Celonis

“Seoul immediately impressed me with how immaculate, modern, and green it is. Even as a massive metropolis, it never felt overwhelming thanks to the parks and mountains integrated right into the city. But what stood out most was the people. Everyone I met was incredibly kind, respectful, and welcoming.

What the Work Actually Looks Like Ask a VE what they do all day and you won't hear about frameworks. You'll hear about businesses — and the people inside them. "We solve critical, real-world challenges — whether ensuring airplanes depart on time or accelerating R&D for new medicines. We tackle problems that directly impact both businesses and people's everyday lives." — Alex Helfer, Director, Value Engineering The other surprise is just how collaborative and human the role is.

Gustavo_speech.jpg From Execution Management consultant to leading a team of 11 Deployment Engineers, Gustavo Lascurain's four-and-a-half years at Celonis track the rise of a new kind of delivery career—one built on curiosity, ownership, and AI-augmented judgment. We sat down with him to talk about how the Celonis Services team in EMEA is delivering at the leading edge of Process Intelligence and AI.

The United States Department of War is currently navigating its most significant procurement pivot since the end of the Cold War. The rhetorical shift toward "Warfighting Acquisition Systems"—emphasizing the "85% solution" delivered at speed—is more than a change in branding. It is a strategic mandate to move away from "Soviet-style" prime contractor models that prioritize bureaucratic survival over operational effectiveness.

IMG_0535.jpg Our mission at Celonis is to make processes work for people, companies, and the planet. But creating breakthrough value requires giving Celonauts the space to challenge the status quo. This core belief is exactly why we launched the 2026 Celonis India Hackathon—the inaugural site-level hackathon at our India Center.

When I stepped into the role of Digital Transformation Officer (DTO) at Novo Nordisk three years ago, I had a clear mandate to transform our business by harnessing emerging technologies — without letting costs explode. Our guiding principle is simple: “patients are waiting.” We use data and technologies to create groundbreaking science and to get it to people as quickly as possible.

Context enables more efficient use of AI For sustainability, AI is a double-edged sword. While it undoubtedly delivers the means to optimize resource use and hit sustainability targets, it can also be resource-heavy when deployed without business context. Much of the discussion around AI's environmental impact has focused on model training and hyperscale data centers.

As the world’s technology leaders gather in Paris for VivaTech 2026, one question will dominate the conversations taking place across boardrooms, government delegations, startup stages, and innovation hubs: How do we turn AI’s promise into meaningful, scalable performance? AI excitement has never been greater.

I've walked through the three technical steps, but there's one final element I can't leave out: the cheering. At Celonis, we talk a lot about "context." True process improvement isn't just about mapping what is happening; it's about understanding why it's happening, including the background conditions that make the difference. Capturing that broader context is what separates a sustainable transformation from a surface-level fix. We brought that same mindset to the tournament streets.

https://delivery-p141552-e1488202.adobeaemcloud.com/adobe/assets/urn:aaid:aem:1f813b32-f2fc-4ceb-8ffc-b77b40832c19/as/large-260102_MSFT-AI-Tour-NYC_WebpageImages_Hero_1080x720px.jpg?preferwebp=true This post is based on the talk "No Shame, Just Pain: How We Migrated Away From Kubernetes 1.16" presented by Jannis Relakis and Michael Seiwald-McCarty at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon EU 2026, Amsterdam.