SCALING INTELLIGENCE: FROM PILOT PROJECT TO STRATEGIC VALUE CREATION

FINANCE: ACCELERATED DUE DILIGENCE AND SYNERGY ANALYSIS 

CFO Stefan Patzke and his Executive Assistant Dr. Daniel M. Marks faced the task of analyzing four years of financial data from over a hundred entities. The data was unprocessed, distributed across numerous formats.

Instead of resource-intensive data cleansing, Gemini Deep Think enabled immediate strategic analysis of unstructured financial data. The system independently recognized patterns, reconstructed the corporate structure, and identified regional clusters as well as risks.

Through the use of AI, Kärcher received a strategic assessment of synergy potentials and inefficiencies that remained invisible in traditional reporting. For Stefan Patzke, this moment fundamentally changed his understanding of controlling: "Watching our company's logic emerge directly from the data." Decisions are now based on business logic that derives directly from the data.

Watching our company's logic emerge directly from the data.

GOVERNANCE & COMPLIANCE: SECURITY AS THE BASIS FOR SCALING 

Central governance and targeted upskilling ensure compliance at Kärcher (including EU AI Act) and minimize risks at maximum adoption rates. Over 70 percent of employees use AI tools regularly. The following scenarios show how AI enablement creates solutions that weren't in any project plan before: scaling and measurable impact included.

EXPLORE THE AI USE CASES

Finance  | Legal  | Engineering | Digital Platforms | Production | Leadership | Agent Factory

Kärcher proves that the new AI infrastructure creates scalable value even in highly sensitive areas. The team faced a complex international legal case involving ten years of history, multiple jurisdictions, and high information density.

Instead of weeks of manual review, the department deployed a combined solution of Gemini and NotebookLM. The AI analyzed 40–60 multilingual documents, instantly identifying contract amendments and structuring the timeline. Simultaneously, Gemini accelerated the preliminary review of international enforcement options.

This transformed the workflow from labor-intensive research into strategic validation: decisions are now made faster, based on a robust, AI-consolidated foundation.

The approach also proves its effectiveness in IT architecture. An outdated SharePoint archive with 1.5 million documents was at risk of a failed migration. Common APIs couldn't handle the load of unstructured formats, threatening the loss of ten years of history.

The solution: AI-assisted recovery of critical assets. A developer worked iteratively with Gemini Ultra. The AI analyzed complex structures, checked file formats, and wrote the necessary code for extraction.



Through the collaboration of human expertise and machine code logic, 97 percent of the legacy archive could be recovered. Critical technical history remained preserved and accessible.

THE RISE OF THE AGENTIC ENTERPRISE

Kärcher is redefining the industry standard. While many companies are still searching for isolated use cases, the world market leader in cleaning technology has strategically unlocked AI potential with Google: for all employees and every process.



From the workshop floor to the boardroom, artificial intelligence is part of the work culture. Data shows how the corporation thinks—and where immediate action can be taken. Every new Google innovation is directly translated into scalable business value.

The virtual agent team in action.

In manufacturing, SAP Signavio forms the backbone for quality and compliance. The tool documents production processes—but manual maintenance of process models often lagged behind reality.

A production team solved this bottleneck with a custom-developed BPMN agent. Instead of laboriously reconstructing workflows at a desk, employees simply film their work steps using a smartphone. The AI agent analyzes the video footage in Gemini Ultra, recognizes logical sequences, and automatically transfers implicit process knowledge into standardized, auditable models.



The result: Complete process models that can be directly imported and processed in Signavio. For Kärcher, this means a new form of process management. Knowledge from the factory floor becomes part of the digital architecture. Workflows that were previously difficult to capture are now available in a format that can be systematically evaluated, compared, and modernized.

From video to BPMN: How Gemini automatically transfers process knowledge to Signavio.

The cultural transformation extends to the top of the organization. AI assistance systems like NotebookLM fundamentally change how decisions are prepared: The tool automatically structures complex board materials, extracts decision-relevant key statements, and enables more efficient preparation for board meetings. This creates clarity and makes discussions more focused.

CEO Hartmut Jenner confirms how measurable AI use is at this level: By using Gemini, he saves approximately one hour of work time daily. This gain flows directly back into strategic leadership – away from information processing, toward decision-making.

What modern leadership looks like: AI-supported preparation and measurable time savings in top management.

To turn excellent individual solutions into a scalable system, Kärcher consolidates its architecture in the Agent Factory. The metaphor is strategy: Kärcher transfers industrial systematization to IT. The architecture is based on an API-first strategy (Google Apigee). This ensures seamless integration into enterprise systems (ERP, PLM) while maintaining the strictest security standards. This creates the foundation for true scaling: Once-developed connections are immediately available for all future projects. Thus, each new agent expands the shared system and makes it more powerful for the next deployment.

Deep Dive: Read the complete story at Google Cloud.

Use cases are structured, bundled, and converted into reusable agent patterns—the basis for scalable AI architecture.

CONCLUSION: SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVENESS THROUGH AI ADOPTION 

Kärcher demonstrates what dynamics emerge once AI becomes a daily tool for all employees. This broad anchoring makes hidden business logic visible and empowers subject matter experts to solve operational hurdles independently. Thus, Kärcher secures technological innovation and establishes a resilient organization that meets market dynamics with scalable AI solutions.

In project management too, AI replaces time-consuming meetings with automated workflows. Previously, evaluating new feature ideas was a tedious process of live meetings and scattered notes. As an early adopter of Google Workspace Studio, Kärcher automated the process: A virtual agent team now operates directly within the chat workflow. As soon as an idea emerges in chat, a "Brainstorming Gem" evaluates the proposal, a "Technical Gem" checks feasibility, and a "Final Gem" creates the user story.

About Kärcher

At Kärcher, a 16,000-strong team in 82 countries and 160 companies work together to make the world a little cleaner. As the market leader in cleaning technology, Kärcher offers global cleaning and care solutions and achieved a turnover of 3.446 billion euros in 2024.