Top 5 Automation Lessons for 2023 learned from 2022

HFS’s CEO and Chief analyst recently wrote in his ‘2023 is the year of ‘The Autonomous Enterprise’ as economics trigger change’ article, automation. ’Losing people will force smart managers to rethink how they can achieve more with less – you’ll simply have zero choices but to act.’?

Automation technology expertise is now?the?critical driver of business performance. To thrive in 2023, businesses need a bold technology vision, an accompanying digital-first mindset, the right leadership embedded in key positions, and the ability to fund their digital ambitions.

So, what are the five biggest automation recommendations for 2023??

1.????Use Automation to create a competitive technology advantage.?Businesses need to create a winning and scalable digital technology formula. A new era of enterprise digitization has arrived. With the emergence of low-code workflow technologies and artificial intelligence, there is now a set of technologies that can match the speed and agility of human ingenuity - but on steroids. 2023 will be revolutionary for businesses that embrace digital technology innovation. Digital Transformation is a priority for businesses, and automation is fast becoming the cornerstone to achieving efficiency in every business and every sector?of the economy.

"Technology is the single greatest enabler of competitive advantage in business today. It is the driving force behind continuous improvement and innovation, and it enables companies to outperform their competitors by operating more efficiently, effectively, and intelligently."

Mark Hurd, CEO of Oracle Corporation

2.????Digital Talent is in short supply so outsource to a specialist boutique digital consultancy if necessary.?Experienced digital talent is in short supply.?Therefore, rather than waste time and money trying to digitally transform by themselves, businesses should contract an expert digital consulting team who can bring considerable experience and expertise in digital transformation with them.?Only 30% of businesses that own digital transformation programs succeed, so why take a chance with your program??You will waste time and money learning about automation and digital transformation that could be better spent gaining a cost and market advantage whilst your competitors struggle. As George Westerman, MIT Sloan Initiative on the Digital Economy said “When digital transformation is done right, it’s like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, but when done wrong, all you have is a really fast caterpillar.”

3.????Move quickly and don’t be a laggard.?It is no longer sufficient to go with the flow. You need to outcompete and outgrow your peers.?Outgrowing your industry implies a strong business model. During Covid, we witnessed how we could deliver FAST IT if we wanted to.?Businesses digitally transformed at an unheralded pace.??Now technology and business leaders have the evidence they need to show how revolutionary technology can be when it is willingly implemented at pace and at scale.?So, invest in FAST IT technologies to outcompete your competitors.

‘The pandemic has shifted the automation focus from creating efficiencies in the back office to delivering immediate business impact…and ‘our recent pulse data of 602 enterprises proves beyond doubt that automation is the number one initiative currently underway to support enterprises in meeting their strategic priorities’ HFS -?https://www.horsesforsources.com/2023-autonomous-enterprise_121422/

4.????Business users need to become co-producers with IT departments.?Businesses and IT departments can no longer afford to compete with one and other.?Business and technology strategies need to be intertwined to create the digital businesses of tomorrow.?Technology professionals need the business to work with them to co-create an exciting digital future.?And everyone needs to be involved.?Low code automation workflow technology platforms are enabling business transformation at scale with everyone in the business now able to get involved.

Those businesses that adopt these types of low-code technology platforms will accelerate beyond their competitors who don’t invest.?‘…its relative simplicity of development, allows business users to become co-producers of automation with IT departments bringing the total cost of deployment down and ROIs up…This new generation of tools allows businesses to automate every process and task that can be automated.?Vargha Moayed, FAST IT HAS FINALLY ARRIVED, Medium.com

5.????Partner with a technology vendor who is willing to share the risk.?Businesses need to partner with vendors who are willing to share technology program risk. When you buy your groceries online, you expect to have all your groceries delivered or you ask for your money back.?The same cannot be said for vendors who promise to deliver digital transformation outcomes.?Most traditional intelligent automation and digital transformation vendors offer their clients a time and materials-based model.?That means they get paid regardless of whether they deliver the business outcomes they promised or not.?That’s not fair, nor is it acceptable today.??Why should you pay all the money and take all the risks? Contract with a partner who offers an outcome-based model. That means the risk of delivery is transferred from you to them.?It is in their interest to deliver the business outcomes they promised, otherwise, they won’t get paid.

?As HFS said ‘Smart business leaders have realized that automation is a?mindset?and a discipline that needs to be ingrained into every business practice.?It is not?why?we do things; it’s?how?we do them.’ But lessons learned are only valuable if they are acted upon.??So, take my automation recommendations and act upon them.?The pandemic has taught us that we need to rethink how we do business and it showed us we could do so at pace and scale.?We have all the evidence we need from 2022 to show that digital works, we just have to adopt a digital mindset and make it work for us.