Oklahoma saves USD $10 million with process intelligence

The US State of Oklahoma has reported substantial financial savings and operational improvements in its first year of deploying the Celonis Process Intelligence platform.

Oklahoma's collaboration with Celonis has led to savings exceeding USD $10 million, reflecting significant advancements in streamlining state operations and enhancing the management of taxpayer funds. Rick Rose, State Chief Operating Officer and Director of the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES), stated, "As the first US state to implement Celonis in 2023, Oklahoma has taken bold steps to modernise its operations and strengthen its stewardship of taxpayer funds."

Oklahoma has implemented an AI Copilot within the Celonis platform, particularly aiding procurement specialists and leadership in scrutinising flagged and exempt purchase orders. This technological integration has provided financial savings and efficiency improvements, allowing the state to reallocate resources to essential public services. Rose added, "By harnessing the power of Process Intelligence and AI, the State has boosted efficiency, streamlined workflows, and realised significant financial and operational improvements across its agencies."

OMES leverages AI to enhance transparency and supervise the expenditure of taxpayer dollars among Oklahoma's 118 agencies. The Celonis Process Intelligence platform enabled the identification of USD $190 million in flagged purchase card transactions, with USD $5.63 million in uncovered transactions earmarked for better control implementation.

Key benefits of the Celonis system include rapid data processing capabilities that review procurement data within minutes, in contrast to the previous manual processes consuming years. The platform has examined USD $29.4 billion worth of purchase order lines, significantly enhancing oversight and accountability.

This effort followed a legislative review that unveiled over USD $3 billion in state agency procurements that were not under OMES supervision, prompting increased oversight orders from the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency and the state governor. Janet Morrow, Director of OMES Risk, Assessment and Compliance, emphasised the improvements, "Previously, processing this amount of data would be time-consuming and expensive, requiring us to contract more than 45 people. Now we can do much more in a significantly shorter timeframe, saving thousands of hours in manual labour and tens of thousands of tax dollars in wages, allowing us to redirect our workforce to other areas where they're needed."

With Celonis, Oklahoma has improved multiple facets of its operations, from optimising procurement lifecycles to enhancing citizen services by reducing response times. "Oklahoma's commitment to innovation has transformed how we deliver services to our citizens," said Rose. "With Celonis, we've turned insights into action, demonstrating that data-driven decision-making yields measurable results for both government employees and taxpayers."

Mark Jacobs, SVP of North America at Celonis, acknowledged Oklahoma's initiative, saying, "Oklahoma's approach sets a benchmark for what is possible when government organisations embrace process intelligence. We are proud to support the State of Oklahoma in its mission to modernise government operations and deliver greater value to its citizens. By leveraging the power of Celonis, Oklahoma has not only boosted its efficiency but also transformed how its agencies operate."

Capitalising on the initial success, Oklahoma intends to broaden its use of the Celonis platform to further enhance its operational efficiency and uphold fiscal responsibility. Plans are underway to incorporate additional agencies into the initiative to extend the modernisation efforts across various state functions.