Apromore deal offers Salesforce customers fast time-to-value

In December 2022, Salesforce joined with existing investor GBTEC to invest $10.3 million as part of the Series B funding in process mining specialist Apromore. The move paved the way for enterprise customers to analyze their process data and trigger and execute suggested actions in Salesforce. Process owners will be able to identify and address bottlenecks, powering seamless process improvement.

This two-way integration with Salesforce should be live and delivering what Apromore describes as “round trip process mining” in Q2 2023. Currently, clients can leverage Apromore’s process mining tools to analyze data from the Salesforce Cloud and manually implement process improvements – essentially making it a one-way integration.

This transaction is more interesting than most process intelligence M&A activity because it’s Salesforce’s money being invested, likely fast-tracking the impact on Salesforce’s extensive customer base. Apromore started playing in the Salesforce ecosystem last year via its MuleSoft Connector for Salesforce. The connector allows clients to ingest Salesforce data and leverage it in Apromore’s process mining tool suite to identify bottlenecks and opportunities for process improvement. But Apromore had no formal relationship with Salesforce—until now.

Customers will see faster time-to-value thanks to adaptors and templates

The investment represents just less than half the funds Apromore has raised to date, so Apromore’s future may be hitched to Salesforce’s wagon from here on. It’s worth noting that the investment is merely a drop in the ocean for Salesforce – and it comes at a time the firm is making headlines for announcing cost-cutting measures. However, the partnership it represents will put Apromore’s process mining tools in the hands of Salesforce clients and give them a new and more accessible opportunity to explore process mining within their organizations. The first benefit Salesforce clients will see is faster time-to-value, thanks to a catalog of out-the-box process adaptors and templates designed to deliver proof-of-value to large organizations in six to eight weeks.

Apromore took Series A funding in the summer of 2020, increasing the firm’s total funding to $23.3 million. The Australia-based company is planning a careful geographic expansion. Almost half of the vendor’s clients are based in Europe. It plans to drive further regional growth and has already established a new team in the UK. A dedicated team for North America, where less than 15% of its clients reside, will follow in the first quarter of 2023.

The Bottom Line: Apromore should be on Salesforce clients’ shortlist for process mining vendors, but it’s not a guaranteed winner.

This partnership and investment give Apromore a good route into the Salesforce ecosystem, especially given it is Salesforce’s first investment in the world of process mining. For Salesforce clients, it makes Apromore a vendor worth considering, especially if it delivers the promised “round-trip process mining” through two-way integration, complementing its existing capabilities, which we outline here.

However, while Apromore certainly has an advantage given Salesforce’s investment, there’s no guarantee its idea of “round-trip process mining” will be unique as its peers continue to invest in their Salesforce capabilities. All eyes are on Salesforce to see how exclusive this partnership with Apromore will be. Further, if there is a significant uptake from Salesforce’s thousands of clients, Apromore’s relatively small size could become a challenge; Apromore must execute its expansion plans effectively.