User Review
( votes)
One of the most overused metaphors of the business world is leaders ‘piloting’ their organisations: in the driving seat, coping with turbulence, and ensuring employees and customers reach their final destination
Automation success- It’s interesting to think of this image when businesses embark on automation projects. The pilot’s primary responsibility is the pre-flight checklist. It may seem tedious, but it’s extremely important – security and medical checks, flight data analysis, aircraft system checks, and fuel checks, every step has to be completed thoroughly. A lot depends on it.
The same goes for a business launching automation projects. Every single part must be in order before take-off. In our recent research into this, we found that almost half (47%) of UK businesses who have failed on automation found it was because of a lack of understanding of the process they wanted to improve. Only 15% said they had a “deep understanding” of their processes before automating them.
With the world and its economies in flux, no business can afford to wait for mistakes to happen and correct them after. That’s why the right technology mix is critical.
No two journeys are the same
Every business’ automation journey is different. Neither the goals nor the processes themselves are the same. For this reason, every business needs to figure out their own path to success.
The first step is to think about which processes you want to automate. Automation success relies on knowing your processes inside out, and understanding which work – and crucially, which don’t. Not nailing your processes before you automate them means you’re just making bad processes faster. It’s like flying a plane with the wrong fuel in the tank.
In the current climate, this has become even more important. As staff remain furloughed and finance teams work round the clock to keep the business afloat, solid processes are absolutely vital. It’s little surprise, then, that financial planning and decision-making was where over half (52%) of business leaders thought process mining technologies would be most useful. Improving customer experience (43%) came in second, and IT service management (37%) and notoriously process-heavy HR onboarding (36%) were next in line.
Don’t switch to autopilot too soon
Figuring out what processes need to be automated is one thing. Managing them from then on is a whole new ball game – and one that will require constant attention. After all, autopilot only kicks in once the plane is successfully cruising.
