Strategy Foundations for Automation Scaling

Organizations that successfully scale their automation have and do something in common. Although each journey towards the ‘Automation First’ destination is unique, there are in fact seven key strategic pillars that have proven to be essential to successfully accelerate enterprise‑wide intelligent automation, scaling through subsequent stages of adoption achieving scientifically measured expected outcomes in a predictable and faster way.

Before an organization even starts to scale Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to a significant level, two of these seven strategy pillars must be firmly established as a preliminary foundation, i.e. developing an executive vision and an automation operating model.

‘Developing an Executive visioning’ strategy pillar

Every automation journey that truly transforms and delivers tangible outcomes to an organization begins with a vision from the top. So when then they move from specific isolated solutions with a handful of software robots to enterprise-scale, they often find the C-suite support they once had has dwindled. However, there are barriers every organization will invariably face before becoming ‘Automation First’, i.e. the state when an organization is all‑in on automation: anything that can be automated, will be; and anything that’s new, is born automated. And sustained executive support is the best way to break through the barriers that’ll inevitably emerge.

As a matter of fact, many organizations start with C-suite buy-in but then fail to sustain it over time. Figuring out why it fades and how to bolster it requires a plan rooted in design thinking to create a holistic intelligent automation ecosystem—not just technology as a stand-alone solution.

Sheer technological potential or prowess might be enough to dazzle, but it’s not enough to build trust. Sustaining C-suite support requires developing and articulating a vision that executives can support every step of the way.

This vision has to emerge from the intersection between strategic business objectives and technological possibilities. Organizations can only cross this gap with the art of the possible, which enables companies to prioritize progress over perfectionism.

Focusing on what we can accomplish today and tomorrow – not on a distant, abstract goal – is what makes this pillar foundational. RPA experts know that intelligent automation can serve business goals, but scaling requires demonstrating that reality to executives with objective quantification of the associated positive business outcomes it delivers. Consequently, it’s essential to help the C-suite drill down to the core problems that inspired current processes. Those problems, once articulated through the art of the possible, can drive new, transformational methods.

Executives also need to be guided through the impact they can have, what they need to do, where they need to rethink approaches, and where the technology can apply. So here are some good questions that need to be asked and answered upfront in order to set this foundational strategy pillar, setting the ground to address the challenges that will arise, in the context of the business imperatives of the organization:

· ‘What is our roadmap for automation?’

· ‘How will automation transform our business?’

· ‘How do we gain executive buy‑in and alignment to drive high impact automation initiatives?’

‘Developing an Automation Operating Model’ strategy pillar

Fulfilling an ‘Automation First’ vision requires an automation operating model that encompasses the entire business, and the challenge of organization-wide transformation isn’t surmountable by a small team of RPA champions; even with executive support.

An automation operating model should effectively include all the necessary stakeholders and potential dependencies. Building a robotic Center of Excellence (CoE) is indeed a key component, but it’s only part of the automation operating model that operationalizes the support of RPA deployment, scaling, and transforming throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC). So many organizations instead delegate to the CoE the entire onus, inevitably ending in loss of momentum, choppy execution, limited impact of their automation plans. Such operating model should rather include several additional and equally crucial interlocking components, such as: 

• The business units where the targeted processes exist
• The CoE where the subject matter expertise resides
• The IT team that takes robots into production
• The internal audit team that monitors security and finances
• The governance, risk and compliance team that guides the approval processes

The IT team, often overlooked for too long, is especially important to involve as early as possible to ensure the required and adequate infrastructure and systems are duly and timely in place for the deployment of robots and all the other required components of the automation solution.

The internal audit teams will want visibility if you touch a financial process or encounter a data privacy issue, so that all the relevant audit and inspection requirements are duly preserved.

The governance, risk and compliance teams will want to weigh in on your goals and guide you through getting the required approvals so that the risk posture of the organization doesn’t get degraded but ideally gest more robust as a result of the proper implementation.

In order to govern these parties and their legitimate concerns towards a common view and a coordinated execution, the best model to implement is an executive-level steering committee at the enterprise level. This is particularly relevant in light of the fact that an automation operating model also accounts for the change management procedures that will enable sustained transformation. For example, one of the key aspects the executive steering committee would govern is the re‑skilling/up‑skilling plan for the workforce, as robots free capacity so they can pursue different and higher-value activities. So here are a few crucial questions to address as part of this strategy pillar to help organizations at the intersection of implementation challenges and business imperatives:

• ‘How do we operationalize our strategic vision?’
• ‘How do we design and implement our automation program?’
• ‘How do we effectively support solutions throughout the SDLC?’

Once these two foundational strategy pillars are in place, then the actual journey towards the ‘Automation First’ state can begin; and – being authentically transformational – it won’t be a smooth one. So, another set of strategy pillars needs to be duly considered and executed, in order to overcome the most common challenges to growth that will emerge at different points, and to finally lay the pathway to scale for Citizen‑led & Attended Automation.