Even the largest institutions can lose sight of how systems actually function. Business insights — the ability to understand how operations actually run, not just how they’re designed to — has become increasingly essential for complex organizations.

That lack of internal visibility, especially in environments as wide-ranging as the U.S. Army and Department of War, can delay decisions, waste resources and reduce operational efficiency, according to Robert M. Speer (pictured, left), former acting secretary of the Army at the U.S. Department of War, and Tom Steffens, (right), former deputy chief financial officer at the U.S. Department of War. Understanding business processes as they actually unfold has become mission-critical.

Former U.S. Department of War’s Robert M. Speer talks with theCUBE about how Celonis helps enable faster innovation and improved public accountability.

“We thought we had really good processes,” Steffens told theCUBE. “We thought we were following those processes, but I think what we’re learning is [that] process intelligence gives us [the] opportunity to really see ourselves. This is the missing piece of the puzzle for us to take a look at that and say, ‘Wow.’”

Speer and Steffens met with theCUBE’s Rob Strechay at Celosphere 25, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the scale and complexity of military operations, the value of real-time insights and how modern tools from Celonis SE are enabling faster innovation and improved public accountability. (* Disclosure below.)

Business insights at scale

Scale is the challenge, according to Speer. Military functions span logistics, finance and personnel systems, with overlapping responsibilities and outdated assumptions that can take years to untangle. Modern tools are speeding that process up and grounding decisions in real-time visibility

“The complexity of the United States Army or the Department of War is amazing,” Speer said. “In an agile world that’s trying to transform and keep up with the application today, you need the business intelligence, the process intelligence of … a Celonis, to be able to see how it’s going and how to make reactions better. We can help the Department of War [and] the Department of the Army … innovate faster if we understand our business intelligence, our process intelligence, better.”

The ability to connect upward-facing reports and internal decision-making has long been a challenge in public finance. Celonis’ tools are helping close that gap across public-sector environments, particularly in areas tied to financial transparency and leadership decision-making, according to Steffens.

“There are two types of accounting: Financial and managerial,” he said. “The financial we look at for us … that’s the upward reporting to the treasury and Congress. But… that managerial accounting is also important. That informs the leadership. ‘Are we making good, cost-informed decisions?’ A Celonis solution will much, much better inform that.”

Data integrity matters across the board, from congressional audits to battlefield decisions. Making meaningful progress starts with making data trustworthy, which in turn leads to business insights, according to Speer. Without that foundation, any system can fail under pressure.

“If the data’s not right, I can’t do the things I need to [in] the future to better perform,” he said. “It’s not only the accuracy and the transparency, which is important to Congress and our stakeholders, the American population, but it’s also important to the war fighter that the data I’m giving you, whether it’s logistical or financial, that this is based on, is actionable data that makes a decision.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Celosphere 25:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Celosphere 25. Neither Celonis, the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE