Enterprises have reached an inflection point in their use of artificial intelligence (AI). The technology is already ubiquitous, with 99 percent of organizations deploying it in some form or another, according to the AI edition of the 2025 Celonis Process Optimization Report.
However, so far businesses are mostly applying AI to relatively simple, small-scale use cases like customer service chatbots or developer support. These applications are undoubtedly beneficial in their own way, but only scratch the surface of what the technology can do.
To deliver true value, enterprises now need to start deploying AI at a more strategic level, applying it to core operations to drive real business outcomes.
AI identified as the top strategic opportunity
The research – which surveyed over 1,600 business leaders around the world – reveals enterprises see AI as their top strategic opportunity over the next two years, alongside the closely-related opportunity of improving productivity. Many are already experimenting with more strategic AI use cases and have big plans for the year ahead.
As an example, 96 percent of Supply Chain leaders say they intend to use AI for transport network and route planning in the next 12 months, while 98 percent say they will use it for warehouse automation. What’s more, 92 percent of Finance and Shared Services leaders say they will use AI for cash flow optimization in the next year and another 90 percent are planning to implement it to aid regulatory compliance.
But before businesses see success with these more strategic AI use cases, they first need to provide the technology with the right data and context to ensure it makes informed decisions.
AI needs process intelligence to make it smarter
To be applied effectively to strategic business use cases, AI needs both process data and business context.
Process understanding (provided by process data) helps AI understand how activities are sequenced within the business or department and how they relate across systems, as well as what’s happening upstream, downstream and in parallel. Business context supplies AI with the business-specific rules, benchmarks and KPIs it needs to make the right decisions at the right time for that enterprise. Process intelligence makes both process understanding and business context accessible to AI.
The research indicates the vast majority of business leaders understand the need for process intelligence, with a massive 89 percent saying it’s crucial AI has the context of how their business runs to be effectively deployed. And more than half (58 percent) are concerned the current state of their processes may limit their ability to make AI work moving forward.
In fact, a lack of process understanding may already be hindering strategic deployment of AI. When business leaders were asked to indicate the three biggest warning signs that process understanding in their organization is lagging behind, difficulties adopting AI was one of the most prevalent answers (second only to increasing operational costs).
Making the most of the AI opportunity requires businesses to understand and optimize their core processes which, as it turns out, AI is already helping them to do.
AI is being used for process improvement
Businesses must understand and optimize their processes if they’re going to deploy AI for strategic use cases and this is something AI technology can assist them with. Encouragingly, 81 percent of business leaders expect AI to be used directly to improve their enterprise processes over the next 12 months.
Around half of the Process Improvement and Operations leaders that took part in the research are already using AI to optimize business processes. For instance, 52 percent are using AI for continuous process improvement, while 51 percent are using the technology for process automation.
Even in areas where AI adoption is currently relatively low, Process Improvement and Operations leaders have lofty ambitions for the year ahead. For example, only 39 percent are currently using AI to model and redesign processes, but 91 percent intend to implement AI for this purpose in the coming year.
Process intelligence is key to AI’s next phase
As organizations across the globe move on from their early, small-scale applications of AI towards more strategic use cases, process intelligence will be critical in driving real value. When AI has an in-depth understanding of how enterprise processes actually run and the business context required to make the right decisions, it can be applied to core operations and deliver truly game-changing impact.
To discover more about how enterprises are using, or planning to use, AI across various departments, as well as their most pressing concerns around deploying the technology, take a look at the AI edition of the 2025 Celonis Process Optimization Report.