How do you balance the benefits and risks of process automation and integration?

Begin the process of determining which business processes can benefit from automation and integration by assessing the current processes. Identify processes that are repetitive, involve large quantities of data, and require high accuracy levels, and consider how automation and integration could improve these processes. After identifying the business processes that can benefit from automation and integration, evaluate the potential advantages, such as enhanced efficiency, increased accuracy, and reduced costs.

We live in a fast paced world. We want it and we want it now. Automation can do that for us. In my experience, automating workflow not only speeds up processes but it reduces human error. I've worked in companies where penalties are paid for errors and not meeting TAT (turn around time). If automated systems are created and integrated effectively these fees can kept to a minimum. They also have almost unlimited scale up and scale out abilities and it can be done fairly quickly. With a couple of changes to the code or database and regression testing the system's intake capacity can increased exponentially.

After assessing the potential advantages, assess the possible risks associated with automation and integration. These risks may include system downtime, data security breaches, and increased complexity.

In my experience with automation the benefits far outweigh the risks. However, there is still some risk. One largest impacts I've experienced in the automation world is that after a new workflow launch we had around 50,000 items fail. This created a bottleneck and the workflow came to a halt. Production stopped and we had to figure out what happened. The issue ended up being and OCR (optical character recognition) system that read forms incorrectly. We lowered the confidence level of the OCR so there was human review before they proceeded to the next step. Another risk for automation include technical issues (hardware or software), cyber security vulnerabilities and more. However, those same risks exist with or without automation.

Formulate plans to minimize the recognized risks, such as incorporating security protocols, redundancy plans, and backup systems.

Conduct thorough testing of the automated and integrated processes before deployment to detect and address any possible problems, and to guarantee that the system functions as intended. After deployment, carefully oversee the automated processes to verify that they are performing as intended and swiftly address any problems that may arise. As the organization's requirements evolve, periodically reassess the benefits and risks of the automated and integrated processes to guarantee that they remain aligned with the company's goals.

I include my stakeholders in the process from the beginning. They work with the workflow everyday so their input is key. I implemented stringent testing practices including, unit, black box, gray box, clear box, load, stress, regression, UAT and others. Create scenarios where you do the manual process and the the automated process. Compare the two and analyze the outcome. Adjust the automated processes as needed so it is more accurate. Load and stress testing are important for any automated system. Load the workflow until it breaks. Then back the load off in increments until you have sustainability without lag, break or bottleneck. Make sure the process is documented, end users are trained and monitor the process post go live.