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Business Orchestration & Automation Technologies (BOAT)

Evolve from a BPM system to BOAT.

Decisions delivers the next level of automation through BOAT-aligned enterprise-wide orchestration that unifies decisions, systems, and AI.
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What is BOAT?

Business Orchestration & Automation Technology (BOAT) is the next generation of automation platforms. Defined as a new category by Gartner in late 2025, it unifies agents, workflows, rules, data, integrations, and humans into one centrally governed control plane—so every system, model, and agent operates consistently, safely, and at scale.

BOAT goes beyond traditional BPM. It doesn’t just automate processes. It orchestrates the entire business ecosystem, ensuring logic, data, and AI behave predictably across applications.

What is BOAT

Why BOAT matters.

As organizations adopt more AI, agents, and distributed systems, fragmentation becomes a major risk.
Logic drifts. AI behaves inconsistently. Compliance becomes harder to enforce.

BOAT solves this by providing:

One orchestration layer for workflows, rules, API calls, and AI actions

One orchestration layer for workflows, rules, API calls, and AI actions

Unified business logic that eliminates duplication across systems

Unified business logic that eliminates duplication across systems

Deterministic governance that controls every model and agent

Deterministic governance that controls every model and agent

Real-time automation for event-driven, multi-system operations

Real-time automation for event-driven, multi-system operations

BOAT is how modern enterprises standardize and safeguard automation in the AI era.

BOAT orchestrates the enterprise. A BPMS automates the parts.

BOAT vs traditional BPMS.

BOAT
Enterprise-wide orchestration
Unifies workflows, rules, AI models, systems, and data into one coordinated execution layer.
Rules and decisions at the core
Business logic, policies, and decision services are centrally modeled and governed.
Adaptive and agent-enabled
AI and agents operate within controlled workflows—not as isolated tools.
AI-native and execution-ready
Moves beyond insight to action by combining LLM reasoning with deterministic execution.
Centralized control and governance
Built-in auditability, versioning, and oversight across the automation lifecycle.
TRADITIONAL BPMS
Process- and task-centric
Optimizes predefined workflows within individual departments or use cases.
Limited decision management
Business rules are often embedded in process flows or externalized inconsistently.
AI as add-on capability
AI services are integrated as tools rather than core orchestration components.
Workflow-centric execution
Strong at routing tasks, but less suited for dynamic, cross-system decisioning.
Fragmented governance
Oversight varies across workflows, integrations, and automation tools.

Why Decisions is a BOAT platform.

Decisions brings together everything BOAT requires—natively.

Unified Rules +
Workflow Orchestration

Most BPMS platforms rely on external rules engines. Decisions has a full enterprise rules engine as its core and dynamic decisioning integrated directly into workflows, making it ideal for governing AI and enforcing policy across systems.

Unified Rules and Workflow Orchestration

A Centralized Control Plane
for AI and Automation

The platform orchestrates:

  • AI models
  • AI agents
  • Prompts
  • Workflows
  • Rules
  • Integrations

Every action passes through deterministic logic, ensuring safety, consistency, and compliance.

A Centralized Control Plane for AI and Automation

Full Ecosystem Integration

Connects to any system—core, cloud, legacy, or AI—without rewriting or replacing existing technology. BOAT’s modernization advantage allows you to get more from the core instead of ripping and replacing.

Full Ecosystem Integration

Designed for Real-Time,
Event-Driven Enterprises

Handles high-volume decisions, cross-system triggers, and adaptive workflows with sub-second response times.

Designed for Real-Time, Event-Driven Enterprises

Built for Governance,
Auditability, and AI Safety

BOAT requires visibility into how decisions are made. Decisions delivers:

  • Full audit trails
  • Explainable rule execution
  • Version control
  • Policy enforcement
  • Human-in-the-loop oversight
Built for Governance, Auditability, and AI Safety

The future of enterprise automation.

AI is transforming how work gets done—but without orchestration, AI introduces chaos, not efficiency. BOAT creates the deterministic foundation AI needs to operate safely and consistently.

BOAT is how enterprises will:

  • Govern AI models and agents
  • Standardize business logic
  • Modernize legacy systems
  • Accelerate enterprise-scale automation
  • Reduce fragmentation across apps and data
  • Ensure compliance in an AI-first world
The future of enterprise automation

BOAT is the control enterprises need now and in the future.

Discover how Decisions delivers BOAT for modern enterprises.

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FAQs

BOAT stands for Business Orchestration & Automation Technology. It represents a new generation of enterprise automation platforms that unify workflows, rules, systems, data, AI models, agents, and humans under a single, governed control plane.

Traditional BPMS platforms focus on automating individual processes or task flows. BOAT goes further by orchestrating enterprise-wide logic and behavior—coordinating decisions, systems, and AI across journeys, channels, and applications with centralized governance and auditability.

Gartner introduced BOAT to reflect how enterprise automation has evolved beyond workflow automation alone. As organizations adopt AI, agents, and distributed systems, they need platforms that can orchestrate decisions, automation, and governance together—not as separate tools. BOAT formalizes this shift toward unified, enterprise-wide orchestration in the AI era.

No. While BPM focuses on modeling and automating processes, BOAT provides a control plane that governs how processes, decisions, AI models, and agents interact across the enterprise. AI is one component—but BOAT ensures AI operates within deterministic rules, policies, and workflows rather than in isolation.

Without orchestration, AI introduces fragmentation, inconsistent logic, and governance risk. BOAT provides deterministic decision paths, centralized policy enforcement, and full auditability—ensuring AI and agents behave predictably, safely, and in compliance across systems.

Decisions combines enterprise rules, workflows, integrations, and AI orchestration natively within a single platform. It delivers centralized control, deterministic governance, real-time event handling, and full auditability—core requirements of BOAT.