For decades, organisations have searched for better ways to improve how work gets done. We have called it Continuous Improvement, Lean, Six Sigma, Business Excellence, Operational Excellence, Digital Transformation and, more recently, Digital Process Excellence.

Now AI, process mining, intelligent automation, digital twins and increasingly autonomous systems are changing the nature of work again.

So perhaps it is time to ask a slightly uncomfortable question:

Does the term “Process Excellence” still adequately describe what we are trying to achieve?

Or do we need a new term for improving processes in a world where people, data, automation and AI increasingly operate as one connected system?

The temptation, of course, is to invent another label. But before doing that, it is worth considering what has actually changed.

Process Excellence was never really about the tools

At its simplest, Process Excellence is about designing and continuously improving the way work gets done so that an organisation can deliver better outcomes.

Lean helped us understand waste and flow. Six Sigma gave us powerful approaches for understanding variation and solving problems using data. Continuous Improvement encouraged organisations to make improvement part of everyday work. Operational Excellence broadened the discussion to include leadership, culture, management systems and organisational capability.

The tools evolved, but the fundamental objective remained remarkably consistent:

Make the process better.

That objective is as relevant today as it has ever been.

What has changed dramatically is the environment in which processes operate.

The modern process is becoming a very different system

Think about a traditional business process. A person receives information, makes a decision, performs an activity and passes the work to the next person.

Now consider the emerging process.

Information may arrive automatically from connected systems. An algorithm may identify an exception. AI may analyse the information and recommend an action. A human may approve the recommendation. A workflow platform may trigger several activities simultaneously. An AI agent may complete some of those activities independently. Real-time analytics may monitor performance and automatically escalate emerging problems.

The process has not disappeared.

It has actually become more important and more complex.

The modern process is increasingly a combination of:

People + Process + Data + Technology + Intelligence

That raises a significant question for Process Excellence. Are our traditional approaches broad enough to optimise this type of system?

Digital Transformation did not replace Process Excellence

For a period, Digital Transformation appeared to offer the answer.

The argument was compelling. Organisations needed to modernise systems, digitise processes, connect data, automate activities and create new digital operating models.

But many transformation programmes discovered something important: technology does not remove the need for good process design.

A poor process implemented in a modern workflow platform remains a poor process. An unnecessary approval does not become value-adding because it is completed electronically. Automating a badly designed workflow can simply make the waste happen faster.

And AI does not fundamentally change this principle.

If the workflow is fragmented, ownership unclear, decision logic poorly understood and data unreliable, adding intelligence to the system may increase complexity rather than reduce it.

Digital Transformation therefore cannot sit separately from Process Excellence.

It needs to become part of it.

Perhaps “Digital Process Excellence” is closer

One possible term is Digital Process Excellence.

There is logic to it. It recognises that modern process improvement needs to combine traditional improvement thinking with process mining, automation, analytics, AI and digital workflow design.

It also helps reposition digital technology as an enabler of process performance rather than an objective in itself.

But there is also a potential problem.

Adding “digital” to Process Excellence may unintentionally suggest that technology is the defining feature.

It isn’t.

A process can be technologically sophisticated and operationally poor. Equally, a simple process involving relatively little technology can be exceptionally effective.

The objective should never be to create the most digital process.

The objective is to create the best process.

Sometimes that will involve AI and automation. Sometimes it will involve eliminating three approvals, simplifying a form or allowing somebody closer to the work to make a decision.

What about Intelligent Process Excellence?

As AI becomes embedded in operations, we may increasingly hear terms such as Intelligent Process Excellence or Intelligent Operations.

These terms capture another important shift. Processes are moving from simply being digital to becoming increasingly capable of analysing information, predicting outcomes, recommending actions and, in some cases, acting autonomously.

Process mining can show how the process actually behaves. Predictive analytics can identify what is likely to happen next. AI can support decisions. Intelligent automation can execute activities. Digital twins can help test alternative operating scenarios.

This moves us beyond digitisation towards processes that can increasingly sense, learn, predict and respond.

“Intelligent Process Excellence” therefore has appeal.

But again, intelligence is only one component of excellence.

A highly intelligent process with poor governance, weak human oversight or badly designed objectives is not an excellent process.

Maybe the word we should focus on is “excellence”

Perhaps we do not need a new term at all.

Maybe we simply need to redefine what Process Excellence means for the modern organisation.

Process Excellence in the future should not be synonymous with Lean tools, Six Sigma projects or process mapping. Nor should it become another name for technology implementation.

It should represent the ability to continually design, operate and improve systems of work that combine people, processes, data and intelligent technology to deliver better outcomes.

That definition creates room for traditional improvement disciplines and emerging digital capabilities.

Lean remains relevant because waste still exists.

Six Sigma remains relevant because variation still exists.

Root cause analysis remains relevant because problems still occur.

Change management remains relevant because people still need to adopt new ways of working.

But we now add process mining, AI, automation, predictive analytics, digital twins and real-time process intelligence to the improvement toolbox.

The toolbox becomes larger.

The objective remains the same.

The skills of the Process Excellence professional will change

This evolution has important implications for the people working in Process Excellence.

The future practitioner cannot simply be an expert in Lean tools or Six Sigma methodology.

They increasingly need to understand processes as socio-technical systems.

They need process improvement skills, but also data literacy. They need to understand process mining and workflow design. They need sufficient knowledge of automation and AI to recognise where those technologies can create value. They need systems thinking to understand interactions across functions. They need change leadership to bring people through redesign.

Most importantly, they need critical thinking.

The question is no longer simply:

“Where is the waste?”

It is increasingly:

“What is the best combination of people, process, data and technology to deliver this outcome?”

That is a much broader and more interesting challenge.

The sequence still matters

Whatever terminology eventually emerges, one principle should remain central.

We should not start with the technology.

Start by understanding the outcome.

Then understand the process.

Identify the waste, bottlenecks, variation, rework and unnecessary complexity.

Redesign the workflow.

Develop the people who operate and improve it.

Create the organisational structures, ownership and decision rights required to sustain it.

Manage the change.

Then determine where technology, automation and AI can genuinely make the process better.

In simple terms:

Fix the process. Develop the people. Design the organisation. Manage the change. Apply the technology.

That sequence may ultimately be more important than whatever name we give the discipline.

So, do we need a new term?

Possibly.

Digital Process Excellence captures the convergence of improvement and digital capability.

Intelligent Process Excellence may better describe a future in which AI becomes embedded throughout workflows.

Process Innovation emphasises that organisations increasingly need to redesign rather than incrementally improve processes.

But perhaps continuously inventing new terminology risks repeating the same mistake.

Lean, Operational Excellence and Digital Transformation were never valuable because of their names. They were valuable when they changed how organisations worked.

The same should apply to whatever comes next.

Perhaps the future does not require us to replace the term Process Excellence.

Perhaps it requires us to expand what Process Excellence means.

It is no longer simply about improving individual activities or removing waste. It is about designing intelligent, connected and human-centred systems of work that can continuously learn and improve.

The technology will continue to change.

The terminology will undoubtedly change with it.

But the fundamental question will remain remarkably familiar:

How do we design a better way of getting the work done?

Maybe that has always been Process Excellence.

We just need to start thinking about it differently.