How do you manage the change and adoption of process automation?

Process Automation ... Do you automate your processes as they are or do you re-engineer them first? Very rarely should you automate the current state without optimization. Many (if not most) processes I have encountered across all businesses and functions were designed for people to complete. Technology solutions (bots aka automations) interact with software applications in different (often faster) ways than people. Designing bots to copy human actions usually does not make the best business sense. Ideally, the re-design of a process should be both friendly to people and bots. I recommend you engage a process engineering expert to help get you started. Matt Rebeiro - Challenge the Status Quo #bpi #rpa #process #bot #automation

Besides tools and data, it is equally important to involve the day to day users of the current processes. This can be as simple as sharing forms or polls for them to complete, but the most insightful method is to follow the Kaizen philosophy and 'go to the Gemba', ie: sit with the users while they follow the process. This allows you to see what they see, including shortcuts or optimisations they put in themselves. Remember this is a fact finding mission, so when someone diverges from the standard process, asking why should be with the aim to learn, not to try and redirect them.

Not only is it essential to understanding the process, it is essential to getting buy in for your interventions. When you involve people, they feel like the new process is theirs too.

This is one of the most important steps in change management/process automation stage. Good operators know that it's imperative to get the lay of the land and understand the current state problems and root causes of them before implementing any type of solution. When it comes to streamlining operations, a measure twice, cut once approach is often the best ethos. Otherwise, you risk creating more mess than you inherited and losing credibility with your stakeholders.

The ever-tested, ever-true Change Impact Assessment continues to pay for itself when it comes to understanding the change to humans brought on by automation. And while we’ve gradually evolved from tracking change impacts in offline Excel spreadsheets to fully powered Chat Bots ?? and cloud-based PowerBI dashboards, it’s the intention and purpose of the human inquiry, infused with compassion, that sets it apart. Imagine weaving in Copilot & Business Chat technology. Change Impact Assessments being created by Generative AI, or by machine learning summarized sentiment (keywords) and signal, (tone of voice, focus, breathing rate, blood pressure, etc.) all captured during everyday business-related conversations. What response arises in you?

A good practice when researching the right tool is to draft a vendor comparison matrix. As you meet with vendors, you can quickly note if the tool meets the needed functionality and your top requirements. For example: CRM integration, Slack integration, Performs X function, etc. If compatible, you'd mark the applicable matrix section with a checkmark to indicate compatibility. If not compatible, you'd mark the applicable matrix section with an indicator that symbolizes not compatible. Post vendor research, you'll end up with a visual quickly summarizing which vendors are the highest match from a functionality and top requirements perspective.

Don’t choose without the users in mind. Pilot groups and early adopters can be your wisest investors when it comes to selecting automated processes and technologies. Certainly there will be functional and technical review boards, and most certainly procurement involved, but beware creating an echo chamber sealed off from the people that will be using these systems everyday. They are truth speakers and will illuminate the truest savings of time, over time. Take a portion of the money spent on fancy demos and concept Figmas, and grant it to a group of early adopters to help interrogate the future offerings for your company to invest in when it comes to automation and process augmentation. Do an A-B Test and let the insights shine the way.

Once you understand your processes, choosing the right automation tools is key. You need tools that fit your business needs and are easy for your team to use. It’s important to ensure the tools align with your goals and can be integrated smoothly with your current systems. At Marcolini Ventures, we researched several automation tools before picking one that fit our requirements. We chose a simple, user-friendly tool, which made adoption easier for everyone. Selecting the right tool ensures that the transition to automation is smooth and beneficial.

In my recent experience, RPA implementations' success depends on the strategy rather than the technical solution. Rapid project implementation can use Minimum Viable Solutions (MVS) prototypes to test RPA on a small scale before scaling up. Citizen development is critical, and training is essential for creating competencies and reducing technical fear. This helps people manage future changes more flexibly., be ready for scaling up and be able to follow the "normalisation" of change. Companies should focus on MVS, citizen development, and training to derive maximum benefits from RPA and be ready to adapt to future changes.

Ensuring that those impacted by changes you make to process are fully aware of what's changing and why is essential to a successful deployment of new technology & process. People are naturally averse to change, even if it's change that improves their workflow, so decrease friction and apprehension by having a crystal clear communication plan and plenty of documentation, including LOOMs that show the "new way" - seeing is believing.

I've found that a big factor in engagement and support is being able to satisfiably demonstrate the benefits to the employees themselves. Does the automation allow them to reduce errors, save them time following tedious steps and allow them to focus on more interesting and engaging work? The answer to these is almost always yes and it really helps with buy-in when you highlight these things to users.

One thing I’ve found helpful (from both sides of these initiatives: leading and receiving), is to identify the right potential champions within the user group to support the planning and execution phases. The number one complaint is usually “ ‘they’ just don’t get it…” - evidence of an “us and them” mentality that can sabotage project success. Find the informal influencers that everyone already goes to…because they are the key to appropriately stage the rollout, develop the training materials, assist with communications and boost the “buy-in” energy. Who will your users follow? Pull in those folks, get their engagement early on, and develop them into SMEs via a “train the trainer” approach to increase adoption and reduce friction.

I’ve found it’s really important to have a powerful sponsor of the project as well. Not everyone will want to come along your journey, some will need to be made to. A company’s culture is determined by what they will allow employees to get away with.

This is key- the end users need to be part of the project from the begining. This will allow all participants to feel included and no one will feel like a new process and change was forced on them. Also i believe the learning process for using and undertstanding the new tools and technology is way easier when end users are part of the project from early stages. Lastly, cross functional training and at minimum basic understanding is nonnegotiable.

Keeping your team engaged with your business optimization projects is an ongoing effort and commitment. It's not a one-time thing that you can tick off your list. If you see it as another item on your list, your team will not be very cooperative and will certainly not support your projects. Adoption is a two-way street.

Don’t forget to educate about the current process flaws and why the new process is needed. Some staff will be emotionally bound to those processes for a variety of reasons. Something might ‘work’ but it’s always important to improve when there is an asymmetrical gain.

Know this... Your team is afraid of automation. They're afraid of losing control to the automation... "I'm sorry, Dave. I can't do that." And they're afraid of losing their jobs to automation. Acknowledge the fear. Validate it. Address it, or suffer their resistance and sabotage. Sabotage doesn't come from malice. It comes from fear.

What gets measured, gets better, so it's important to establish a set of KPIs you'll monitor continuously to measure the efficacy of your new processes. When planning your solution, keep KPIs in mind and get the buy-in of your stakeholders for "what success looks like" - then continuously monitor those metrics and improve upon them.

A melhoria contínua é fator crítico de sucesso para ado??o processual e tecnológica umas vez que ambas disciplinas s?o dinamicas e li??es aprendidas s?o a melhor fonte de boas práticas. A responsabilidade da melhoria contínua deve estar distribuida ao longo de toda cadeia de valor, desde a identifica??o de oportunidades de automa??o até a demonstra??o de ganhos e resultados com um sistema formal de gerenciamento e governan?a.

This is another opportunity to go to the daily users and sit with them as they use the new process. Does everything go as expected or was there an unforeseen challenge or consequence? Remember that your own testing will only get you so far and end users will always do something unexpected with your solutions, especially when it's replacing firmly established processes.

You need to put controls in to monitor the process. It happened at a prior company where the process was broken for weeks before anyone found out. It caused significant errors by not being executed timely. It's simple to create a PowerBI report to monitor.