Starbucks drives efficiency with digital process automation

The Business Issue

With a mission to nurture the limitless possibilities of human connection, Starbucks recognized that legacy systems and processes were creating inefficiencies across their complex, multinational operations. As a global leader with 38,000 stores across 86 markets, inconsistent process automation and disconnected digital workflows led to further bottlenecks and missed opportunities for optimization.

They knew that to deliver on their mission, they’d need to keep their digital operations as smooth and well-tuned as their espresso machines. Having tested the waters with business process management (BPM) in 2018, Starbucks saw that a more comprehensive digital process automation (DPA) strategy was essential to streamline operations and support their growing global footprint.

The goal: Optimize workflows, reduce manual tasks, and create a seamless digital experience that would make work feel as efficient as their best baristas during the morning rush.

The Solution

Starbucks implemented Pega and established a robust center of excellence (COE) dedicated to DPA. Since its inception, Starbucks’ DPA COE has evolved from a loosely organized group to a formal unit leveraging advanced Pega capabilities, BPM, and robotic process automation (RPA) for end-to-end process automation. The COE strategically aligned technology and business teams to enhance cross-functional collaboration, provide tailored support, and centralize governance.

Key phases of the initiative included:

• Exploration and foundation: Starbucks began in 2018 with foundational BPM projects, and then gradually piloted RPA in 2019, establishing a COE to structure and oversee automation efforts. Pega provided architectural guidance and connections to similar organizations, supporting early COE development.
• Robust governance and continuous improvement: Starbucks implemented an agile yet robust governance model, creating standardized protocols and security measures that allowed BPM and RPA to operate seamlessly across finance, supply chain, and retail domains. The company also prioritized continuous improvement, setting aside resources to adapt to evolving technology and business needs, ensuring sustained value.
• Adoption and expansion: From 2020 to 2021, Starbucks began a broader adoption across global business units, establishing repeatable RPA use cases and BPM applications for finance and other core functions.

The Results

Using Pega, Starbucks achieved substantial efficiency gains and cost savings across its global operations:

• Operational efficiency: Starbucks expanded its automation portfolio to over 40 RPA use cases and 15 BPM applications – achieving a twofold annual growth rate in process automation use cases. This structured approach provided significant cost savings, lowered the per-use-case cost, and drove operational efficiencies, with RPA implementations alone saving thousands of hours in manual tasks annually.
• Enhanced governance and stability: Their COE’s unified approach to automation established stronger governance, reducing errors, and ensuring consistency in process execution. BPM applications, such as the data privacy portal for compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), handled high-volume requests with increased accuracy and transparency, reducing regulatory risk.
• Strategic scalability and innovation: By leveraging the Pega Platform™, Starbucks integrated both RPA and BPM into a comprehensive, end-to-end automation ecosystem. This enabled the company to bring data transparency and streamlined workflows into areas like product data management and real estate transactions. Looking forward, Starbucks is exploring citizen development within Pega to enable global business teams to create and iterate on smaller applications autonomously.
• Sustained value creation: Starbucks’ COE achieved continuous improvement in BPM and RPA applications, maintaining system flexibility while reducing the need for complete process overhauls. This ongoing improvement, coupled with a solid platform and agile architecture, ensures that Starbucks can continue to drive productivity and efficiency across new and existing use cases well into the future.