Despite his extraordinary transformation potential - working methods, cost reduction and competitive advantage - the automation of business processes or Business Performance Automation in English (BPA) sometimes poses many problems for neophytes. If not handled carefully, it can quickly short-circuit automation projects and their ambitions. So, knowing these pitfalls can make all the difference, giving your teams a chance to anticipate and overcome them.
In this article, we help you take a critical first step in your transformation journey by shedding light on the five challenges of automating business processes.
1. Automation cannot optimize an inefficient process
Business Process Automation (BPA) can do a lot of good for your organization, especially by helping it achieve new efficiency gains, to reduce costs and to free up your staff so that he can focus on tasks with higher added value. On the other hand, it can't make a broken process work better than it does without automation. Inefficient processes require a completely different type of intervention!
Therefore, you need to focus your automation efforts on mature processes, with established rules and ready-to-use data in order to obtain tangible results in a short period of time.
Our #1 tip for optimizing your BPA : Map your processes prior to the introduction of BPA to establish a clear picture of each stage and identify any potential bottlenecks.
2. Success is uncertain
It's easy to get excited about benefits of business process automation. But it is just as important to dive into the implementation phase without defining what success will be.
So, even if a project seems to be going well and your employees are feeling the positive effects of automation, the lack of evaluation will make it difficult to demonstrate the return on investment to managers or getting their support for future automation projects.
Our advice No. 2 to optimize your BPA : Define targeted KPIs: increased productivity, reduced risks, reduced costs, customer satisfaction and seek to quantify the business value of process automation technology Low-code.
3. Scaling should be guided by a specific business plan
One of the most common challenges in automating business processes is legitimate: being too focused on the short term in all areas - from communication and configuration to execution and results. Indeed, projects are designed for a specific number of users, based on an existing IT infrastructure, and a lack of flexibility quickly makes it difficult to extend them.
If business leaders want their investments to be made quickly profitable, they are all the more seeking to reach their long term goals. You need to know from the start how a project will adapt to the growth of your organization.
Our tip 3 to optimize your BPA : The platforms Cloud are an ideal solution when scalability threatens to become an issue. In fact, they give you the opportunity to evolve your applications according to the evolution of your needs.
4. Employee buy-in is fundamental
Sometimes, the failure of an automation project can be attributed to a lack of communication between project managers and employees.
The success of your business process automation efforts will therefore depend on your ability to rally people to your cause - both those directly affected by the planned changes and more broadly the entire organization.
Our advice No. 4 to optimize your BPA : Put transparency and change management at the heart of your automation plans. By doing so, you will ensure that you are addressing the concerns of employees and that you are giving them the opportunity to participate in the success of the project.
5. Good intentions come up against significant problems
The acquisition of powerful automation tools can often be accompanied by an equally powerful desire to solve complex process problems. This temptation can be too much for many organizations, leading to projects becoming entangled in complicated workflows that frustrate and demotivate stakeholders.
When this happens, an organization's enthusiasm and support for automation and digital transformation projects can gradually erode.
Our tip 5 to optimize your BPA : Start small. Think big. Develop quickly. Starting with a simple process allows your team to become familiar with the challenges of automating business processes. Once you've taken that step (and the other common pitfalls associated with the introduction of BPA overcome), you can confidently move on to transforming bigger, more difficult processes.
About StoryShaper:
StoryShaper is an innovative start-up that supports its customers in defining their digital strategy and the development of automation solutions tailor-made.
Sources: StoryShaper, Bizagi, UiPath
