Microsoft Corporation has acquired Minit, a Slovakia-originated process mining software technology tool that provides you with a window into what is happening in your organisation by capturing opportunities and mitigating undesired outcomes.
In the announcement post made by the Official Microsoft Blog, the reason behind the Microsoft acquisition as “an empowerment process is to help customers digitally transform in their business processes and to be easily and automatically analysed and improved while driving operational excellence.”
What process mining is
Process mining involves detecting source cause workflow issues and obstructions by retrieving data from systems including desktops, email apps and workflows. It is indeed a crucial fragment of robotic process automation (RPA), a technology that solicits, and automates monotonous repetitive tasks conventionally executed by human workers and at the same time, generates logs to detect potential cost savings.
Before the acquisition, it became evident that global organisations are seeking to be more operationally resilient and accelerate their digital transformation plans. However, without prior knowledge of how these processes work and their performances, most leaders end up making wrong decisions based solely on subjective information.
Following the acquisition, Microsoft hopes that the purchase will “further empower” it to “help … customers digitally transform” by creating a more complete picture of their processes — and identifying which of those processes are ripe for automation. Also, it hopes to provide leaders and customers with a better understanding of how data processing works and what operations look like in reality, while driving process standardisation and improvement across the entire organisation to ensure compliance at every step.
Why Minit?
Minit is argued to be well-positioned to help Microsoft achieve its mission of delving deeper into process mining while applying automation tools to action fixes for its customers.
Minit was first released in 2015 as a powerful process mining tool with advanced process enhanced capabilities and features like hierarchical visualisation of a what if scenario. It basically makes automated tools for identifying and untangling inefficiencies in business processes.
This Microsoft’s deal comes two days after data processing company Celonis acquired Process Analytics Factory, a competitor to Minit that integrates with Microsoft’s Power BI data analytics and visualisation platform.
“We have been on a mission to help businesses uncover opportunities for continuous process improvement and better operational efficiency. From now on, this mission will be amplified on a much larger scale,” said James Dening, CEO of Minit.
In one of its case studies, Minit says:
“Minit Process Mining worked with an international Belgium bank to analyse the influence customer nurturing had on the Sales Cycle, specifically, on loan acceptance rates. By understanding which actions had the greatest impact on loan acceptance rates, our client was able to map a prospect’s route towards purchase with precision, and replicate that process for other leads.”
Moving forward
Microsoft is in the primary phases of determining how the Minit technology will be integrated into its products.
“Microsoft had been dabbling around the edges of process mining with Power Automate, but as of the Minit acquisition, Microsoft now is a true player in the growing process-mining space.” Mary Jo Foley commented.
Although the financial terms of Microsoft’s Minit acquisition were not disclosed, the company will however be a part of the Microsoft Process Insights team, reporting to Justin Graham, Microsoft GM of Process Insights and the employers will remain in their current locations and market its current products with no change for existing customers, a Microsoft spokesperson said.
According to Polaris Market Research, having acquired Softomotive, an RPA software provider, and Minit, Microsoft is doubling down on a software category that could reach $11 billion by 2030.
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