Automation seeks to unlock the full potential of any organisation and through its effect, increase productivity, efficiency, and revenue.
Business Process Automation (BPA) often gets described as the strategic tool to bring about digital transformation within organisations. It is estimated that the global market for digital process automation will grow to $12.61 billion by 2023. The rapidly changing global markets and the dynamic innovations in ICT significantly contribute to the use of technology in process automation. Through the global COVID-19 pandemic, business processes automation became even more crucial for organisations. Many organisations were driven to adopt digital transformation strategies to overcome immediate challenges.
As with any type of change, though, business process automation is often met with resistance from various organisational stakeholders. Barriers to its implementation exist on a technical, organisational and environmental level. The steep learning curve associated with new automation technologies presents a technological barrier. Organisational readiness, leadership and digital strategies could present barriers on an organisational level. Then the organisation’s environment should also be considered and not only the internal environment. Due to the extent of business process automation and its ability to extend across value chains, an organisation’s external environment is just as crucial. Not to forget about the workers in the organisation itself; a common fear is that automation would replace them and make their positions obsolete, but this is not the case.
Whilst barriers to automation do exist and are commonly found; organisations will fail if they do not pursue it. If a business could not adopt the assembly line as a faster, more innovative way to deliver their product, the competition will simply outpace them. This holds true today with software development. Suppose developers are doing the manual labour of working and reworking their configuration management, testing, etc. In that case, they will be passed by others who successfully start automating these processes. The penetration of automation in all its forms inevitably brings us to an identifiable point of failure for every industry on the planet. A retail firm that fails to automate customer interactions through software innovation will ultimately fail. The same retail firm that fails to automate its product labelling system through robotic process automation will also ultimately fail. But retail is not unique. Automation impacts every industry sector. Without automation, a business will fail to keep up with the pace of technological innovation.
Automation seeks to unlock the full potential of any organisation and through its effect, increase productivity, efficiency, and revenue. Automation does not seek to replace workers but endeavours to empower them to focus on more crucial tasks and expand their skills. By automating mundane tasks, an organisation’s workforce can focus on growth. The barriers to its implementation should not be seen as limiting factors. In many cases, these barriers only lead to more significant opportunities to be uncovered through automation.
The importance of automation in any organisation can not be overstated. “Highly automated organisations are six times more likely to experience annual revenue growth of 15 per cent versus companies with low automation.” Many organisations are exploring the numerous options available to automate their business processes and do not know where to start. At First Digital, we consider ourselves experts in business process automation. First Digital has a history of helping organisations automate business processes and overcome the barriers to its implementation. Contact First Digital if your organisation wants to harness process automation capabilities to gain a competitive edge.
Charl Coetsee
Manager : Automation & Integration
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