HOW PROCESS

DISCOVERY WORKS
TOWARDS AMPLIFYING
OPERATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY

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HOW PROCESS DISCOVERY WORKS TOWARDS AMPLIFYING OPERATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY
Introduction
Gone are the days when manual methods
such as shadowing an employee were
used to gather information about enterprise
processes. These methods were limited to
subjective knowledge, time-consuming,
and compromised by human biases.
Having now landed in 2021, we can retrospectively observe
how the COVID-19 pandemic (and subsequent economic
fall-out) has shone a spotlight onto those organisations
that were under-prepared to adapt their operating models
and processes quickly enough to survive. Automation,
in particular, has proven to be the saving grace for many
organisations, providing a safety net of ‘lights-out’ continuity
during a period of severe disruption.
For most enterprises, difficulties in realizing the full value of
automation programs start with acquiring an accurate and
comprehensive mapping of all their business processes.
The organizations that can understand their processes,
can use data to accelerate decision making, leverage the
knowledge of their workforce, and, from that, build the right
disciplines and procedures to adjust quickly to change,
will be the winners moving forward. One such tool that
enables this ‘deep dive’ beyond other conventional methods
is Process Discovery. It accelerates understanding, or
process know-how, and is fast becoming a core component
of organizational agility.
Process Discovery is an automated, data-driven artificial
intelligence (AI) technology which finds, maps and
documents existing businesses tasks in near real-time. The
data is then analyzed to recommend and automatically
create process models, or workflows. By recording and
examining the digital footprint left by users, a detailed
representation of the business process is automatically
created. This includes various nuances and detailed
statistics on process variations, how often they occur, how
long they take, what data conditions give rise to these
variations, and how they appear between different users or
groups of users.
This discovery and analysis of an organization’s current
business processes offers a baseline for improvements and
identifies key problem areas not only at the onset of digital
transformation initiatives, but also when scaling up existing
robotic process automation (RPA) projects.
© 2021 SSON 2
BETH HAMPTON
EDITOR
SHARED SERVICES AND
OUTSOURCING NETWORK
Beth.Hampton@ssonetwork.com
Per a survey conducted by EdgeVerve with senior
operations executives, almost 70% of the respondents
indicated that their main objective of embarking on the
automation journey is to improve productivity and
efficiency within operations. This is corroborated by the
findings of a recent survey from the Process Excellence
(PEX) Network, which demonstrates that the key focus
area for process improvement is now firmly on operations
(see chart). As a result, organizations are now reflecting
on their performance during the pandemic and refocusing
themselves on improving operational productivity.
In doing so, organizations hope to safeguard business
continuity during the crisis and focus on delivering their
product, services or brand swiftly to market – all the while
ensuring customer experiences are not negated.
Not only do Process Discovery tools distinguish business
processes that can be automated, but they also help design
automation workflows, making the mapping, planning and
implementation of automation quicker and more efficient.
This report, created in collaboration with EdgeVerve,
discusses how Process Discovery works, and how it has
become a must-have tool for helping organizations make
data-driven decisions on their internal processes.
WHAT AREA OF YOUR BUSINESS NOW ATTRACTS THE
MOST INVESTMENT FOR PROCESS IMPROVEMENT?
5%
Other
3% 41%
Research and development Operations
8%
Training 23%
Product, services
and/or brand
20%
Customer experience
Source: Using Process Discovery to navigate
the post-pandemic world, PEX Network
HOW PROCESS DISCOVERY WORKS TOWARDS AMPLIFYING OPERATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY © 2021 SSON 3

