Microsoft recently acquired the processing mining vendor Minit. We looked closely at Minit a little while back, and you can read our report on the company and its technology here. In our estimation, this is one of the best small acquisitions Microsoft has made in quite some time.

Though not a new concept, mining technology has come along leaps and bounds in recent years. Process and Task Mining tools (if you want to know the difference between the two, read here) are on a dizzying upward trajectory. In an age of enterprises wishing to reconfigure to meet ever-changing business environments, they play a crucial role in not only speeding up the business analysis of a transformation project. But also in keeping an eye on what is happening daily. Most organizations think they know their processes well; in reality, most are clueless about what is going on, and tools such as Minit give a fast and detailed insight into reality.

Microsoft has been on a roll these past few years, both in content management with their Syntex, Cortex, and Viva releases, bringing insight and structure to complex working situations. But also on a roll in their automation technologies, coming a long way from its start with SharePoint Designer 2010. Today, it has Power Automate, which provides pretty solid workflow capabilities. Last year it acquired RPA vendor Softomotive, and now Minit to round out the stack. For the price point, it’s rapidly becoming a solid and exciting stack of capabilities. Of course, Microsoft has the advantage over most. Almost everyone has a Microsoft license in place, so we will watch for interest how they eventually position Minit. If, as I suspect, they will bundle this essentially for free, then that will create some waves in the Process Mining world. That’s not to say there isn’t a larger market for alternative tools, but by default, it will block out many sales opportunities before they arise for its competitors.

And, though it’s likely pure coincidence, the announcement of the Minit acquisition was perfectly timed. Just days before, some observers were lauding the recent Celonis acquisition of PAF (Process Automation Factory) as it has been positioned as a leading provider of process mining for Microsoft products ouch….