DM May-Jun 2020

Dm RESEARCH: AUTOMATION
Automation for the people
Now is the time to unlock new abilities to deliver by
investing in digital capacity, argues Chris Huff, Chief
Strategy Officer at Kofax
Within a matter of months, the
world has changed. Many
employees have shifted to
working from home. Offices are closed, and
customers seek ways to engage and
transact remotely. Business leaders have
had to act swiftly to stabilise their
businesses and adjust their operating
models in response.
This global disruption has been very
painful. It has created a double-sided
problem for business leaders: demand
destruction and shortage of work capacity.
Demand destruction has been driven by
broad reductions in consumption as people
go outside less and cut back on spending
as a protective measure against uncertainty.
Shortage of work capacity is a problem that
has presented itself as organisations are
expected to do more with less. In fact,
some are dealing with demand spikes and
customer outreach, which is overwhelming
their existing workforce. They're dealing
with extreme constraints, and herein lies an
opportunity.
In a book called "A Beautiful Constraint," a
constraint is defined as a limitation imposed
by outside circumstances that materially
affects someone's ability to do something.
The book goes on to explain that success in
certain situations isn't in eliminating
constraints, but positively leveraging them
to unlock transformative benefits and
possibilities. The current constraints on
businesses present an opportunity to look
at investment in digital capacity to
streamline internal operations and
customer-facing experiences.
In what were previously 'normal'
circumstances, knowledge workers around
the world were challenged with everincreasing
responsibilities and tasks. Across
many organisations, knowledge workers
have felt common pain that comes from an
inability to focus as much on missioncentric
and valued work. Today those
constraints are felt more than ever. There's
also a new sense of urgency to meet today's
business challenges, yet lay a foundation
for continued success in the long term-and
ensure a level of resilience to future
business or market disruptions.
The question is, where's the necessary
capacity going to come from given the
constraints of today?
Digital technologies.
The good news is that, according to a
recent Forrester study, for the second
consecutive year, organisations are making
considerable headway automating key
front- and back-office operations:
58% of organisations have deployed
automation technologies to digitise
information
52% are using it to automate front-desk
interaction
49% have implemented automation for
fulfilment and verification
45% use it to perform rules-based tasks
44% use automation for business spend
management
44% automate back-office tasks
38% automate decisioning
30% use it to automate Accounts
Payable and orchestrate workflows
However, it's a delicate balance to achieve
- rapidly innovating and responding to the
current challenges to meet customers'
demands while keeping costs in check.
Forrester also reports that "an unintended
consequence of acting quickly to solve the
problem at hand is the creation of
automation silos."
Cobbling together a variety of solutions
from different vendors can end up doing
more harm than good in the long term
because the depth of integration is usually
lacking; this can be a huge hurdle to
realising the full business benefits of
automation. Forty-five percent of Forrester
study respondents reported having
deployed a patchwork of automation
solutions from several vendors. And nearly
all (98 percent) reported that a nonintegrated
automation approach created
challenges such as high technical debt (46
percent) and delays in successful outcomes
(35 percent).
AT AN INFLECTION POINT
To date, most organisations have invested
in specific technologies like RPA, based on
their promise of managing 'specific tasks'
like data entry. However, unlocking the
ability to scale requires looking at broader
processes and operations. This includes
people, as well as a combination of
10
@DMMagAndAwards
May/June 2020
www.document-manager.com