The Universal Chase

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of traveling (for the first time in 20 months), to Italy (hadn’t been there in over 10 years), to discuss Intelligent Automation and the Future of Work (ok, that one I’ve done a lot more frequently).

The journey there was a nostalgic act of reacquainting myself with old habits. Rolling up underwear and t-shirts, running through the holy trinity (toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant), doing the math backwards from ‘boarding time’ to ‘ time to leave my house’ and generally trying not to forgot things like power converters (had to hunt an hour to find one), power chargers, and passport (the three Ps?). I’m happy to say, I packed so well I didn’t need any emergency purchases upon arrival. And, I had a blast traveling again. The results can be seen here in my attempts at a TRAVEL VLOG. (Please subscribe while you're there.)

The trip was made in order to join an event called the Intelligent Automation Congress, hosted by RPA Italy, the brainchild of Vincix founder Vincenzo Marchica and his team. Besides being a wonderful chance to see people again, it was a reminder of the passion and energy that drives industries and waves of innovation. Not unlike conferences I’d attended in the early 2010s, (and an SSON Shared Services & Outsourcing Week I recently attended in Orlando - see that vlog HERE) this event had attendees from the usual vendor suspects like Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, and Kofax. It also had newer providers like AntWorks, Blue Tensor, Procesio, and RPA Supervisor.

In addition, there were representatives from analyst firm HFS Research (Tom Reuner), services firms like Vincix Group, and Capgemini (my old alma mater), and large firms actively adopting RPA (like Vodafone). I truly enjoyed discussions with the consultants and advisors, to hear what they were seeing in the market. I left these discussions encouraged that my perspectives on the state-of-play were still in touch with the reality on the ground. Discussions with services firms (Vincix), analyst Thomas Reuner (HFS), and industry prognosticators like Nicoletta Boldrini suggest that enthusiasm remains high. But, enterprises are (predictably) struggling to identify where to apply automation – especially as they aspire to scale their efforts beyond pilot phases. I also get the sense that there are a few prevailing trends going on that I hope to explore in more depth via blogs, vlogs, and general journalistic investigations into the world of work. They include:

1.????The vocabulary is complex. Too complex.

I expand on this in this vlog (explaining the origins of the name “Intelligent Automation”). But, the unnecessary complexity in nomenclature is alienating those new to this journey. And, creating a babble barrier between those long on this journey. ?

2.????The tech landscape is becoming complex. Too complex??

Perhaps this is just my own shortcoming. But, I just get confused now when hearing about process discovery, mining, redesign, digitization, optimization, analysis, cloudification, and as-a-service-ization. Too much whizzbangery for my taste when the problems we’re trying to solve are the same old, same old. But, perhaps that’s just me. More to come on this! I intend to get to the bottom of it. And, will be doing more vlogs and writings on the topic (foreshadowing!).

3.????Services firms hope to simplify and hone the messaging, as they hone the tools and approaches they leverage.

This topic is particularly close to my heart, and I gain so much insight from my previous experience and from talking to friends across the industry in firms like Aggranda, Ashling Partners, Cognizant, Evolvant, Intelligent Automation Corp (IAC), PwC, Reveal Group, Roboyo, Robiquity, Tquila, Vincix, Wonderbotz, and so many more – all working hard to hone the right skills, shape the right frameworks, and inform and facilitate enterprise journeys into this dynamic future of work. Much more to come on this as I explore the evolution of services and what seems to be going on in the market as a whole. Please tune in as I share highlights from some of these discussions.

4.????Firms that went the DIY route are reaching the 'So What' / 'Now What' stages of their journey

This was inevitable. Too many are hitting a wall, not knowing how to leverage and build upon the earliest layers of foundation laid. And, further, they are struggling to scale - not just up, but also across their organizations. These realities are why the RPA firms struggle to show lots of clients with large deployments, rather than a large contingent of clients with (small) deployments. We need to crack this nut collectively. Early adopters are facing challenges, and that's not good for the longevity of this movement. Our collective wellbeing rests on us navigating pragmatic adoption, and reasonable value realization.

5.????Clock speeds are not synchronized – and hence dissonance pervades.

It's easy to dream up new names for new waves of digital tech, harder to develop those waves, and much harder (and slower) to adopt them. We need to realize that 'hyperautomation' doesn't necessarily hyper-charge an enterprise's ability to coordinate efforts and achieve change. So, it's imperative that we all understand what bottlenecks and constraints exist, and address them. We can have a future of work in which humans and robots work seamlessly together. But first we need the humans (and the robots) to be ready for such a future. More to come on this too!

All in all, it felt comfortable and downright normal to be back together with people in Milan (and Orlando). But, with an added layer of joy and gratitude that we were all back together again (perhaps it was all the espresso).?I can’t overstate how nice the ‘together again’ element was. I think that emotion was pretty clear in this interview as I share my thoughts on the event and the state of the industry with Luca Porcari.

It was heartening to know that, wherever in the world you have the discussion, the aspirations are the same. The push forward to a better normal is universal. The energy and enthusiasm being shown in this chase gives me hope that the future is bright.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. Please follow me on LinkedIn and subscribe to my Vlog on YouTube for more stories and movies about the Future of Work.