The automation decision is generally the result of a top-down mandate from a chief information officer (CIO) or other IT manager, an architecture team, or a long-term digital transformation program. It is rare for it to be rooted in strategy and alignment with the business or goals of the business as a whole. However, we should not talk about the “how” until we understand the “why” of automation.
Today, we offer you a step-by-step guide to define the why and answer it with a structured and effective how.
Streamline the automation decision
The first step may seem obvious but it's often not. It is a prerequisite to ensure that automation programs, which represent significant investments, are not without purpose.
Is your automation team trying to “sell automation” to different business stakeholders to build an automation pipeline, one process at a time? Sorry, but that would mean your automation program is purposeless. There's no need to create new goals through automation. In fact, simply link the program to pre-existing business goals. Is your business looking to increase sales this year? It is then necessary to connect automation to processes (new and old) that can accelerate revenue generation teams.
Automation is only strategic if your pipeline of automation opportunities is directly linked to the strategies your business is already targeting. These are the strategies your senior managers talk about in employee meetings, and they're what your CEO talks about when questioned by third parties.
To respond to a legitimate request
Some automation programs may struggle for years to create demand for their automation programs. Systematically, the problem lies in the lack of connection with the company's most important priorities.
The other problem is a lack of ability to build the automation pipeline through collective and proactive efforts. The automation team (usually the IT team) markets automation to a variety of parties in the hope that the company will submit automation opportunities itself. While this “marketing approach” can generate a certain volume of ideas, they are rarely important enough for leaders to notice.
The reason is that individual contributors, who only see part of the process, submit ideas that are closely linked to their experience. The result is an idea of automation that does not involve an end-to-end process that can provide significant added value. It is a “bottom-up strategy” and while it's easy to start this way, an automation program can only expand when combined with a top-down strategy that links to business strategies and priorities at the highest level.
Adopting the right mode of governance and execution
If your organization aims to bring new products to market more quickly in order to increase sales by 20% in the next two years, or if your organization is looking to reduce costs by $100 million, you will need to scale the staff accordingly in order to reach the goal.
Once you understand the business goals and get the agreement from management to use automation as a lever to achieve those goals, you can begin to identify the size of The “factory” Or of center of excellence (CoE) that you are going to need.
Other details: the center of excellence does not - and should not - direct - the strategy for using automation in the company. Just as a warehouse manager doesn't decide what products to make.
The center of excellence is the “factory” - it is an essential organization for providing automations quickly, efficiently, with quality, and with the ability to evolve rapidly to meet growing demand.
Establish clear and encompassing communication
Automation will change the way your organization operates. In five years, people, processes, technology, and information will function very differently than they do today. Automation will be a key factor in the need to adapt the type of work of your employees. And you will need their commitment and support for this change.
Communication is therefore an essential part of automation programs. First you have to ensure consistent communication with those who set the company's priorities and fund the program: managers. Executives will also need to be involved in identifying opportunities and taking charge of change management when automations are implemented.
Finally, all individual contributors to the organization will be automation users and opinion leaders. They will use it in their daily work and bring innovative new ideas into the automation pipeline. Their commitment is therefore essential to the success of the project!
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, UiPath.
