To Homer, Socrates would say...

2019 was an interesting year.

Getting to firm grips with responsibilities and remit of my new role posed a healthy challenge. Identifying the next source of value tranche (then nurturing it to fruition), some step change that could improve client experience, a flick of switch that would increase capacity and free up more time – Elysium that all GBS and enterprise backbone operations professionals chase (or so I hope?).

For admission, visiting and boding rights to these sacrosanct fields are reserved; exclusive to those who can accomplish Herculean labours.   

I am still navigating the map (if there is one?) and decrypting my way to that hallowed land. Intelligent Automation might just as well be the Pegasus for us GBS and enterprise backbone operations professionals.

Some tips that could keep the journey from hitting snags:

Invariably, automation journeys start as part of operational or technology hobbies such as task automation, It is best to concurrently assess holistic propriety of existing (ideally) enterprise-wide technology architecture and app portfolio to establish if all relevant functionalities are enabled. Best to activate and utilise existing dormant capabilities than to build or buy and then (re)integrate another app set.

RPA and other technologies should NOT just be pure tactical plays but taken as piecemeal solution that are part of a wider strategic digital transformation programme aimed at delivering core strategic objectives of the enterprise.

Rather than automating individual manual sub-processes or activities, a strategic approach going to the heart – of what the business does and where it wants to go – is imperative. Automating and harnessing enabling technologies can set us up on the path to re-engineered process. The destination however should be ambitious – a re-imagined customer experience.

Focusing on this end-to-end customer (internal and external) journey through the lens of intelligent automation (tying up all RPA technologies) would power Pegasus’ hooves with lightning and wings with thunder to Elysium.

Data channels the air that Pegasus breathes. Organising data structures is essential or maybe even a prerequisite to extracting value from automation (read: Pegasus flight and gallop). Real step change happens when automation is fed with the right data (and analytics?) and goes a step ahead in decision making. During this flight, companies grapple with the interlay and balance of intelligent automation capability with conventional dimensions of target operating model like People and Processes. This interlay is ostensibly integrated digital transformation.

Complementing and enabling wider digital transformation are integrated solutions using multiple RPA technologies. Proliferating them at scale is when our Pegasus crosses over from troposphere to stratosphere. Incorporating cognitive capabilities to do more than simple automation is the next step. This includes processing unstructured and semi-structured data, measuring business outcomes, furnishing insights and providing forecast oriented management dashboards.

This journey to Elysium would be a treacherous one; best embarked upon with a trusted advisor and support. To organise the effort under one holistic transformation platform, business and IT have to have aligned efforts. The choice and decision on the ‘right’ could well be the difference between a safe smooth landing on Elysian Fields or a crash and burn. Current vendor / partner support landscape looks fragmented as it continues to evolve at great pace. We have system integrators, traditional BPO houses, the Big 4 and other core advisory firms (trying to) play in the space with success. ERP and software giants are firmly entrenching their roots with analytics  and data mining platforms also honing in. Of course, robotics license providers are the real sheriffs in town.

  

Thereon, there are commercial considerations related to build, deployment, maintenance, licensing costs (ownership / splits) and investments on the partner’s part. For such unchartered waters, unexplored skies; innovation in service contracts can cushion against and provide for against some risks on this flight. Afterall, it is in every stakeholder’s interest to make it to Elysian Fields and thus have skin in the game.

To make the right selection with a mutually beneficial / invested commercial arrangement and orchestrating a thought-through sustained long term effort under a unified transformation banner is the holy grail for businesses.

 

To Homer, Socrates would say,

‘The only thing that I know is that I know nothing’.

See you all in 2020, en-route to Elysium. Sooner or later, we will reach those fabled fields.

Would we land, crash or be turned away – that is a different question!