Microsoft is joining a hot trend in tech acquisitions: process mining.
The Redmond, Wash., company this morning announced the acquisition of Minit, a 50-person company based in Amsterdam that makes automated tools for identifying and untangling inefficiencies in business processes.
Microsoft’s deal comes two days after data processing company Celonis acquired Process Analytics Factory, a competitor to Minit that integrates with Microsoft’s Power BI data analytics and visualization platform.
It follows past deals in the process mining sector including SAP’s acquisition of Sigvanio, IBM’s acquisition of myInvenio, and Appian’s acquisition of Lana Labs.
Financial terms of Microsoft’s Minit acquisition were not disclosed. The company will be part of the Microsoft Process Insights team, reporting to Justin Graham, Microsoft GM of Process Insights.
Mary Jo Foley writes on ZDNet: “Microsoft had been dabbling around the edges of process mining with Power Automate, but as of the Minit acquisition, Microsoft now is a true player in the growing process-mining space.”
Minit employees will remain in their current locations, and the company will continue to market its current products with no change for existing customers, a Microsoft spokesperson said in response to our questions. Microsoft is in the early stages of determining how the Minit technology will be integrated into its products.
Minit CEO James Dening posted about the deal here.
It was tempting to say “it’s been a Minit” since Microsoft made an acquisition, but in a disappointment for headline writers everywhere, it’s pronounced mine-it, and Microsoft has been quite active on the M&A front, most notably its (much larger) pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and its recently completed Nuance deal.
