PEX Network’s weekly bulletin rounds up the latest industry vendor news including product releases/updates, mergers and acquisitions, partnerships and leadership changes.
This week includes:
- IBM signs European Commission AI Pact
- SAP unveils Net Zero as a Service to tackle climate change
- IDP vendor DeepOnion closes €11 million Series A funding round
- Celonis launches new business transformation solution
- iGrafx expands footprint in Japan
- Accenture reports fiscal results for 2024
IBM signs European Commission AI Pact
Multinational technology and process mining company IBM signed the European Commission’s (EC) AI Pact, a set of voluntary company pledges to further industry adoption of best practices for high-risk AI and help create the right conditions for future compliance with the EU AI Act.
By signing the AI Pact, IBM pledges to implement AI governance strategies and work towards compliance, according to Jean-Marc Leclerc, director of EU affairs at IBM. This includes mapping high-risk AI systems and deployments and promoting AI literacy and awareness among employees and clients. “These commitments reflect and build on efforts the company has had in place for years as part of its long-standing focus on bringing powerful technology into the world responsibly,” Leclerc added.
AI will be the biggest operational excellence (OPEX) and business transformation investment area over the next 12 months, according to the PEX Report 2024/25. More than half of surveyed businesses (58 percent) have discussed potential AI projects to drive OPEX and transformation objectives. The areas where AI is being leveraged the most are in operations (35 percent), customer service and call centers (29 percent) and data processing and management (24 percent).
Thought leader Doug Shannon discusses the impact of AI on intelligent automation
SAP unveils Net Zero as a Service to tackle climate change
Business solutions giant SAP SE announced a new partnership with Ambipar to bring Net Zero as a Service to customers and support the fight against climate change. Net Zero as a Service combines SAP’s cloud solutions with Ambipar’s deep carbon credit generation and trading expertise to help customers manage and offset carbon emissions. SAP’s ERP-centric and AI-enabled solutions will provide end-to-end carbon management, allowing customers to establish a common data foundation and make granular and timely decisions, according to a press release. Customers can neutralize emissions by purchasing internationally certified carbon credits through Ambipar’s technology platform AMBIFY, available on the SAP Store, it added.
“SAP customers are increasingly seeking ways to measure and offset their carbon emissions,” said Adriana Aroulho, president of SAP Brazil. “Through Net Zero as a Service and our partnership with Ambipar, SAP is building on our commitment to deliver comprehensive sustainability management solutions and empowering our customers to become future-ready businesses.”
IDP vendor DeepOnion closes €11 million Series A funding round
Intelligent document processing (IDP) vendor DeepOnion closed an €11 million (over $12 million) Series A funding round. The funding round was co-led by VC fund Red River West and VC platform AIpha Intelligence Capital, with participation from existing investors Stride.VC and Lunar Ventures, the firm stated.
“Raising our Series A feels like a huge milestone – not just for DeepOpinion but for everyone involved and supporting us from day one,” said Stefan Ramershoven, co-founder of DeepOpinion. “Stefan Engl and I started this journey realizing that traditional automation and AI technology hit a wall when it comes to unstructured data – emails, documents, messages – the messy stuff that actually runs businesses and keeps people busy. This was unacceptable for us. We’ve figured out how to automate complex knowledge work with agentic business apps. This Series A is the beginning of a fresh chapter. It’s a testament to the incredible team we’ve built and the customers who’ve trusted us to transform their businesses.”
Celonis launches new business transformation solution
Process mining and process intelligence leader Celonis announced a new solution for business transformation. Launched in partnership with enterprise architecture (EA) company Ardoq, the solution creates an enhanced DTO that shows the correlation between IT operations and business process performance, enabling CIOs to align technology investments with business priorities. The solution:
- Integrates business processes and supporting IT for a multi-dimensional perspective of the organization.
- Quantifies the impact of IT initiatives on key business metrics.
- Combines a process digital twin from Celonis with the context of how processes and systems relate to company strategy.
- Supports the analysis of the quantitative business impact of IT systems using process intelligence.
“Today’s CIO must strike a balance between running the business by optimizing IT and empowering the business through digital transformation,” said Eugenio Cassiano, SVP strategy and innovation at Celonis. “This new solution from Celonis and Ardoq gives CIOs unprecedented visibility into how IT and business performance relate to each other. It empowers them to make more informed strategic IT decisions and accurately track the business impact of system transformation initiatives.”
Ryan Mayer, Siemens Healthineers, explains how to manage mindsets during times of change
iGrafx expands footprint in Japan
Process intelligence vendor iGrafx announce a strategic consulting partnership with BiXi Consulting, the newly formed arm of NTT DATA INTRAMART. The partnership aims to help organizations across Japan achieve successful digital transformation by combining BiXi Consulting’s business consulting services with the integrated technology platforms of NTT DATA INTRAMART and iGrafx, according to a press release. Clients will use the intra-mart Accel Platform integrated with iGrafx’s innovative Process360 Live capabilities to leverage comprehensive digital twin of an organization (DTO) solutions that address both technological and business needs, it added.
“We were looking for strategic technology and consulting partners to help us expand our footprint in Japan and to meet a growing need for digital transformation,” said Alexandre Wentzo, CEO of iGrafx.
Accenture reports fiscal results for 2024
Accenture reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year ended August 31, 2024. It’s fourth quarter results reflected strong new bookings with a broad-based revenue uptick across all geographic markets, industry groups and services. Total revenue was US$16.4 billion, an increase of 5 percent in local currency, with a 6 percent increase in North America.
Accenture’s full-year performance indicated record new bookings, earnings growth above revenue and significant cash return to shareholders. Total revenue was $64.9 billion, an increase of 2 percent in local currency, and $30.7 billion in North America.
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