A Path to Automation
When looking to automate business processes, we are often misguided in our decision-making. Instead of determining if we should automate something, we immediately start searching and looking at websites. That research alters our vision of what a solution looks like and sends us down an ill defined path. What we should do is start by defining why we want to automate something, what we should automate, and who should define the solution.
“ ... increase employee job satisfaction and provide the organization with a competitive edge.”
When asked why we should automate anything, most will say to lower costs. While this is an incredibly positive feature of automation, it is not one that should completely drive our decisions. What most people fail to realize is that most our jobs can be automated, it is just a matter of time and money. This doesn’t mean all jobs, but it does mean most. A better answer to “why automate something” would be to free our employees up to concentrate on tasks that require uniquely human skills. Utilizing them in this way will both increase employee job satisfaction and provide the organization with a competitive edge.
A great place to find processes to automate is by looking for tasks that people try to get out of doing. These are easy to find because they are the items that never get done. These are not typically low-skill items but often dark labyrinths that provide little or no satisfaction. By focusing on these areas, you will also get less resistance from your staff as they will be able to experience personal benefits with these integrations.
For instance, companies often experience audit failures regarding the maintenance of training records. Typically, this is a tangled mess of paper documents and spreadsheets. Straightening out this mess takes time, focus, organization, and multi-departmental communications. In addition, most employees see no benefit in maintaining this information. It is seen as just an issue of regulation and compliance. This slurry of chaos and disdain is ripe for automation.
After deciding what to automate we need to decide how a solution will be found. Step one in this stage should be determining a budget. This is always a deciding factor in choosing a solution. To move forward without one substantially increases the number of dead end paths we experience. Once a budget has been determined we need to find the person best equipped to understand the problem at hand. This person is usually someone involved directly with the process and should be given full responsibility in determining a solution. This doesn’t mean they can’t seek counsel outside of their expertise. But, in the end, it is this person’s decision as to a final solution.
If not careful, the path to automation can result in a confusing matrix of needs, wants, and opinion that are lobbed back and forth during endless meetings and cross departmental communications. This is not an absolute. By approaching things methodically, we can reap the benefits of automation without creating unnecessary frustration and poorly executed solutions.
