many organizations are concerned that there is a lack AI will need to be orchestrated within automated business
processes just like any other endpoint.
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AI now AI in the future AI and compliance
85% 84% 84%
say they face challenges say they are looking to say a lack of
being able to scale and add more AI capabilities transparency into how AI
operationalize AI across over the next three years. applications and services
their organization. are being used within
business processes is
leading to regulatory
compliance problems.
93% 88% 90%
say, ultimately, say they are looking say AI applications and
AI applications and to use AI to help their services need to be
services will need organization better orchestrated like any
to be orchestrated analyze and improve other endpoint within
across their business processes. automated business
processes if the processes to ensure
organization is to get compliance with
the maximum benefit regulations.
from its investments
in AI.
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The Current State of Process Automation
There’s a common agreement in large organizations that process automation is essential for digital transformation, with
almost all of them having a center of excellence for process automation.
Many organizations have seen an increase in business growth over the past year due to process automation and are
committed to increasing their spending on process automation by 10% or more.
But despite this, organizations today have, on average, automated less than half of their operational processes. They also
say that their existing process automation is becoming outdated, with automation initiatives failing to keep pace with
the rate of business change. This is a particular problem for businesses that have invested in point solutions to automate
particular tasks, which have been left with siloed automation solutions that deliver limited value.
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Process Automation - What Works and What Doesn’t
Yes... But...
93% have a center of excellence for On average, only 46% of organizational
process automation. processes are automated.
87% say they’ve seen increased business
82% say their process automation is
growth due to process automation over
beginning to become outdated.
the past year.
72% say automation initiatives cannot
83% plan to increase their automation
keep pace with the rate of change in
investment by 10% or more.
today’s organizations.
Overall, there’s very strong support for the move away from large monolithic enterprise applications (e.g. ERP) towards
composable architectures that promote flexibility. But while the overwhelming majority of organizations think it’s important
to bring together best-in-breed solutions, they have found there are two big challenges.
First, most organizations are struggling with inflexible IT systems that prevent them from meeting the demand for new
automated business processes. Having business processes locked in “black box” legacy systems is a key blocker to process
automation and orchestration. So, too, is a reliance on antiquated process design, which in many cases is based on
proprietary tools and languages that are limited in functionality and hard to expand. Second, as is often the case, there is
internal resistance to adopting new technologies, indicating a need for closer collaboration between IT and business teams.
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Challenges Implementing a Composable Architecture
94% say it is important for their organization to have a composable architecture that allows for
flexibility in integrating best-of-breed solutions.
Biggest challenges when adopting composable architecture
55% Transitioning from deeply entrenched legacy or 51% Internal resistance to adopting new
monolithic automation platforms technologies
The Legacy System Problem
81% say having business processes locked up in “black box” legacy applications is holding their
organization back from achieving efficient end-to-end automation.
85% say legacy systems and a lack of IT agility mean they can’t always meet business demands
for changes to, or new automated business processes.
83% say large monolithic enterprise applications such as ERP systems, that dictate business
process design, need to become a thing of the past.
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Understanding the Value of Process Orchestration
Organizations have turned to technology and automation to
improve efficiency, increase operational agility, and reduce
manual work. Yet many say automation hasn’t fully delivered on
its potential, usually as a result of process or business complexity. Organizations that have
successfully implemented
For organizations that are successfully delivering or unlocking
additional value through automation, a key success factor is orchestration see improved
process orchestration (coordinating the various moving parts
or endpoints of a business process, and sometimes even tying
customer service and experience,
multiple processes together). The business benefits of process better employee satisfaction, and
orchestration are well recognized.
greater business efficiency.
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Benefits of Process Orchestration:
Improved customer service and
55% experience
Increasing process standardization,
44% resulting in higher efficiency
42% Faster decision making
72%
42% Better process integration and reuse of organizations believe process
orchestration plays an important
role in digital transformation.
41% Increased employee satisfaction
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Process Orchestration Maturity
However, maturity levels of process orchestration vary from one organization to another. Few have reached the advanced
stages, with all the benefits those entail. Most organizations say they are practicing process orchestration, but for a good
number this simply means using it for a single use case or workflow. Some organizations have been able to incorporate
process orchestration into multiple use cases across several functional areas or departments, but the reality is that very few
companies have been successful in incorporating it organization-wide.
Have incorporated a single use case for
50% process orchestration.
Have incorporated it in multiple use
38% cases across several functional areas or
departments.
89%
of organizations say they are practicing 12% Have incorporated it organization-wide.
process orchestration.
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The Need for (Better) Process Orchestration
Regardless, there is a consensus across organizations of the need for better tools to manage how business processes
intersect. There’s a strong feeling that while there is considerable process automation happening, there’s a variety of
systems and processes – and no single good way to control it all. Similarly many believe that without orchestration,
companies will struggle to achieve the significant business benefits of hyperautomation and the autonomous enterprise.
