Intelligent Automation News #3
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Today’s issue is packed with thought-provoking and useful information as we all work to effectively automate business processes. I came across two articles on digital friction that I think are interesting. As apps proliferate, slowing knowledge workers down and frustrating them, it’s a growing problem. RPA has some ability to help here. Portals and dashboards have been used to try to centralize work too. What’s often missing in the writing about digital friction is how important getting the RIGHT processes in place (which includes the ability to deliver the right information in context) will be fundamental to helping overcome digital friction. On a more mundane level, standardizing on a single communications tool (Teams, Slack, etc.) would also be a great start for many organizations.
Thanks for reading!
-- Marty
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Celonis World Tour 2022 Recap: 8 Takeaways
Here’s one of the eight takeaways, and a challenge Doculabs has helped clients address for decades:
Process inefficiency is hidden in plain sight and killing the top, bottom, and green lines. Every business is made up of thousands of processes and they're inefficient. Why? There are hundreds of systems, data silos and workarounds to how processes were originally drawn up. "Nobody ever designed a process to be inefficient," said Dave Peterson, Celonis Chief Marketing Officer. Nevertheless, processes that should look like a straight line end up looking like a plate of spaghetti when under an X-ray. "It's not the process' fault. They live in this complex environment that never stops changing with enterprise system migrations, application updates, new data sources, market forces and business priority updates. Throw in a few bots and you have yourself a good old-fashioned system mosh-pit," said Peterson.
The Memory of a Goldfish
There’s a whole plethora of unicorn companies (mega-valuation start-ups) out there, whose AI-based propositions are based on pattern recognition. Far from being unintelligent robotic process automation tools, their tools train and use AI to recognize and make sense of documents and their contents. Using image/text recognition they can deduce when incoming PDFs or paper documents are invoices, for instance, and make an experienced guess (algorithm/score-based) on which of the various content parts constitute the company name, tax ID, payable value and so on. And they can go on to part-process that information in a semi-structured way (populate a database, check a box, trigger the next step in a workflow), easing the strain on busy teams and so on.
BUT, pattern matching — while great — is only half of the story. Real transformation comes only when this can be integrated with the bigger enterprise picture, enabling reliable onward decision-making, and streamlining extended processes.?Click to read.
14 Ways AI Is Changing the Way Leaders do Business
This predictions article from Fast Company collects short thoughts and insights on artificial intelligence and business. Here’s one (and it’s related to digital friction):
While some fear artificial intelligence steals jobs, we’ve seen quite the opposite. AI has allowed our internal teams to add and derive more value from their day-to-day by removing what’s non-essential and tedious, like data entry. Freeing up time and mental space breeds innovation (something every organization can benefit from) while keeping your team satisfied and engaged. –?Ryan Anderson,?Filevine
Industry Expert Predicts Demise of Robotic Process Automation
The use of robotic process automation (RPA) technology is coming to an end, as its effectiveness to digitize businesses is limited. This is according to professor Johan Steyn, chairman of the special interest group on artificial intelligence and robotics at the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (IITPSA), who gave a keynote address at the ITWeb?BPM & Automation Summit?in Sandton today. Steyn shared his views on RPA with delegates, saying the “technology is fundamentally limited” and he predicts its use will come to vanish. Click to read.
Digital Friction Is Slowing Your Business Down and Exhausting Employees
Gartner defines digital friction as “the unnecessary effort an employee has to exert to use data or technology to work.”
It’s often written about in the context of incessant app-switching by employees. And that is a gigantic challenge to overcome. However, like most things in IT, it’s a multi-layered challenge that requires a multi-layered solution. The technology tools of intelligent automation are a crucial piece of any strategy to overcome digital friction. Don’t discount how important streamlined business processes are to removing employee (and customer) frustration. Using process mining to uncover process inefficiencies with actual data rather than guesses is a giant leap forward for organizations as they seek to drive out inefficiencies in manufacturing, claims processing, etc. The following two articles are interesting introductions to the idea of digital friction:
2022 Industry Report: The Future of Unstructured Data Processing
Of the 2.5 quintillion bytes of data per person generated today, 10-20% is machine-readable, structured data. The rest: unstructured and often unused (not unusable, tools exist to extract value from this content – AI, machine learning, recognition technologies, ECM, etc.). However, under 20% of enterprises were able to make use of unstructured data. This research looks at adoption trends for what Intelligent Automation Network is calling (needlessly, I think) unstructured data processing technology. Regardless, the research is interesting and supported by Veritone, who is doing interesting things with voice and chat in customer service environments. Download the research.
领英推荐
Securing the Cloud
Online IT resource ZDNet has put together a selection of content focused on cloud security. Since digital transformation efforts often rely on delivery via the cloud and every major vendor in the intelligent automation space can deliver their software via both the cloud and on-prem, securing your content and processes is crucial. Cybercrime is big business; every organization needs to understand cloud security. Here’s a partial list of the content:
·???????Seven tech security trends heading your way now
·???????Cloud computing: Here’s the security threat you should be most worried about
·???????Cloud computing security: Five things you are probably doing wrong
·???????Cloud computing security: Where it is, where it’s going
6 Surprising Security Statistics
Let’s end on one more security article. Every intelligent automation strategy must include cybersecurity – it’s not paranoia when they’re really out to get you. The recent news about another data breach at Marriott should remind everyone to focus on securing their networks and data. Here’s one of the six statistics:
“Marc Emmer with the leadership coaching group?Vistage?reports?that an unbelievable 86% of companies were subject to a successful cyberattack in 2021. Whether just one record was lost or millions, I think we can all agree that’s way too common”
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EVENTS
Intelligent Automation Week Chicago
July 27 – 29
Chicago, IL
You can follow event updates using #IAWEEK2022
In the last two years, the capabilities, purpose, and?future of Intelligent Automation have changed. As IA tools have matured and become more user friendly, applications have shifted from single task-based use cases to process-level automation. What does this mean? Straight-through-processing with minimal human involvement is looking more possible during a period when labor shortages have been felt like never before. For those that are early in their automation journey there is opportunity to automate nimbly utilizing the expertise of process SMEs to prioritize which areas to automate first. For those further down the automation roadmap, these tools can strengthen existing Automation COE infrastructure and overcome mid-journey challenges such as scaling enterprise-wide and remaining agile with mounting maintenance requirements.
Customer-Centered Information Management – AIIM Virtual Summit
September 13-14, 2022
11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Eastern Time
Designed around your work schedule, the 2022 AIIM virtual summit offers two half-days packed with expert-led sessions to take you beyond the mechanics of information management and into a new dimension of leadership.?
Recent AIIM research among hundreds of information management professionals revealed some important data points when it comes to the alignment of information management strategies with business strategies
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JUST FOR FUN
The Beatles weren't THE BEATLES when they began. Here they are playing for a "crowd" of 18 at the Aldershot Club in England in 1961. We often hear something like this when it comes to various intelligent automation-centric engagements, "that's too small to have an impact, we need to go big." Often, just getting started, getting better at your craft, learning, and plugging away will get you the career (or successful intelligent automation project). Who knows, with skill, luck, and timing; you might even become The Beatles in your field.