July 26, 2022
Intelligent automation (IA) can greatly improve all businesses, regardless of their size, but it does especially well in smaller ones, where people are usually on a tight budget and struggling with many manual processes.
IA can make tasks faster, cheaper, and more accurate. But a lot of the businesses that decide to implement automation face problems like automating the wrong tasks, not getting employees on board, or just not aligning automation with business goals.
The key to making automation work smoothly is to understand why these problems happen and how to handle them.
Problems happen for all sorts of reasons, but there are a few most common reasons.
The first would be rushing into it without planning it properly. A lot of businesses see the benefits IA has and rush to implement it without really understanding their business needs and which tools will work best. This lack of preparation can result in mistakes that are usually quite expensive.
A recent survey by AgreeYa Solutions states that 22% of IT decision-makers abandoned automation projects because they have automated the wrong processes. This has led to wasted resources and costly errors. On the other hand, prioritising high-volume rule-based tasks yielded the greatest returns for businesses.
Another issue is making the process too complicated because you’re trying to automate too many tasks at once. This can be overwhelming for your systems, but especially your employees. And speaking of employees, you should keep in mind that automation isn’t so much about technology as it is about the people using it. If you go into automation without considering your employees, they’ll resist the change and use the tools incorrectly.
Also, according to AgreeYa Solutions, the biggest reason for employees' resistance to change is the fear of job displacement. Businesses with better change management have reported much higher success rates in implementing IA.
Poor data management is another problem that can cause a lot of issues. Automation relies on clean, accurate data and if your company has faulty and/or disorganised data, your system won’t work properly when you automate it.
Together, these issues lead to a failed project and a world of frustration (and potential unnecessary losses).
Changes usually come with their own set of problems, even if the changes you’re making are positive.
If you’re thinking about implementing IA into your system, here’s what to look out for.
This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make and so many entrepreneurs do it. Automating tasks that don’t bring that much value for the company is a waste of time and resources.
This means, automating tasks that are rarely done or don’t really have an impact on productivity. Instead of doing this, focus on automating repetitive tasks that slow you down, like entering data or customer service queries.
If you identify the right processes, you make sure that automation makes you work more efficiently.
Nowadays, people are worried that automation will replace them and they’ll be out of jobs or that it will add even more work to their already full plates. This makes the entire process a lot harder than it needs to be because your employees resist it.
If you want to avoid this (and you most certainly do!), communicate clearly with your team right from the start. Explain how automation is here to help them spend less time on repetitive tasks and allow them to focus more on meaningful work and creativity.
Involve your employees early and show them how automation can benefit them, not just your company.
You need to choose tools that will go well with the systems you already use. If you don’t, then automation will create inefficiencies and make workflows way more complicated, which is the exact opposite of what you want.
If you choose the correct automation tools, you’re setting yourself up for success.
Try running a pilot test with a small team or process before you fully roll out the automation system to see if it will work well in your environment.
How do you know if intelligent automation works the way you want it to if you haven’t set clear goals? A lot of businesses implement IA without having a definition of success, so, of course, people are confused as to whether it’s delivering results or not.
It’s important to set specific, measurable goals from the start.
For example, one of your aims could be to reduce processing times by 30%, another can be to cut down human errors by 90%. If you track your progress against these goals, you can see if IA is helping or not.
You could have the best IA tools in the world and they still won’t work well if your employees aren’t trained enough. If your team doesn’t understand how to use the new systems, they’ll misuse them or ignore them altogether.
Allow them ample time to learn about process mining, IDP, and any other tools you use until they get comfortable with them.
Data from a Deloitte Insights report shows that in 2023, 82% of executives stated that incorporating process mining and automated testing technologies helped their businesses ensure successful automation outcomes. This has also led to a reduced error rate and has enhanced long-term efficiency.
Using IA can transform your business, but in what way really depends on you and the way you decide to implement it.
If you rush it and if your employees aren’t comfortable with it (meaning – they don’t understand it and can't use it), you’re in for some serious issues.
But (on the other hand) if you take it slow, choose the right tools, and set some metrics to see how IA is working for you, your workflows will be more efficient, plus your team will be happier.
