Bastian Nominacher has created a novelty with Celonis: a digital world market leader in Germany. Celonis, the first German startup worth ten billion dollars, has created its own segment in the digital economy with so-called process mining. Behind this is the search for inefficiencies in companies by analyzing all available data. "Deutsche Telekom has saved more than 60 million euros in its financial processes because things like double payments, unnecessary loss of discounts or multiple processing were avoided," Nominacher told the FAZ podcast. The artificial intelligence recognizes who an incoming invoice is to be assigned to and forwards it directly to the correct clerk.
At the beginning it was not foreseeable that Celonis would one day be so big. “When we started we couldn't find any sponsors. Three students in a high-tech area - there was a lot of skepticism, ”recalls Nominacher of the start-up phase after graduating from the Technical University of Munich. In the meantime there is enough money for the early phase of the young companies. “But in the middle to later phases, when it is in the range of 50 or several 100 million euros, then we are still not well positioned in Germany. For example, the pension funds are not allowed to invest their funds in startups. Also very important: the large DAX companies and the state must invest more intensively than anchor investors in startups. This requires a certain risk awareness, but enables a completely different level of innovation.Then we could achieve a lot more with AI startups in Germany, ”says Nominacher.
The episode is part of our podcast "Artificial Intelligence". He explores the questions of what AI can do, where it is used, what has already changed and what contribution it can make in the future. For the podcast, the FAZ has brought two recognized AI experts on board: Peter Buxmann and Holger Schmidt: Both research and teach the potential of AI and its effects on business and work at the Technical University of Darmstadt. Peter Buxmann holds the chair for business informatics and has been dealing with the applications of AI, digital transformation and data-based business models for many years. His podcast partner Holger Schmidt is a digital economist, speaker and author. His core topics are AI, platform economy and digital business models.
The two hosts take up a new aspect of artificial intelligence in each episode, explain connections and give precise classifications. The episodes are around thirty minutes long and appear on the first Monday of each month.