Robotic process automation (RPA) is rapidly moving beyond the early adoption phase across verticals. Automating just basic workflow processes has resulted in such tremendous efficiency improvements and cost savings that businesses are adapting automation at scale and across the enterprise.
While there is a technical component to robotic automation, RPA is not a traditional IT-driven solution. It is, however, still important to align the business and IT processes around RPA. Adapting business automation for the enterprise should be approached as a business solution that happens to require some technical support.
A strong working relationship between the CFO and CIO will go a long way in getting IT behind, and in support of, the initiative rather than in front of it.
More important to the success of a large-scale RPA initiative is support from senior business executives across all lines of business and at every step of the project, with clear communications and an advocacy plan all the way down to LOB managers and employees.
As we’ve seen in real-world examples, successful campaigns for deploying automation at scale require a systematic approach to developing a vision, gathering stakeholder and employee buy-in, identifying use cases, building a center of excellence (CoE) and establishing a governance model.
Create an overarching vision
Your strategy should include defining measurable, strategic objectives. Identify strategic areas that benefit most from automation, such as the supply chain, call centers, AP or revenue cycle, and start with obvious areas where business sees delays due to manual workflow processes. Remember, the goal is not to replace employees; you’re aiming to speed up processes, reduce errors, increase efficiencies and let your employees focus on higher value tasks.
Leverage partners with successful RPA deployments to come in and sponsor workshops to foster discussions and ideas amongst executives, LOB managers and employees. They can help kickstart the discussion with proven examples of workflows that lend themselves to quick, measurable returns. You can help build trust in the process by making employees into stakeholders and give them an opportunity to understand exactly what RPA can do.
Develop measurable ROIs
Technology solutions must have support from the business and IT both. Having measurable ROIs is critical to helping sell the initiative to the business as well as to grow automation as an enterprise platform.
Assessing and validating the expected ROI against the use case regularly allows you to continue reassuring the executive sponsorship on the strategy and build mind-share with senior stakeholders. When stakeholders see benefits, they will want to participate, which will in turn help secure funding for expansion across other business units.
Get executive sponsorship
If automation is a corporate priority, it should be sponsored at the CEO or CFO level, as such an endorsement instills confidence in the initiative and ensures it remains a top priority. Individual departments and business functions will still have specific responsibilities, but the overarching vision and sponsorship will assure greater success and expansion.
It’s also a good idea to get stakeholders in early. In addition to the senior leadership, you will need to map out who will be affected by automation. Typically, that will include project teams, department heads, IT, process owners, and the compliance and cybersecurity teams. By enlisting stakeholders early, you can deputize them as your automation ambassadors. This will also help build your roadmap with input from stakeholders and bring additional value to the project.
Get employee buy-in
Communication is paramount. Focus on the people, not just the technology and strategy. Most employees don’t know much about RPA, which often leads to misconceptions about their jobs being in danger. We have found that employees who learn that they are being given an opportunity to focus on higher value tasks end up supporting such initiatives and increase company morale.
I often ask employees, “If you didn’t have to fill out that form or update that spreadsheet 30 times a day, what would you like to be doing for the company?” The answer is always about using their skills to advance the business, being more productive and adding value. They want to do more.
Invest in building skills
Upskilling and reskilling employees is a great way to improve work satisfaction and retain talent.
You should provide opportunities for training, participation in forums and certifications. Encourage and democratize automation through employee-led development activities, and establish and get employees to participate in ideathons to let them contribute ideas on what needs to be automated to improve their job.
Accelerate use-case discovery
Continual discovery of use cases is crucial for creating momentum in automation. Once the low-hanging fruit is addressed, choosing the next use cases helps to correctly define the path forward. Consider using both top-down and bottom-up discovery to develop robust use cases.
Top-down discovery is propelled by process and task mining and focuses on complex processes, while bottom-up discovery is driven by individual workers and is concerned with tasks and simple departmental processes.
Implement a CoE model
Setting up a center of excellence for stakeholders and experts can help you scale and roll out automation more effectively. It will drive strategy, subject matter expertise, messaging, change control, operating models, and technology solutions, and is the best way to handle governance and implement risk controls. This model helps scale automation objectives and ensure an end-to-end view.
Establish a governance model
Sustaining and scaling automation requires a very clear focus on the governance model. Governance can be time consuming, especially as more and more of the business requires real-time response. By addressing governance early, you don’t have to disrupt your project later. Involve the compliance and audit teams, bring in the CISO early on, and set up a well-documented governance structure overseen by a steering group.
Remember that automation is a journey. The business and IT roadmaps need to be aligned and addressed upfront to address risk mitigation and compliance needs.
Get help
You don’t need to do all this on your own — many partners have the expertise to help you implement all we’ve listed above. Leverage a strong partner who can bring in specific functional capabilities. They can also review and validate your strategy as well as bring in resources to help meet objectives and timelines. This can accelerate your progress and help you respond quickly to issues and sudden escalations.
Traditional companies might approach an RPA initiative as they have other business initiatives, which is usually slowly and carefully. But to reap the benefits of automation at scale, companies need more ambition. That is not to say you should blindly rush in; by instead following the guidelines suggested above, an organization can prepare themselves for the “automation at scale” journey.
It does require planning and investment of time and resources, but as we have seen over and over, the return in savings far exceeds the investments.
RPA market surges as investors, vendors capitalize on pandemic-driven tech shift