Process Discovery: REGARDING PROCESS DISCOVERY/

MINING, WHERE DO YOU
CURRENTLY STAND?
FRONT OF MIND IN 2021 30%
We have not broached this yet
Throughout the final months of 2020, the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network
(SSON) conducted a global survey whose findings were assessed and analyzed 35%
within the State of the Shared Services & Outsourcing Industry Global Market We are currently investing in / planning to
invest in tools that offer this capability
Report 2021. Results from the survey show that utilizing Process Discovery is very
15%
much a ‘front of mind’ objective for 2021 – in fact, six out of 10 respondents either
We already use such tools and have had great
already utilize it (26%) or are currently investing/planning to invest (35%) in the results in terms of optimizing automation/RPA
near future.
7%
Given the shift towards future of work (FOW) and the growing importance of We already use such tools and have had great
results in terms of optimizing the process itself
unattended, ‘lights-out’ office processes to ensure continuity, tools such as Process (i.e., not RPA driven)
Discovery represent a very real opportunity for growth and acceleration towards 4%
the new concept of work. As will be explored further into the report, deploying
We already use such tools, but results
automation is one such opportunity and offers a lifeline for organizations now are disappointing / negligible

highly focused on maintaining business continuity. Data from the survey reflects 9%
that shared services have recognized the significance of improved process We are not familiar with Process Mining/
Discovery solutions
understanding for optimizing automation.

Some other key highlights from the survey:

● Process design/improvement has been singled out as the most important

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT
capability for over a third of respondents and their respective teams. CAPABILITY FOR YOUR TEAM
GOING FORWARD?
● One in five respondents now prioritize redesigning their process workflows as
their key lever for driving FOW. 33%
Process design/continuous improvement
● Almost half of respondents say that FOW adoption has most significantly
16%
changed levels of investment in technologies to manage the execution of
Culture, emotional IQ, hard/soft skills balance
company processes.
15%
As businesses grow and companies strive to differentiate themselves from
Data management / analytics
their competition during these turbulent times, processes can become more
12%
complex. Throughout this report, we discuss how and why Process Discovery
Change management
techniques are vital today to understand the ‘as-is’ scenario and become aware of
opportunities to streamline workflows. 11%
Customer experience

6%
Understanding IA

5%
Leadership skills

2%
Other

Source: State of the Shared Services &

Outsourcing Industry Global Market Report 2021
 HOW PROCESS DISCOVERY WORKS TOWARDS AMPLIFYING OPERATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY © 2021 SSON 4

The Defining First

Step In Automation:
PROCESS DISCOVERY
UNCOVERS THE
INEFFICIENCIES YOU
HAVEN’T SEEN YET
In light of the disruption caused by the
pandemic, it is no great surprise that investment
in automation continues to grow. In mid-
2020, SSON conducted a survey to assess
attitudes to automation and featured the results
within the COVID-19 Impact on Global Service
Delivery Models – “Reality Bites” report. When
asked what steps were being taken to ensure
service levels were maintained, respondents
overwhelming opted for the increased
automation of their processes - almost six in
10 organizations consider this their top priority.
Another recent report from Forrester Research
solidifies this trend, claiming that the onset Automated service delivery models – even virtual service
of the pandemic has resulted in a shift in delivery models – are now recognized as part of the solution
“automation psychology” that will “spark an 18- to the vulnerabilities many shared services experienced as a

to-24-month period of rapidly accelerating IA”. result of the virus. Of course, there are many complementary
technologies that run alongside RPA – automation on its own
is not a silver bullet. It will play a key role, however, as one of
TO MAINTAIN SERVICE LEVELS, WHICH OF THE the strategies that will build more resilience in service delivery
FOLLOWING ARE YOU CURRENTLY CONSIDERING? for the future.
(MULTIPLE OPTIONS CHOSEN)
0% 60% However, considering the growing potential of RPA,
Increased automation
56% businesses should also be aware that approximately half
of processes
of RPA projects fail (as recent surveys by Deloitte and EY
Recalibration of service
delivery model 44% have found) and most of those that “succeed” do not deliver
Adoption of cognitive/
24% the expected ROI. Further research from SSON’s State of
AI capabilities
the Shared Services & Outsourcing Industry Global Market
Renegotiating service
level agreements (SLAs) 21% Report 2021 shows that almost 70% of organisations are less
Moving work
12% than highly satisfied with their overall IA experience.
back onshore

