In the present circumstances, the concepts of Automation and Innovation have become almost synonymous with each other. Both concepts are quite different in fact, but when we view their business application, we can’t help but keep them closely related.
In this post, we will emphasize the role of process Automation in achieving accelerated innovation across an enterprise. Gone are the days when things could “proceed as usual indefinitely”, and a business would still keep doing good, or even great in some rare cases.
In today’s hyper competition, where technologies like Cloud Computing have “levelled the playing field” for both industry giants and small start-ups, anything can happen. So, in order to remain competitive and ahead of the curve, enterprises now need Innovation as a constant feature.
However, the past two plus years have more or less been all about technological firefighting. In the early days of the pandemic, it was all about getting mission critical processes up and running, even if it came at the cost of relatively compromised cyber security.
Then, we approached another phase of “cloud consolidation”, whereby enterprises got some breathing space to reflect back on their most recent technological re-alignments. Then, we entered yet another phase of Cloud consolidation, in which we saw the proliferation of Cloud Computing solutions in entirely new industries, and at an entirely different scale.
Right now, we find ourselves in the phase of Cloud Optimization, whereby every enterprise is in a race to optimize its on-premise and Cloud based deployments. Focus is also now shifting towards extracting every ounce of performance from IT environments, as enterprises are reluctant to pour in huge Capital Expenditures (CapEx) on major technology revamps.
Even if an enterprise chooses this course of action, the prevailing geo-political conditions, coupled with globally struggling economies, have resulted in severe disruptions to global supply chains. As a result, a lot of on-premise IT upgrade projects are either jeopardized, or they have been shelved altogether.
From the above discussion, one thing that is quite evident is that the present circumstances have put IT professionals under a tremendous amount of workload and stress. IT personnel, whether employed directly, or offering their consultancy services, have way “too much on their plates” than what they can actually manage.
Secondly, enterprises are increasingly realizing that in order to deliver exceptional Customer and Employee Experiences, they will have to Automate some elements of their operations and IT infrastructures. Automation, apart from reducing human errors, also tends to improve the overall quality of enterprise processes, especially if done right.
Another element that enterprises are realizing these days is that bulk of the most productive hours of their workforce are being “eaten up” by trivial, repetitive and at times, frustrating tasks. This also negatively impacts employee morale and motivation, as they don’t feel themselves as adding the due value to their organization.
In light of all the above factors, it is becoming a need of the hour to introduce Intelligent Automation across all core organizational processes. The process of automation can be compared with the “auto pilot” feature of an airplane, whereby a lot of the flying is being done by an innovative solution that has been perfected by analyzing decades of flight data.
The same applies to enterprise operations. We can conclude with confidence that if done right, and with the proper expertise, Automation can not only streamline organizational processes, but can also really accelerate the process of Innovation. Both automation and innovation go hand in hand, so far as today’s technology driven business landscape is concerned.
