Enterprises that embrace automation can have happier customers, more satisfied employees, and streamlined operations.
This should be an alarm bell for those who do not yet have a digitization/automation strategy.
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However, the huge opportunity for automation comes with its own challenges.
The growing number and variety of tasks that can be automated need careful oversight and planning.
But there are a few recent trends that have lent to the explosion of opportunities for automation across industries.
It can help with intelligent automation, whether its IT or line of business.
Digitization cannot happen without automation.
Another technology is robotic process automation (RPA), Nirmal says.
In line-of-business, a lot of technology that is being driven for automation is task related.
For example, insurance companies are using AI and RPA to automate the processing of customer reports.
A fourth notable trend that Nirmal talks about is process mining.
Process mining is about figuring out which processes are ripe for automation.
What is the ROI if I were to automate this process?
How much do I save in terms of time and resources by automating that process?
What other touch points does the process have?
What is the role of the Chief Automation Officer?
Automation helps with every single aspect of enterprise operations, Nirmal says.
Nirmal compares the role of the CAO to the Chief Data Officer (CDO).
Before the CDO, organizations held an ambiguous volume of data, scattered across different silos and systems.
It can really improve employee morale and productivity.
For example, in manufacturing, the CAO can help identify how computer vision can help automate defect detection.
In financial services, the CAO can help find the right combination of tools to automate repetitive back-office tasks.
According to Nirmal:
An enterprise is usually a big setup of complex processes across business and IT.
I believe that the CAOs focus needs to be on digitizing the enterprise.
Digitization cannot happen without automation.
Automation is finding its way into every department.
He sees three common denominators in the benefits that these organizations have achieved.
One is the optimization of resources within an enterprise.
And three is observability of your enterprise end-to-end, and how youre digitizing your enterprise across different sectors.
A lot of times, automation allows employees to focus on higher value tasks, Nirmal says.
It can really improve employee morale and productivity, optimization, etc.
But obviously, the biggest goal that every enterprise will have to focus on is improving customer satisfaction.
The end product is how you help create satisfied customers.
For me, to achieve that you need automation, Nirmal says.
The next decade is all about intelligent automation.
Enterprises will have to invest in automation to survive and succeed, or they may not exist.
Its a profound statement, but I think its critical because your competition will invest in it.
It drives customer satisfaction.
If you dont have satisfied customers, you are clearly not in a position to win.