N/A 23%
The identification of process candidates for automation in
itself is rife with challenges, and as SSON’s surveys confirm
Other 5% again and again, one of the biggest pitfalls to successful

Source: COVID-19 Impact on Global Service Delivery Models – “Reality Bites”

automation is process selection. One such survey was
 HOW PROCESS DISCOVERY WORKS TOWARDS AMPLIFYING OPERATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY
WHERE YOUR AUTOMATION INITIATIVE HAS RUN INTO TROUBLE, WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE THIS TO?
(MULTIPLE ANSWERS SELECTED)
0%
We have not adopted
automation to date
Wrong process selection/
not fit for selection
Insufficient change management
Essential stakeholders
insufficiently on board
We don’t have the
necessary skills in-house
Limited by insufficiently developed
data management plan
Solution provider ended up not being
a fit for our project/business needs
We have not experienced trouble
withour IA/RPA initiatives
Source: SSON State of the Global Shared Services Industry Report 2020
conducted within global shared services and outsourcing
professionals, the results of which were featured in the State
of the Global Shared Services Industry Report 2020. The
single most common issue respondents attributed to their
automation troubles was wrong process selection (see
chart).
Incorrect selection of processes is clearly one of the
greatest barriers to enabling automation’s benefits across an
enterprise. Considering that the State of the Shared Services
& Outsourcing Industry Global Market Report 2021 highlights
“improved processes” (as well as service resilience with fewer
humans in the loop) as the single most significant benefit of
IA to date, it stands to reason that the process selected should
be the right one.
Traditional process identification methods are extremely
time-consuming, prone to bias and disagreement, and
entail a certain degree of risk. This calls for a solution
that can automatically identify, analyze and recommend
what processes your company could automate. Process
Discovery results in more accurate and deeper understanding
of processes, eventually enabling maximum process
optimization for a business. It shortens the path to value for
RPA, making it the first essential step towards RPA success.
When accompanied by Process Discovery, automation has
a much greater potential to succeed, as there is an inherent
relationship between deep process understanding and
automation success. The first step of Process Discovery is
© 2021 SSON 5
40%
32%
31%
29%
17%
16%
15%
11%
7%
the capture of data from the activities of every employee’s
computer. For example, assessing how they are performing a
task during their day-to-day job will provide a completely new
layer of data insights that organizations previously did not
collect because they did not have the right tools to do so. The
data collected across multiple users anonymously is mined,
which generates the insights that allow experts to look at how
processes are executed on the ground.
Data collected during this procedure provides a process
map: a simple visual representation of how a process is being
executed. In describing the value of data for the utilization of
Process Discovery tools, Shrikant Deo (Associate Director at
EdgeVerve’s Product Management Office) explains: “When
we open up the data we capture, we have insights on
automation, operational productivity, how a process is
changing, process compliance, process transformation
and visibility over what the remote workforce needs.”
Process Discovery provides a means of quickly and effectively
identifying the ideal processes for RPA and continuing to
automate additional tasks. In contrast to manual process
mapping and Process Mining, Process Discovery bases the
return-on-investment (ROI) on empirical data and analysis,
not guesswork and forecasts. It identifies the processes to
automate and generates an automation blueprint to unlock
automation success. It thus helps organizations get to the
granular level of detail in a business process - an essential
part of the digital transformation journey.
HOW PROCESS DISCOVERY WORKS TOWARDS AMPLIFYING OPERATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY © 2021 SSON 6

Process Discovery
Uncovers The
Invisible Enterprise
Process Discovery bots are a powerful tool
and provide far deeper capabilities than the
mere visibility of underlying operational structures.

