According to a study by Everis, in 2021, 70% of companies in Latam will invest in process automation and 80% perceive that it is key to the future of their business.
Although efficiency is a central factor that companies evaluate when investing in these technologies, there is another equally important element: the reduction of planning and operational mistakes.
It just so happens that if automation is executed poorly, it can have a negative impact on data usage, processes, and even employee mood and customer satisfaction.
Several reports from technology leaders agree that between 30% and 50% of automation projects can fail in their early implementation due to a lack of awareness and organization.
In addition, according to an IDC report published by Forbes, 54% of technology project failures are caused by mismanagement, while technical problems account for only 3%.
A recent Gartner report on this topic states that 40% of organizations have four or more simultaneous hyper-automation initiatives underway, with some organizations running as many as 15 projects at the same time, and that failure generally stems from three types of errors: in approach, implementation and impact.
The same report lists the ten most common errors when automating and shows how to avoid them, or at least reduce them to a minimum. Here we highlight the most significant points of the report.
Most common mistakes
- Falling in love with a single technology: Not everything is automation and a single technological perspective cannot be applied to everything. The focus is on the business outcome and the tools must be aligned to the goals.The report suggests creating a toolbox of technologies that provide a more holistic set of capabilities to align with a flexible range of business outcomes and redesign approaches.
- Trusting that automation will solve all problems: It may be the best long-term option for business and IT processes, but it will not solve problems of improperly designed processes. Automation does not compensate for system failures; on the contrary, it works to enhance and accelerate already validated procedures.
- Do not involve all stakeholders: Automation always has a broad impact on the business and all stakeholders should be involved in decision making.
It is advised to assign accountability for the handling of the different sides of the project to a specific member of each key team.
- Investing efforts in processes that are too complex or exceptional: This often happens when processes are not well documented, if the workflow is not consistent or if there are too many variations in the process. If this is the case, the recommendation is to focus first on the most standardized processes that generate the greatest workload for the team.
- Treat automation as a simple replication of tasks: If a technological tool is used only to copy exactly what is being done manually, the fundamental benefit of improving the end-to-end process and create a better customer and employee experience is not achieved.
It is suggested to redesign the process from scratch, considering the possibilities of the tool and using only the manual process as a reference.
- Ignoring the impact among employees and in the company’s culture: Often roles are replaced or more usually redefined. It is important to consider the impact that automation has on each team.
It is recommended to anticipate and communicate clearly how the changes will be and what role will be played by each one as a key member in the whole process.
How can we help
In the last ten years at Conciliac we have collaborated in the automation of data management processes in companies of all segments and industries. As a consequence of the increasing digitization from the pandemic years, data volumes grew exponentially and with them the need to automate the processes of integration, transformation, consolidation and validation of data that the business requires. Conciliac EDM Platform is a key and critical tool to consider for the optimization of these processes. If you want to know more, write us at info@conciliac.com or leave us your contact information to book a demo.