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Gartner - 10 Automation Mistakes To Avoid
Gartner - 10 Automation Mistakes To Avoid
In short:
40% of organizations have four or more concurrent hyperautomation initiatives underway, with
some organizations executing 15 projects at the same time.
Failure typically stems from three types of mistakes — in approach, implementation and impact.
To ensure success, prioritize automation initiatives that deliver clear, quantifiable business outcomes
and for which the resources already exist within your organization.
Automation promises significant cost, quality and speed improvements, but realizing those benefits requires an
action plan on the part of executive and IT leaders that accounts for common mistakes. This is especially the
case now that hyperautomation is increasing and IT is managing multiple concurrent automation initiatives.
A recent Gartner survey shows that nearly 60% of organizations are pursuing, on average, four or more
concurrent hyperautomation initiatives. “Leaders must treat automation as a principle to be embraced, rather
than as a project to be done and ought to be aware of common mistakes that can lead to failures,” says Nicole
Sturgill, VP Analyst at Gartner.
Mistake No. 1: Falling in love with a single technology
Once an organization has purchased and implemented a specific process automation tool, such as robotic
process automation (RPA), successfully, it’s natural that colleagues want to adopt it more widely. “However, the
wrong approach is to drive automation from a single technology perspective. Instead, lead with the business
outcome and then align the correct set of tools,” says Sturgill.
Action: Build a toolbox of technologies that provide a more comprehensive set of capabilities to align to a
flexible range of business outcomes and redesign approaches.
Action: Establish and fund an automation center of excellence, much like a DevOps center of excellence, that
includes individuals who collectively possess a variety of organizational skills and knowledge, such as
analytical and process mapping skills, technical skills, business knowledge and IT governance experience.
Action: Evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of automation over system replacement, added functionality and
integration strategy.
Action: Assign responsibility of stakeholder management to a specific team member within the automation
center of excellence.
Action: Ensure that testing examines the process from end to end and doesn’t just check automation functions
and programming. Thoroughly test and audit the data integrity when running your selection of automation tools.
Action: When looking to deploy new process automation tools, first fully evaluate and apply a process
reengineering methodology, such as Six Sigma or design thinking, to ensure automation can deliver outcomes
in the best possible way.
Action: Overall, establish postproduction procedures to enable operations managers to continuously monitor
and audit the automation tools.
Learn more: Everything You Need to Know About Data and Analytics
Action: Focus the measurement of automation success on KPIs that specifically quantify the business outcome
the automation deployment is supposed to achieve.
Action: Anticipate how employees may react and make sure your automation teams actively communicate how
they will implement change, involving change management and HR, where needed.