Discovery bots run on employee machines in a non-intrusive way, without

hampering daily work and collecting data on how the employees use KEY USE CASES
various applications to perform their tasks. Advanced machine learning FOR PROCESS
(ML) algorithms then analyze the data, generating automation workflows DISCOVERY
that can be moved to an automation tool for a seamless automation
journey. In utilizing AI capabilities, Discovery tools use neural nets and
deep learning to recognise the tasks, applications, and human interactions
that can be used to create the metamodel for future work.
Identifying RPA
In using these newer technologies such as computer vision, machine opportunities
intelligence and deep learning, Process Discovery gives birth to an for automation
enterprise’s digital twin: the invisible enterprise.

The invisible enterprise is the digital representation of the enterprise

created by the amalgamation of all the nuances and drifts that diverge
from the actual business processes. It is so named because this enterprise Planning for a
is generally excluded from traditional forms of human-led process significant
mapping. With Process Discovery, it is possible to extract the process digital transformation
footprint through user interaction with the systems. Both the visible and
the invisible processes can be collected through this advanced approach,
taking the invisible parts of the enterprise and making them visible.

Other tools developed and intended to support automation initiatives Unveiling previously
can often be entirely separate from an RPA solution, and hence an unknown processes
enterprise would have to look at integration between these two tools to for in-depth process
align vendors for an efficient output. This integration and the inefficiencies mapping
associated with it increases the time to value realization of an automation
implementation.

On the other hand, the data collected by Process Discovery tools is

empirical and captures the bits and bytes of a process more effectively. Understanding
Thus, it ensures that the enterprise is not automating broken or inefficient processes
processes. With such a complete map of processes, automation initiatives with no subsequent
will not fail and can bypass bottlenecks caused by human biases and intention
errors. This leads to faster value realization of RPA and better ROI. to integrate
HOW PROCESS DISCOVERY WORKS TOWARDS AMPLIFYING OPERATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY © 2021 SSON 7

Deploying Process Discovery

Tools Into Your Enterprise
Process Discovery plays a crucial role in assisting
a true digital transformation for any enterprise.
It focuses more on the human aspect and how your
employees interact with the systems to unleash the
previously unseen dark and invisible processes.
Unlike Process Mining, Process Discovery does not require any logs,
databases, or API access, and there is no integration to your system
required. It disregards any noise from the interaction and presents the
process as it is working. In addition:

● It does not need any integration to your system application.

● It incorporates computer vision and machine intelligence to reveal

the dark and invisible processes powering your digital enterprise.

● It continuously monitors the processes to ensure real-time analysis

and rapid retraining ideas in case of changes in the process.

● Instead of a process model, it creates a metamodel for the future of

work to enable a smooth digital transformation.

Contact centers, human resource departments, and finance and

accounting are among the top functions that can leverage Process
Discovery, as they often have extensive real-time data that assists them
in a true digital transformation.

Due to its minimal preparation time for an RPA deployment, the tool
accelerates potential business value through a complete assessment,
qualification, and prioritization of processes for automation readiness.

“ Process discovery focuses on

how your employees interact with
your systems, unleashing the previously
unseen dark and invisible processes. “
 HOW PROCESS DISCOVERY WORKS TOWARDS AMPLIFYING OPERATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY © 2021 SSON 8

Process Discovery
Improved Quality
and Performance:
Powered by empirical
data, Process Discovery
provides a clear picture by
automatically identifying,
analyzing and determining
tasks and priorities for
automatable processes.
It ensures up-to-date
process workflows,
deeper understanding,
and enhanced process
optimization, without any
guesswork and human
bias.
BENEFITS OF
Visibility: Process
Competitive Advantage: Less Risks: Giving fewer
Discovery ensures there
Gartner claims that over people access to business
is visibility of ownership
80% of companies are process information, it
for specific process steps,
still using manual process is possible to trim down
as well as overall process
mapping. Switching risks. Moreover, process
across the organisation.
to Process Discovery maps help to understand
With a complete map of
would mean enterprises if the suggested changes
the processes, enterprises
get an edge over their will add value to the
can easily identify new
competitors with reduced business, instead of a wait-
pathways and future
up-front costs and and-watch method that
automation opportunities.
significantly faster time to consumes a lot of time,
realize ROI. cost and effort.

