A Perfect Partnership – Lean Six Sigma and Celonis

The power of data
I do still believe that deep diving to fully understand the true root causes and utilizing data to help you to make decisions when you are looking to deliver improvements is beneficial.

However, on a previous project I had the pleasure of working with a Celonis expert and a client that had Celonis integrated with their systems. This enabled me to see the opportunities that existed within the Celonis platform, using the customer’s real data, driven from the actions of their staff performing real time activities.

Validating Process Observations with Real-Time Data
Having the data available to us from Celonis helped us to compare the process execution that was documented by the deployment of Celonis, created using SME experts and process documentation, against what we observed with our own eyes. This helped us validate with both our data and the Celonis data what was really happening, where there was variation and defects within the process.

Collaboration Between Experts
The real benefit to approaching the project with both Lean Six Sigma and Celonis experts was certainly when we came to validate our understandings, before ruling in and out potential opportunities for the business to improve.

By sitting with an advisor, we could identify the off-system waste that wasn’t captured by Celonis or detailed in the process documentation. By observing these gaps, we could play back issues the business didn’t even know existed, and therefore would have remained unresolved without this insight. After all, you can’t fix what you can’t see!

The Limitations of Process Observations
On the flip side, when you observe a process, you only know what you are shown. Celonis was able to show us things that the business believed were part of their process but that we hadn’t observed ourselves. This allowed us to ask the right questions and gain clarity on why certain elements were missing from our observations.

Driving better conversations
By working hand in hand with Celonis we were able to have the right conversations to understand why certain things were missing from the observation, whether it was because those cases weren’t in the queue, the staff weren’t following the documented process, or the process had changed and needed to be updated in the relevant process maps and systems.

A Holistic View for Better Solutions
After 10 years as a Lean Six Sigma expert, I can honestly say that adding Celonis to the tried-and-tested Lean Six Sigma methodology is hugely beneficial. It gives us a 360-degree view of the process, quickly validates our understanding, and directs us to potential opportunities we might not have seen otherwise. I highly recommend this approach to provide a clear, holistic view of operations, enabling you to deliver the best solutions for next level business efficiency.

Discover how Roboyo can provide valuable process insights for your business – book a meeting with our team today.