In what seems like a very short time, automation has proliferated across industry sectors and into the mainstream media, sparking valuable discussion and debate on its potential to impact economies, capitalism, and society as a whole. Our personal connection to change on such a grand scale is one we cannot avoid, because the common denominator in all these themes is work.
The application of automation to change work, the central theme of this book, is compelling because it’s so visible. It’s fascinating to watch employees see an automation—a digital worker—for the first time, repeating some of their everyday activities. Here, the technology does not appear to be hidden behind web pages or corporate systems. It seems to be present, integrated into the team like another coworker. Of course, most automation solutions do reside as software on IT systems and servers, but their impact on the working practices of employees is so tangible that some teams even give their digital coworkers human names.
The story of modern automation is therefore not one of a “traditional” technology and its creation of silos, separating the front office from the back office, and isolating the finance division from the marketing division. Automation is about unification. It is about bringing people and technology closer together as complementary parts of the same system. More importantly, it is about bringing employees together, liberating them from the modern curse of low-value work. It empowers your employees to work on the important stuff, to collaborate, problem-solve, and innovate.
In my experience as a practitioner and advisor on automation, across a multitude of clients and automated processes, I have yet to meet an employee who was envious of the tasks the digital worker had taken on. In fact, what initially surprised me was that the opposite reaction is far more common. They were keen to share “their” digital worker and “their” experiences of how impactful the process of automation has been with other colleagues. The shift from skeptic to champion is very satisfying.
I am frequently asked two questions by clients. The first is: how do you get employees to adopt automation? My answer is that you can’t. The automation initiative needs structuring, developing, and communicating. If it’s done correctly, employees should naturally embrace the change. The second question is: isn’t automation software just a sticking plaster or band-aid solution? My response—Do your employees make better band-aids?—continues to drive some interesting discussions.
We need to start the process of weaning ourselves off the corporate structures and organizational approaches inherited from previous industrial revolutions. Crucially, we need to change our view of technology as being a permanent fixture. Even our most impressive constructions, like the Colossus of Rhodes—a 33-meter-high bronze statue of the Greek sun-god Helios and one of the ancient wonders of the world—ultimately crumble. Instead, technology should be viewed as iterations of semi-permanence, almost fluid-like, continually evolving around the needs of your customers and the capabilities of the enterprise.
The impact of widespread employee band-aids has been exposed by the global pandemic and the resulting impact on staff availability and the rupturing of supply chains. Automation removes the fragility of employee band-aids, instead creating semi-permanent technological capabilities supporting the organization towards increasing levels of agility and responsiveness.
Change is a curious beast. It appears greater when viewed retrospectively, yet we are very aware of its omnipresence. There is no “no change.” Disruption is, in effect, the impact of a shift in the pace of change, and at the time of writing the disruption of the global pandemic is impossible to ignore and its full ramifications remain as yet unknown. Also in this period of digital disruption, the shift is clearly evident through the wide-reaching impact it is having on consumer behaviors, new products, and of course technology.
Moore’s law, which states that we can expect the speed and capability of machines to double every two years,
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is often cited as one of the key enablers of the technological change we have experienced over the last few decades. On reflection, what is a
glaring omission from this picture is our ability as humans to continually adapt to these levels of change—the “capacity for humans to keep up” law, if you will. I believe that we are far from breaching any biological thresholds to truly harness technology. Observing a baby consciously swiping the screen on a smartphone or tablet before they can talk gives a glimpse as to our capacity as humans.
However, I do believe we are at a critical point in the effective ongoing adoption of technology within the organizations we serve. Polarization has occurred in industry between companies “born” digital and the rest, much like the difference between Gen Zs raised on a diet of social media and “always-on” devices and those born before the 1990s. The threat to the very existence of companies that have no intention of embracing digital should now be as clear as day. You can see it in media headlines dominated by the ongoing impact of online shopping habits on bricks and mortar retail.
Conversations and debates on “the future of work,” the impact of automation, and the power of technology have recently been like attempting to domesticate Hydra, the Greek mythological sea serpent. With every head cut off Hydra, two more would grow back in its place. The applicability of those conversations can sometimes be overly academic because technological progress by debate can be misguided. If we had discussed the future impact of attaching wheels to the cart, would we still have invented the car? Would we have gone ahead, knowing about the increased pollution and the detriment caused to our health of walking less?
At this critical period, organizations need to be able to successfully adopt new tools, harness new technologies, and create improved ways of working. Automation software technology, while seeing rapid growth across industries, is showing signs of sputtering at the enterprise scale. We did attach the proverbial wheels to the cart, but it is starting to shake as the horse gathers pace. As automation rapidly expands towards intelligent automation, its natural evolution, we have the potential to fundamentally redesign the way we work. However, this transition brings with it ever-increasing technological complexity. This puts at risk the
opportunity for organizations to leverage technology in order to improve efficiencies, improve working practices and drive growth.
As such, the focus of this book is on the successful adoption of automation within enterprises. Over a number of years, I have been fortunate enough to have worked across a wide range of sectors, including financial services, manufacturing, and utilities, across the globe. Supported by highly skilled teams, I have created competency centers, led the delivery of programs, and provided advice across the C-suite. Throughout my experience across very different organizations, the core purpose has remained the same: the application of technology for business benefit.