1 2
5
3
4
7
6

Maximized ROI: Empirical Cost Efficiency: Process

data-based business process Discovery enables a measurable
Improved Scalability: Scaling
maps help enterprises navigate way for business improvements,
an RPA implementation requires
their automation journey from avoiding unnecessary repetitions
data analysis that takes significant
value creation to realization. The or other inefficiencies. Also, with
time if done manually. But with
business process maps created by less human resources needed, the
the insights generated through
capturing user keystrokes, cover all automation implementation costs
Process Discovery, organizations
process exceptions and variations, go down significantly.
can make intelligent decisions on
and provide visibility and options to
which processes to automate next.
scale. This helps in maximizing the
It ensures the automation solution
expected ROI from the Automation
evolves to unlock further growth
program.
and performance with minimal use
of resources and time.

Source: EdgeVerve
HOW PROCESS DISCOVERY WORKS TOWARDS AMPLIFYING OPERATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY © 2021 SSON 9

“ Process discovery Summary

technologies are Automation is driving significant opportunities for digitization across
a perfect fit for processes and the enterprise, which is especially significant given

automation, playing a
the turbulent economic climate caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the challenges and a common stumbling block, however, is
key role in enterprise identifying the ideal process candidate.

transformation and To choose the best processes for automation, companies must first

driving operational understand their processes and discover the variations. Process
Discovery makes identification easier by visually depicting manual
productivity. ” effort or inefficiency hotspots in any given workflow and highlighting
opportunities to drive improvements. The technology is a perfect fit
for automation, playing a key role in enterprise transformation and
driving operational productivity.

Process Discovery bases ROI on empirical data and analysis, not

guesswork and forecasts. Thus, it ensures that the enterprise is not
automating broken processes. It identifies the processes to automate
and generates an automation workflow. With such a complete map of
processes, initiatives won’t fail and will bypass bottlenecks caused by
inefficiency. This leads to value realization of RPA and better ROI.

Armed with the clarity generated by Process Discovery, enterprises

can start to generate sustained results from automation, furthering
their progress towards harnessing the best of human and digital
capabilities for growth.
HOW PROCESS DISCOVERY WORKS TOWARDS AMPLIFYING OPERATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY © 2021 SSON 10

ABOUT THE SHARED SERVICES

& OUTSOURCING NETWORK (SSON)
The Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) is the largest and most
established community of shared services and outsourcing professionals in the
world, with over 170,000 members. Established in 1999, SSON recognized the
revolution in support services as it was happening, and realized that a forum
was needed through which practitioners could connect with each other on a www.ssonetwork.com
regional and global basis.
 @ssonetwork
SSON is a one-stop shop for shared services professionals, offering industry-
leading events, training, reports, surveys, interviews, white papers, videos,  Shared Services and Outsourcing
editorial, infographics, and more. Network (SSON)

ABOUT EDGEVERVE
At EdgeVerve, we are making constant strides towards transforming enterprises by
providing AI enabled products, Business Applications, leveraging the Infosys Nia™
Platform with capabilities across the Automation continuum. With the advent of
cognitive automation, we believe this three-pronged strategy will drive our clients
to the future. This strategy will help our clients navigate their digital journey with
our AI enabled Automation and Business Solutions.

Visit www.edgeverve.com to know more.

ABOUT ASSISTEDGE DISCOVER

AssistEdge Discover is a non-intrusive product that leverages user key strokes
and sophisticated neural network algorithms to create insightful business process
maps. Using empirical data, AssistEdge Discover reveals crucial process nuances
essential to create an effective automation blueprint and provides an ability to
unlock the true value of automation.

Visit www.edgeverve.com/assistedge-discover for more details.