82% 79%
say they need to have better tools say while they have a lot of
to manage how their processes all process automation, they do not
intersect. have a good way to control all of it.
86% 81%
say a company cannot have say without process orchestration
hyperautomation without having achieving an autonomous
process orchestration. enterprise will be a pipe dream.
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The Risks of IT and Business Misalignment
In most organizations, business and IT teams find it hard to collaborate on individual processes and projects at the setup
stage, as well as for ongoing maintenance and optimization. Miscommunication between these teams can lead to the wrong
things being built or rolled out to customers – which can clearly have a significant impact on the time-to-market as well as
customer (and employee) experience and satisfaction.
Across organizations, there’s recognition of a gap between business and IT teams when it comes to the challenges of
delivering on business requirements. This creates a very real risk when considering automation projects, which can struggle
to succeed in complex environments with legacy systems. In large organizations, business and IT leaders agree that
automation efforts and business strategies don’t align often enough.
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The Struggles Between Business and IT Teams
62% 77% 82%
say business users and IT are say the time it takes to design say miscommunication
not able to easily collaborate and agree upon process between teams leads to the
on individual processes changes is a bottleneck at wrong thing being built and/or
and/or projects. their organization. rolled out to customers.
In addition, business teams don’t always understand the amount of work they’re creating for IT when they change business
processes. At the same time, IT teams are perceived by business stakeholders to be blockers, even when technical limitations, such
as legacy systems, prevent them from delivering what’s required by the business.
By adopting open standards such as Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) and Decision Model and Notation (DMN),
organizations can visualize and simulate end-to-end processes to ensure teams are speaking the same language when it comes to
automation design and implementation. Furthermore, implementing technologies with open architectures makes it far easier to
integrate different tools and systems, providing IT teams with the flexibility to meet specific business requirements. This further
helps with alignment, as IT teams can be positioned as an enabler rather than a blocker.
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Business says…
46% of business respondents say there 44% of IT respondents say business
is a gap between the business and IT executives don’t understand the amount of
when it comes to understanding business IT work that is created when they change
requirements. business processes.
61% of IT respondents say if business
39% of business respondents say IT often
executives want them to say yes more often,
says no to their requests, stating tech
they need to invest in modern technology, and
limitations.
allow IT to move away from legacy systems.
39% of business respondents say they want
28% of IT respondents say business
to make changes to business processes,
executives make demands without
but IT challenges often mean it takes longer
understanding IT.
than the business would like.
43% (business) agree - Projects are 59% (IT) agree - Projects are sometimes
sometimes delayed due to a lack of delayed due to a lack of understanding and
understanding and miscommunication miscommunication between the business
between the business and IT. and IT.
IT says…
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Conclusion
Digital transformation is a major success factor for organizations today, as they look to
become more agile and efficient, and deliver greater value. While AI and automation are
key elements of a successful digitalization project, many organizations are struggling to
implement these capabilities effectively, due to overly complex system landscapes, siloed
applications, and legacy solutions that are difficult to update.
Camunda enables organizations to tame complexity, operationalize AI, and accelerate
transformation with process orchestration and automation. Organizations can design,
manage, and improve the processes that underpin their business, no matter what the
processes entail or where they run. With a composable architecture, Camunda is designed
for businesses looking for a best-of-breed, truly blended automation strategy that builds on
existing technology investments and is ready to implement any systems that come next.
Working with Camunda means better communication and faster collaboration between
business and IT users, creating a single team that can successfully adapt process and
decision models as business needs change, and deliver the observability needed to keep
operations running smoothly.
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About the report
Camunda commissioned Coleman Parkes to conduct a survey among
800 respondents (350 US, 150 UK, 150, Germany, and 150 France) at
organizations with at least 1,000 employees. All respondents are either
responsible for, or significantly involved in, process automation in their
organization. This survey was conducted online between September 30
and October 28, 2024.
For more information about anything
in this report, please get in touch.
CONTACT US
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About Camunda
Camunda enables organizations to orchestrate and automate processes
across people, systems, and devices to continuously overcome
complexity, increase efficiency, and fully operationalize AI. Built for
business and IT, Camunda’s leading orchestration and automation
platform executes any process at the required speed and scale to remain
competitive without compromising security, governance, or innovation.
Over 700 companies across all industries, including Atlassian, ING, and
Vodafone trust Camunda with the design, orchestration, automation, and
improvement of their business-critical processes to accelerate digital
transformation. To learn more visit camunda.com.
Schedule a customized demo of
Camunda’s Process Orchestration and
Automation Platform.
BOOK NOW
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