Rule number 1 on Automation – “Go back to Basics”

Hello all,

Today’s article is all about helping you and your company to be ready for the future. The trend of the moment is called Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. I am also a big Supporter of that. I am the voice of the Transformation. I am the king of the best practices and great processes. But the question you need to ask yourself is: “Are you ready for this journey?” or, even better: “Is your company ready for that?”

Every day, we see hundreds of propagandas and “state of art” business cases, showing how much money your company can save by introducing what is the latest in technology. And to be quite honest, it is partially true. Technology will bring efficiencies and fast ROI’s (return on Investment) to any processes we can ever imagine. We can’t debate and discuss that. Human beings are great, but nothing better than a machine without emotions/”issues at home”/ and that woks 24X7 at a much better and fast pace.

It is always a win/win situation, for the company selling the solution and for the company who is acquiring it. Ok, this is the beauty of it. Now, time to face the reality.

 I can bet with any of you reading my article that you have seen one or several bad experiences with this “so called” ERA OF THE MACHINES. Of course I am going to win the bet. We all forget about a very simple step of this entire ride: asking the right questions: “Is your process working fine?” or “Have you reviewed your process before automating it?”. To make it a bit more dramatic: “Did you go BACK TO BASICS?”.

Some of you will say: “Of course I did”. “It was our first task during the project”. But why are you not getting the expected results? Why is your efficiency there yet? Why do you need people/extra money/more time to fix the ROBOT?  WHAT WENT WRONG? The answer is very simple. You did not do a good job in GOING BACK TO BASICS.

In order to achieve your GOALS,  you must follow rule number 1: be humbled and go DEEP into the process review. Analyze every single step of it. Ask the STUPID questions no one did. Try doing the process yourself. Get feedback from other people. Ask your Customers/Vendors/your friends/your family.  

The consultants you hired to do the work will only scrap the surface. They know the product they are selling and they have successful stories to share, but only you can GO BACK and make the NECESSARY IMPROVEMENTS and CHANGES.

Believe me, there is no such a thing as a perfect process. You will find very good processes, but the perfection will only be achieved after lots of hard (and SMART) work, that needs to be done, before you can even talk about DIGITALIZATION.  

Transformation is coming, and coming fast. I am embracing the cause and I will be the first one in line to do it. But I will get the house in order, before even attempting to open my wallet, and invest heavily on any kind of automation.

Disclaimer

This post is not related to author's employer and the information posted by the author does not necessarily reflect company opinions, being the author the solely responsible for them.