Signaling its ambitions in the process automation market, Microsoft acquired Minit, a Bratislava, Slovakian -based vendor that sells process mining technology, for an unspecified sum, the companies announced today. Microsoft said the purchase would “further strengthen” it to “help … customers go digital” by creating a more complete picture of their processes – and determining which of those processes are ripe. that is for automation.
“Minit currently allows businesses to change the way they analyze, monitor and optimize their processes. Minit’s solutions have helped businesses gain in-depth insights into how processes run, uncover the root causes of operational challenges and help reduce undesirable process results. , “Justin Graham, general manager of Microsoft process insights, wrote in a post on Microsoft’s corporate blog.”[With Minit, our] customers will better understand their process data, discover what operations look like in reality, and drive standardization and process improvement throughout the organization to ensure compliance at every step. ”
Microsoft dipped its fingers into the mining process with the launch of new features in Power Automate in 2019 and the acquisition of Softomotive, an RPA software provider, a year later. But in the Minute, the tech giant is doubling into a software category that could be worth more than $ 11 billion by 2030, according to a report from Polaris Market Research.
It’s not immediately clear if the entire Minit team will join Microsoft – or, in fact, if the company will remain spread over its current locations. (Minit is now headquartered in Amsterdam, with satellite offices in London and New York.) But CEO James Dening said customers shouldn’t expect a change in the level of support they currently receive.
“We look forward to what it means to be part of an industry leader like Microsoft and what it will bring us -how we can use that scale and efficiency to continue to deliver great solutions to our customers. , “Dening wrote in a blog post on the Minit website. “It’s been a privilege to lead the company over the past year, and I’m excited to continue my journey with the team, as part of what I consider the world’s leading software company.”
We contacted the companies for more information.
Minit, founded in 2015 by Rasto Hlavac and raised € 10.3 million (~ $ 11.40 million) prior to the acquisition, is one of a growing number of startups developing mining tools aimed at enterprise clients. The mining process, also known as task discovery, involves identifying workflow issues and root bottlenecks by retrieving data from systems including desktop, email apps, and flow work. It is an integral part of robotic process automation (RPA), a technology that promises to automate the monotonous, repetitive tasks traditionally performed by human workers while at the same time generating logs to determine potential cost savings.
As Aisha Counts of Protocol notes, process mining is traditionally done by system integrators who map processes by reviewing workflow manuals. Process mining software is designed to digitize the strategy in a way that reduces the cost, time, and effort involved.
Emphasizing the appetite for process mining technologies, Celonis, a data processing company, earlier this week acquired Minit competitor Process Analytics Factory, which coincidentally integrates with Power BI analytics platform. Microsoft. Over the past few years, vendor RPA Automation Anywhere has acquired process discovery and mining startups FortressIQ, Process Gold, and StepShot; Blue Prism has released a task mining solution called Capture; and rivals including ABBYY and Kryon expanded their mining process.
Microsoft’s Minute acquisition comes at a time when the broader business process automation industry, which remains cash-strapped, is heading towards overall integration. SAP acquired German process automation company Signavio in January 2021, before ServiceNow entered the RPA segment with the purchase of India -based Intellibot.io. IBM acquired process mining software company MyInvenio in April. And Salesforce’s MuleSoft and Microsoft followed suit with purchases of automation tech providers Servicetrace and Clear Software, respectively.
“The process of mining, discovery and mining work has seen a lot of changes in many acquisitions over the past year. [It] now appears to be maturing as a market and becoming commoditized under major automation platforms, ”Saikat Ray, Gartner senior research director, told TechCrunch via email.“ Gartner sees the emergence of automation platform vendors which offers process mining and mining work as embedded capabilities, including RPA. ”