Celonis builds digital twins to guide enterprise AI agents

Frontier models from creators like Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic are growing increasingly capable, but they still stumble when applied to specific enterprise workflows. While these systems excel at general tasks like planning a vacation, they lack the deep, specialized knowledge required to manage complex corporate operations.

To bridge this gap, process intelligence firm Celonis is helping businesses map their internal workflows. Speaking on the Targeting AI podcast, Celonis CEO Alex Rinke explained that general AI models lack a "360-degree context about everything that's going on" inside a specific business. To solve this, Celonis constructs a digital twin of the enterprise to map out its exact workflows, giving AI agents the precise operational data they need to make smart decisions.

Rinke emphasized that a company's proprietary workflows, manufacturing methods, and supply chain logistics serve as its "competitive moat" in the market. By utilizing process intelligence, organizations can retain ownership of this valuable data. This prevents them from having to hand over sensitive operational information to third-party model vendors, who might otherwise use it to train rival systems or resell it to competitors.

For IT leaders and AI practitioners, integrating process intelligence is becoming essential for achieving a return on investment. Without a clear understanding of internal workflows, AI deployments risk failing to deliver meaningful automation. By grounding AI agents in the actual day-to-day processes of the business, companies can successfully redesign their operations and unlock the true value of agentic technology.