6 Steps to get started with process automation technology

“Passive vs proactive”

If you’re a business leader curious about robotic process automation and Artificial intelligence (Intelligent Automation) but you’re doubting whether this technology suits your industry and business then most likely many of your competitors are thinking the same thing. But perhaps by the end of this article, I can show you why it definitely is vital — and why getting started will put you far ahead, allowing you to take on more clients and take on your competition who are twice your size, without breaking a sweat

PASSIVE automation teams run roadshows to showcase the tech but leave it to the business to make the decision whether they need or want the technology or not. This is seen more when there is a high level of politics in the organization and the central team hasn’t been placed in a powerful position or doesn’t have sufficient senior backing to open the right doors and get projects initiated.

It’s an easier approach, as you’re providing a service to those who have gone out of their way to request it, and the business teams know their processes better than anyone — but this can only work if the business as a whole is knowledgeable about the tech, knows how to correctly identify the best use cases and appreciate the benefits so that they don’t see it as a threat.

A more PROACTIVE approach would be advisable, coupled with continuous awareness training for staff so that eventually the culture changes to be more technically savvy, conscious of process inefficiencies — and keen to augment themselves to be more productive to provide more value to the business

“Removing mundane repetitive work to improve productivity”

RPA augments our hands, AI augments our minds - so that we can become more productive

If you’ve not heard of Robotic Process Automation (RPA), this is a software platform, like having a virtual worker, that can mimic any labor-intensive and repetitive tasks your staff do on their computer, as long as the process has a logical workflow, with rules-based decisions and it doesn’t require human intuition.

So no matter what type of business, industry, or department, if you have staff doing repetitive tasks, this is a waste of their time and intellect, and a waste of your money and resources — as an RPA virtual worker, costs 1/10th the cost of a person doing non-value-add tasks, doesn’t take breaks and can work 24/7,365

Furthermore, intelligent automation (IA) is a combination of RPA and other automation tools with Artificial Intelligence, to further enhance what your virtual workers can do (be that reading emails, extracting information from scanned invoices or forms, or even replying to customers via a chatbot)

You most likely have six-, seven-, or even eight-figure financial savings and untapped value waiting to be released — annual savings (and revenue-generation opportunities) that can impact your bottom line and non-financial savings which can improve the quality of service and customer satisfaction, not to mention improving staff satisfaction and work-life balance. Benefits that you could start realizing within the next few months if you were to start today

Though this technology is amazing and is one of the fastest-growing industries to date, 50% of all RPA and AI projects fail, and businesses struggle to scale! …and here’s why

CHALLENGES WITH GETTING STARTED

STAFF RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

If senior leadership are bought in, but staff are not, this can manifest problems at project level; missed deadlines, stopping and starting projects, minimal process owner commitment, and the eventual stalling of projects and programs.

Many analysts in my network have told me how some managers and teams don’t attend scheduled workshops due to it being a low priority or it was perceived to have a potentially negative impact on them personally, due to how their bonus or budget was structured or they felt they might get replaced.

Educating staff on the benefits and capabilities of the technology and having the right discussions with HR and other key stakeholder groups can help make this a lot smoother. "The first few steps into change are always met with the most resistance", but this technology is here for staff to leverage, it is not intended to replace

FINDING THE RIGHT PROCESS:

I have time and time again seen, heard, advised against, or had to rectify the business’s decision to choose an overly complicated, unsuitable process. There are companies to this day many years later that have been unable to get started after going against the advice to 'start simple and small then scale fast', and use tried and tested criteria to find suitable processes — but instead chose complex exciting opportunities with several AI capabilities to solve the most painful issues. In the industry, this is referred to as “shiny object syndrome” where teams are eager to try the newest technologies.

The reality is that there are technology knowledge gaps throughout companies and consultant teams. The reason is, RPA only entered the mainstream in 2015, about a year before I got heavily involved in it, and there has been an influx of 'new blood' — so there’s no surprise that the majority of people in RPA have only about 1–2 years, and are yet to have their 'war-wounds'.

NO QUALITY ASSURANCE

Many businesses hire hybrid developer-analyst to save time, however, this can end up costing later on (technical debt), as there is no one to ‘mark their homework’ so to speak. The analyst and developer duet naturally quality check each other’s work as they work in tandem — "was the Produce definition clear and unambiguous?", “was the process solution documentation accurate?” and “did the automated process pass vigorous testing?”

Hiring a developer-support engineer again can cause similar problems as the support engineer ensures the developers' technical documentation are detailed enough for the engineer to take over completely. These naturally conflicting roles ensure documentation is accurate and comprehensive and your automation is robust. I’ve assisted clients to manage their RPA support teams who were maintaining an army of ‘robots’ and seen the aftermath of legacy robots that that support teams had inherited with poor documentation and minimal quality assurance.

It’s best to hire a small consultancy firm (affordable, reliable, and experienced) that can provide these necessary roles from the start and can mentor your internal team as you onboard them.

6 steps to get started with intelligent automation

1.?TRAIL IT OUT (Proof of concept):

· does it work on our software?

· does it work on our business processes?

· does it work with our IT restrictions and infrastructures?

2.?BUILD AWARENESS:

· Get TOP-DOWN buy-in from key stakeholders, heads of department, and staff

· Demo how technology works in their world

· Run roadshows, workshops and lunch-n-learns

3.?HIRE EXPERTS

· Transfer their knowledge to your team

· Use their tried and tested tool kit

· Follow their repeatable process + governance model

4.?PILOT WAVE:

· Gather business data to identify and assess the suitability of opportunities

· Build a pipeline aka an Automation Catalogue

· Prioritise automation opportunities based on ROI and alignment to corporate objectives

· Build a roadmap (Enterprise Automation Roadmap)

· Find shortlist of simple suitable processes (run a 'proof of value')

5.?DESIGN SOLUTIONS:

· Apply lean thinking — automate a streamlined process

· Create a Process definition document (PDD) — define click by click exactly what the automated process will do

· Be agile, automate bit by bit — remember how to eat an elephant (aka how to solve gargantuan tasks)

How do you 'eat an elephant'?

One bite at a time

6.?BUILD, TEST, LAUNCH ..and don't forget Hyper care

· Analysts and developers mark each other’s homework

· Don’t just test to pass, try to break it — and build robust automation

· Launching is just the start – realize the value, maintain the value

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If you're like us then you've probably had enough of the common challenges and stresses of RPA and AI projects. Our tool, AutoLyst, streamlines the running of projects and boosts efficiency, to deliver faster, and discover more opportunities. Book a demo at?https://calendly.com/tony_leania?or, as you're a newsletter subscriber, you can?try it for free?[use code:?linkedin_news]

We're dedicated to helping analysts, project/program managers, and consultants like us succeed in this space. Reach out if you have questions.

If you want to learn more about lean Intelligent Automation in your office, subscribe to my YouTube channel?Tony IA (Intelligent Automation, Simplified)?for videos created weekly, to simplify intelligent automation for business leaders and professionals who are new to automation to level-up your knowledge. Become empowered on how you optimise your business and discover new technologies, in a lean and accelerate way. You can also learn more from my book,?Business @ the Speed of Bots: The AEIO YOU method HOW TO IMPLEMENT ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION THAT SCALES. Get ready for the new digital transformation age for more information.?The foreword is written by Guy Kirkwood, who is the Chief Evangelist at UiPath, and a very well-known advocate of RPA with over 20 years of experience in outsourcing.

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