As a Chief Information officer (CIO) or a Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) who reports to the former, you are often asked the question – where are you in your digital transformation journey? The responses you give can vary from “just nearing the end” to “uhm… just about looking to start”. You will always be looking for ways to work cross-functionally so your teams can innovate better and deliver faster.
If you have to literally match the speed of light when it comes to driving digital transformation throughout your organization, then automation is the best route to take. I am sure as a person who is always on the lookout for techniques to save time and money at various stages in your organization’s lifecycle, Business Process Automation (BPA) is by far the most efficacious solution there is to offer!
My article is going to take you through firstly what BPA is all about and I am going to give you at least three good reasons on why you should be considering it almost as soon as you are done with reading my blog (or you can put it in your back pocket and save it for later, free world after all!).

What is Business Process Automation?

Elementary, my dear Watson! Choosing to automate a business process that you would otherwise have done manually is Business Process Automation (didn’t need to write a blog for that now, did I?). It can be anything from data entry to creating purchase orders to digitizing the customer service department.
BPA does what our mums always asked us to do, set a process the first time we do it or else everything’s going to come crashing on your face when you open the cupboard. Automating your business processes is going to streamline workflows and better the way your business operates.

What are my reasons for you to consider it?

Scratch that! I was just in a movie of my own. Let’s go to valid reasons where my one-sided love for humans (clearly after the blatant stealing of points for the tongue to elbow part) is not so ‘fun facts’ types.

#Reason No 1: Why Automation: We live in a virtual world

If we have learnt anything from the last couple of years, it is that we need to do our best and prepare for the worst. If you have to pandemic proof your business, then you need to think of ways where your business workflows and operations are not affected. Automation efforts from your end, seeing that your company is digitally transformed, and embarking on your journey towards complete intelligent automation is a choice you need to make. We have a nice blog on intelligent automation, here’s the link.
If everything around you is turning into a sci-fi movie, then you need to think about the next step as well, i.e., annihilate your competitors with advanced automation – use tools that not only build but also manage both your human and robot employees.

#Reason No 2: Why Business Automation: You get more than you asked for

The top guy whether you know it or not is always staring right at you – especially when you seem to be letting the money slip through your fingers. And how can you possibly convince them that spending a little bit more into automation is a good thing? Automating your business processes needs to become a strategic priority for your organization; if you do, here are a few benefits that you could achieve:

• Save time by automating all that was manual to begin with
• Make work human-error-free by drawing up workflows that are supremely simple, ease employee pressure, and provide great service
• Conserve money by opting for phase wise automation so you can control the way it goes

#Reason No 3: Why Business Process Automation: Your decisions just get better

Making a move towards business process automation not only increases transparency in your operations, but also ensures that you have complete control of what goes on in each process. This means you make better decisions and increase your organization’s profitability and stability.
You can allocate your resources better with automation. Workflow automation solutions or a tool like Nitor Infotech’s FlowMate can help you deliver better and faster to your customers and give you customizable metrics for each workflow stage – in short, really great real-time insights to support your decision making.

What is Business Process Management and Digital Process Automation?

While I decided to focus only on what Business Process automation was and tell you how it is the best alternative when it comes to increasing employee productivity, I just thought first-cousins Business Process Management (BPM) and Digital Process Automation (DPA) should also be mentioned in the same breath.
I talk about them because while BPA focuses on automating certain processes that are oft repeated and predictable, BPM focuses on the strategy part – giving a sort of list of business processes that need automation; and DPA looks after the digital transformation, innovation, and customer experience part of it.
Let me elaborate a little – so the ‘What-needs-to-be automated part’ is solved by Business Process Management; the ‘How-to-get-it-automated part’ is solved by Business Process Automation; and finally, the ‘how-to-engage-customers-and-enhance-user-experience part’ is solved by Digital Process Automation.
This means your road starting at Business Process Automation will end with Digital Process Automation – where you gather everything viz. people, business, apps/technology, and data together to make way for a continuously improving, agile organization.
Be it healthcare, retail, manufacturing, or the event management and consulting industry, automation can increase productivity, reduce your costs, help you deploy faster, and control errors resulting from human intervention. Yes, we can all debate over robots taking over the world and doing everything, but it takes a human sitting under an apple tree to summarize how the world works. So, let’s start thinking and leave the ‘getting our thoughts to reality part’ to robots! Ready? Get, Set, Automate!

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