Specifically, this book distills a set of key lessons based on applied practices into a structured set of principles, methodologies, and approaches. These can be utilized to create and scale your automation capability and, crucially, to enable the transition to intelligent automation. It’s worth noting that scale does not necessarily refer to more automation and a larger digital workforce.
The key determinant of scale for any technology should be its potential to create value. For automation within organizations, the delivery of significant value is embedded in the opportunity to use the tools of automation to enable the organization’s transformation initiative. This goes beyond simply automating work to the application of automation to support digital reinvention.
This book is aimed at all leaders, not defined by rank or role but by your ability to recognize change and marshal your colleagues through these periods of challenge. The Automated Enterprise is about providing business leaders, management, technology professionals, and all parties with a responsibility to support their employees and customers with the knowledge and a set of practical tools to grow a sustainable automation capability.
In Chapter 1, I provide an overview of the critical relationship between humans and technology over decades and centuries. Automation technology, although widely known, is vastly misunderstood and so clarity is provided as to its meaning and present-day application. The automation industry has grown out of a purpose—a necessity that is important to grasp if we are to consider
its successful adoption. Disruption provides a catalyst for change, and so this chapter explores the level of disruption today and what makes it so different. For incumbent organizations exposed to these new competitive threats, I share the response: digital transformation. I provide an overview of the steps towards digital transformation and how automation can help not only enable but accelerate this mission.
Chapter 2 provides a deeper overview of automation technology, its key components, and its applications within the current enterprise. The flexibility of automation means it can help solve myriad business problems, so this chapter also covers the wide range of use cases and the associated benefits it can provide.
Intelligent automation (also known as cognitive automation or hyperautomation) is highly misunderstood, yet it represents a paradigm shift in automation technology. Therefore, chapter 3 is dedicated to an introductory understanding of intelligent automation. It covers the key constituents of this technology portfolio, such as artificial intelligence and use cases—including its applicability at a time of global pandemic.
Building on these foundational steps towards digital transformation and our understanding of technology, chapter 4 explores the critical relationship between automation, transformation, and work. It directly correlates the steps towards transformation with the automation of work. The final part of this chapter shares new concepts on how intelligent automation can potentially be better adopted by organizations, influenced by the key biological functions of the human brain.
Chapter 5 provides us with a comprehensive approach to the successful adoption of automation within an enterprise environment by covering strategy, people, the organization, and operations. It sets forth the importance of an automation strategy, its key components, and its relationship to the wider change initiative. Plus, it introduces a model to guide the strategic direction of the capability, using the Intelligent Automation Maturity Framework.
The People section critically reviews the importance of cultural change within the scope of an organization and proposes an
automation-specific culture change model. The section goes on to discuss key structural considerations, such as the organizational design of the automation capability and the team formation, and the evolutionary path this will need to take.
Importantly, it discusses creating not just another organizational extension but an automation capability. This would share more traits with digital start-ups in its ability to try different approaches that are more agile, and which drive towards greater experimentation and innovation. It’s an opportunity to demonstrate the impact of new methods to the wider organization.
The chapter concludes with a detailed description of the key operational processes required to enable the enterprise automation capability to deliver, from engaging stakeholders through to delivering and supporting the emerging digital workforce.
The successful adoption of an automation capability within an enterprise environment is a journey, a trip to stay relevant by satisfying a series of increasingly important business demands. Chapter 6 takes you on this automated enterprise journey through the key stages of Proof of Value, the Accelerated Incubator, the Enterprise Scaler, and the Intelligent Automation Innovator. At each stage, the key objectives and, importantly, the tensions are highlighted.
The final chapter concludes by looking to the future, delving into the technology and the challenges and opportunities intelligent automation provides. I consider the importance of using a holistic approach to manage change for intelligent automation, and why it becomes so critical. Finally, I consider what this means for the future of work and the components of this ongoing conversation.
The old saying that technology is a tool remains relevant. Like a painter holding their paintbrush, applying carefully considered strokes to create a piece of art, we have the opportunity to empower employees to use a new set of tools that will help them craft new ways of doing work. The increasing level of sophistication of these tools will support the development of more creative ways to do work; ways of work that support more focused engagement and collaboration. Ways of work that organically generate longer-term
value for the organization.
Many years ago, I faced the various distractions of university life and the impending submission of my thesis for my postgraduate degree in my hometown of Nottingham, England. In an act of desperation, I searched for knowledge to help me focus better. At a time when an impulse buy meant catching the bus to the town center and walking to the bookshop, I ended up purchasing The Reflective Practitioner by Donald A. Schön, a book that was originally published in 1983. After it spent many years gathering dust on my office bookshelf, I recently rediscovered it and found that it is more relevant now than ever. In an era that requires us to solve an increasingly complex set of problems, it discusses the compelling notion of adding reflection, experimentation, and improvisation into our roles, surely the antithesis of low-value work.
We are all seeking to become better, more present, and more focused, no matter what our roles as managers, employees, teachers, or parents. And in the world of work, automation provides us and the people we serve with an opportunity to become reflective practitioners.