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Having spent more than 20 years engaged in disruptive technologies and been at the forefront of work innovation in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, it is very clear to me that the software automation wave that we have been riding for the last six or so years has been by far the most exciting and transformational industry shift I have seen. I believe that intelligent automation provides huge opportunities to create and deliver sustainable business value.

Sensing this upcoming revolution, in 2014 I co-created Symphony Ventures with three former colleagues. Our ability and focus to drive quantifiable business value was rapidly identified as our key competitive advantage and this enabled us to grow our company significantly to over 230 employees and offices in London, Krakow, Boston, Dallas, Bangalore, and Mexico City. Symphony was named “Cool Vendor, Business Process Services” by Gartner in 2015, “Best Intelligent Automation Pureplay” by HfS Research in 2016, and “Scale Up Leadership Team of the Year 2018” by UK Business Angels.

One of the common misconceptions about digital transformation is that technology will replace human work, leaving employees disenfranchised and obsolete. Actually, in every successful program, strong employee engagement in the change journey has been the differentiator. Enterprises that have adopted automation to upgrade the work performed by their employees have actually seen far higher levels of productivity and motivation. As mundane, repetitive tasks across the enterprise are managed through technology, employees are freed up to focus on higher-value, often customer-facing, activity. Organizations have focused on software automation, but in time as other related technologies arrive (e.g. AI), we shall start unlocking the full potential of the intelligent enterprise.

Whilst the software automation industry has been ramping up rapidly over the last six years, only a handful of organizations have fully embraced these supporting technologies to seize the true potential benefits. As 2020 has progressed, the global pandemic has further highlighted the requirement for organizations to be nimble and efficient in adapting to evolving customer and employee needs. Every business executive I engage with today is hungrier than ever to drive digital transformation to gain a competitive advantage and they know that intelligent automation is a “must-have” on this roadmap.

Deepak is one of a small group of industry experts that has successfully taken enterprises through the software automation journey. I have known Deepak professionally for more than 20 years and our paths have crossed many times. We first worked together at the forefront of the CRM industry as early employees of UK start-up Princeton Consulting. We then reconnected a few years later at BT’s technology incubator Contact Central, where Deepak was the leader charged with assembling a high-performance consulting and implementation practice.

Deepak was on my “team sheet” when we started Symphony, but I never quite landed him. That said, we have always shared one common purpose: a total focus and dedication to our customers. The work he has done from within an enterprise to institutionalize automation, drive scale, and seek to systematically transition to intelligent automation is rare.

I can only commend Deepak on finding the time and energy to write this book. As the leading (not fact-checked), mediocre (data backs this bit up) long-distance triathlete in the digital industry, I know first-hand the effort and energy it takes to commit to anything of this caliber. Let me state on the record that the idea of writing a book fills me with more dread than any hilly Ironman Triathlon course ever could. Therefore, I thank Deepak for taking the time to document his experience and knowledge in a way that I know I never could. I like the approach that Deepak has taken and believe that every reader will learn a great deal about how to consider, design, and structure successful automation programs.