Strategy+: Steps to jumpstart the intelligent enterprise journey with RPA

[mostafa_signifysolution]

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a mechanism to applying technology to automate workflows in order to increase effectiveness and efficiency of redundant and repeatable processes. This is not a new concept and has been around for over 10+ years. However, most of us are concerned about the speed of adopting this technology change. To jumpstart the long term journey of an intelligent enterprise, organizations can take the following initial steps to build a solid foundation for the longer term automation plans:

• Step 1. Establish a desire to change by communicating a shared vision for the RPA journey Change enablement is one of the biggest roadblocks to an RPA implementation. All key stakeholders, who will sponsor the program, should be involved to establish a high level future state (i.e. a vision). It is important to convince stakeholder that change is needed; a sense of urgency needs to be developed and communicated in order to establish the initial motivation


• Step 2. Conduct an RPA opportunity sweep to identify RPA viable opportunities: It is important to collect input from the different departments around the different processes that can be a good candidate for RPA deployment. As part of this step, a list of opportunities needs to be examined to select the viable RPA opportunities which will be used to prove the value that automation can bring, which will build the momentum for future successes.

• Step 3. Prove vision by selecting & implementing small scale processes to establish the Proof of Value: The Proof of Value (PoV) or Quick-Wins approach is the recommended way to build awareness and get the buy-in of the RPA journey in order to demonstrate its feasibility and the high potential return for adopting the long-term journey. A Proof of Value will focus on small scale processes to establish quick wins among the different departments and teams.


• Step 4. Amplify the RPA program, establish CoE model and build long term roadmap: Quick-wins should only be the beginning of what needs to be done to achieve the long-term goal established and communicated to the stakeholder. This last step is going to be the beginning of the longer term RPA journey, this step includes: identifying CoE Approach (centralized, decentralized, hybrid), finalizing a roadmap for future automation processes, defining a RPA strategy inline with the overall digitization strategy (AI, Blockchain, & Analytics) and most importantly scaling up the RPA-streamlined processes.

In future Strategy+ series, we will explore common pitfalls that organizations faces when adopting new automation technologies. For now. here are some of my other thoughts on guiding principles for establishing a mature and a successful RPA Program

---

The views, information or opinions expressed in this short article are views of my own. All information in this article is provided “as is”, with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, timeliness or of the results obtained from the use of this information.