How Process Mining is Revolutionizing B2B eCommerce

Guest post by Carlos Camacho: A revenue-driven executive creating best-in-class B2B eCommerce solutions, expert in strategy, team leadership, and global commerce. Skilled at transforming complex data into actionable strategies.

A Strategic Guide for eCommerce Business Leaders

In the fast-paced world of B2B eCommerce, operational excellence isn’t just an advantage, it’s survival. Many business leaders operate without a clear view of how their critical processes actually work versus how they think they work.

Enter process mining: a data-driven technology transforming how B2B companies optimize operations. Industry surveys suggest over 80% of organizations plan to integrate process mining by 2025, and early adopters are already seeing significant results.

What is Process Mining and Why B2B Leaders Should Care

Think of process mining as an MRI for your business processes. Every IT system in your organization—ERP, CRM, eCommerce platform, or warehouse management system—creates digital footprints (event logs). Process mining software analyzes these logs to reconstruct process flows, uncovering bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and variations traditional methods often miss.

This approach delivers insights quickly: instead of months of manual mapping and interviews, process mining provides data-backed visibility in days or weeks, analyzing 100% of cases, not just samples.

Real Results from Process Mining

Leading companies have demonstrated tangible benefits:

• Deutsche Telekom: Saved over €66 million in one year by optimizing procurement, eliminating duplicate vendor payments, and capturing missed discounts.
• Vodafone: Reduced order processing costs from $3.22 to $2.85 per order. An 11.5% improvement achieved through automation opportunities revealed by process mining.
• ALDI SÜD: Connected 16 systems and analyzed 23 supply chain processes, examining over 2 billion transaction events. Result: €3.1 million in value realized or costs avoided and 165 active business users leveraging insights for continuous improvement.

Strategic Business Impact for B2B eCommerce

Process mining delivers three key advantages for executives:

• End-to-End Visibility: Understand the full customer journey across all systems, uncovering delays and process variants affecting outcomes.
• Agility and Continuous Improvement: Monitor operations continuously and respond in near real-time to market or supply chain changes.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Shift from opinion-based to evidence-based decisions, focusing on fixing processes rather than assigning blame.

High-Impact Use Cases for B2B Companies

• Order-to-Cash Optimization: Reduce order delays, payment bottlenecks, and cancellations by identifying process variants causing inefficiencies.
• Procurement and Supply Chain: Optimize Purchase-to-Pay processes, eliminate maverick buying, and capture contract compliance savings.
• Customer Service Excellence: Analyze service requests to reduce repeated contacts, streamline escalations, and improve customer satisfaction.
• Compliance and Risk Management: Monitor 100% of transactions for regulatory adherence, preventing costly violations.

Starting Your Process Mining Journey

1. Choose High-Impact Processes: Start with revenue-critical processes like order fulfillment that generate rich digital records.
2. Assemble the Right Team: Include business owners, data analysts, and IT support. Executive sponsorship is critical for cross-departmental alignment.
3. Focus on Quick Wins: Identify and address obvious bottlenecks or compliance issues to demonstrate early value.
4. Scale Systematically: Expand successful pilots to other processes and consider establishing a Process Mining Center of Excellence.

Choosing the Right Technology

Key factors for selecting a process mining platform:

• Strong integration with ERP and eCommerce systems
• Real-time monitoring and operational management
• Integration with automation tools like RPA
• Scalability to handle high transaction volumes

Platforms like Celonis and ServiceNow lead the market with enterprise-grade capabilities.

The Competitive Advantage of Process Excellence

B2B markets value reliability and execution. Process mining enables “execution management”: ensuring processes run optimally every day. Businesses can quickly address rush orders or supply chain disruptions, maintaining service levels and building customer trust.

Future Trends in Process Mining

Emerging trends include:

• AI Integration: Predictive analytics anticipate delays and support proactive intervention.
• Real-Time Monitoring: Immediate alerts for process deviations.
• Object-Centric Mining: Advanced analysis for complex B2B processes involving orders, products, customers, and suppliers.

Next Steps for B2B Leaders

• Assess critical processes and the quality of their digital records
• Build internal awareness about process mining capabilities
• Plan a pilot with a high-impact process
• Prepare for change management: focus on improvement, not blame

The Bottom Line

Process mining is reshaping how B2B companies understand and improve operations. With complete visibility, continuous improvement, and data-driven decisions, companies gain a competitive edge. Early adoption positions your business as a leader rather than a follower, delivering operational resilience and superior customer experiences.

Disclaimer: The views expressed are Carlos Camacho’s and do not reflect his employer’s position. This content is for informational purposes and does not constitute endorsement of any company, product, or service.