While talk of self healing Bots, autonomous this and that, and Enterprise wide process automation plague many a famous publication, there is at least a number of current technology capabilities that although nasant in deployment, are in fact technically feasible and deployed in live settings (although not wide spread.) This is important, for any Enterprise making near term plans, as moon shots will undoubtedly be risky, and likely leave you longing. This leaves 3 key tech domains, that I believe will super charge your Automation focused return on investments in 2022 and beyond.

1. Automated Process Discovery - There are a collection of technologies in this area that are starting to make waves in assisting organisations with understanding process in a whole new light. Although not strictly focused on pure automation opportunities, Process Mining, Task Mining and the up and coming Conversation Mining are all technology enhancements to process discovery/improvement initiatives. As one ISG Automation client put it, Automated Process Discovery is like lean on steroids. Anyone who has successfully (or not) tried to deploy RPA at scale will know that pipeline development is key, and continued processes being added into the funnel are what will enable the RPA CoE to add continued value to the Enterprise, long after the original processes automated have become BAU.

What is wrong with manually looking for processes?

• The current challenge Automated Process Discovery overcomes is two-fold. Firstly, remote working practices make the manual review of process much more difficult, and although not impossible. It is much more difficult to assess a full breadth of a process when you are not side by side with your SME, this leaves much on the table and elongates the documentation stage and in some cases leads to excessive effort wasted on processes that eventually become not suitable for automation.
• The second challenge overcome is the breadth of the review, i.e. not a single SME, but every person who completes said processes, can be reviewed simultaneously. This ensures that a few review of any process can be completed at a data level which can then be supplemented by a verbal and digital run through. This duel review ensures a more holistic capture is completed, often simultaneously across multiple processes, ensuring a deeper and far reaching process review is completed.

2. Intelligent Automation - For anyone on the RPA journey, then they will understand that one of many things missing from their current Automations is intelligence. This isn't just an ability to make random off the cuff decisions either. I'd rather define intelligence in this instance as i would describe AI (Artificial Intelligence) which is the replication of any mental task. What that means to me, is any action you would complete with your head, or rather your eyes, ears, mouth or brain. In short, seeing, hearing, understanding, communicating and making decisions. As once expertly put by Prof Leslie Wilcox, if RPA is taking the Robot out of the Human, then IA (Intelligence Automation) is putting the Human into the Robot

• IA makes use of many complimentary technologies to RPA, as mentioned above, these generally replicate a human characteristic that we as human workers deploy when doing work. Looking at an invoice, Reading an email, Deciding if i should approve this loan application, or even Communicating with a customer. Its these, and many more actions that make up most of our current processes, which is a major contributor to why not everything can be automated with pure RPA
• The major players in the RPA market already understand this, which is why you will see additional capabilities now becoming in built into most RPA platforms. Be mindful that each of the capabilities in themselves usually has an entire market place in itself, so don't presume that all offerings are equal. Balancing up whats easier (an extra SKU on your existing platform) vs brining in a new vendor (and integrating) should be looked at with the specific process challenges you are looking to overcome. Clearly no need to smash a nut with a sledge hammer, but also, you don't want to be mining for gold with a bucket and spade, choose any additional technology wisely, but do choose them and expand the reach of your digital workforce.

3. Process Intelligence - Process Intelligence is actually my big bet on the future way that the enterprise will monitor processes in the future, especially the manual ones that aren't automated. There are many examples of when straight to Automation isn't giving businesses the return they expect, and in many cases it's because the processes just aren't understood well enough, and monitored over a prolonged enough period to be truly understood. This is where Process Intelligence comes in.

• You might be familiar with the global shortage of microchips at present, it's effecting supply of new laptops, phones and games consoles, but it's also a major cause of the challenges we have with new cars also. You cars combustion engine is now also one big computer, hence the need for a microchip. If you can digitise a combustion engine, then you can digitise your manual processes also. Its this concept, adding a data & intelligence layer to monitors the ongoing health of your processes (even the manual ones), that will be critical to the future of the Enterprise.
• In light of changing working environments, and at best hybrid working being the most desireable vs returning to the office full time. Monitoring of processes, and staff to a degree will become even more important. Process Intelligence will take the guess work out of staffing needs, budgeting, SLA projections and so much more, even when process are still being completed by your people. Intelligent Automation will only ever penetrate your organisation so far, at least with the way current processes are designed, so unless you plan on transforming every process in your business (and even if you do) then Process Intelligence will become a necessity.

The world of technology is moving at such a pace, and its really difficult to pin your hopes to the emerging technology options out there. These hot trends, are becoming a reality, and will become the norm by 2025. Getting onboard early will accelerate your existing automation efforts and create a competitive advantage against the late comers. Data lead decisions are the future, these are the foundations to make your processes be a help not a hindrance in future business planning, while paving the way for future autonomous enterprise.

If you need help in what you should be doing next, feel free to reach out. I'm happy to help

Wayne