Automated processes are critical for businesses aiming to enhance efficiency and competitiveness. Getting data to find, prioritize, and track process automation results is a ‘future problem’ for many organizations. Innovators who have switched to automated processes enjoy the benefits and grow farther ahead of their competitors.
As organizations strive to adapt to technological advancements, implementing automated business processes becomes crucial for streamlining operations and reducing manual workload. Industries such as banking and finance, procurement, and manufacturing have already experienced the benefits of automation.
The good news is that automating processes is easier than ever. Nowadays, businesses can identify automation candidates with software that does the heavy lifting. Leveraging technology to identify, recommend, and track automation outcomes expedite transformation by weeks if not months.
This document outlines how automated processes can improve your business, walking through practical customer stories. It offers insights into their potential and practical uses for decision-makers.
The Role of Automated Processes in Digital Transformation
Benefits of Automation
When processes are automated well, the workforce and the organization benefit. While many benefits are organization-focused, the human side of benefits is also numerous. The most common use of automation is to replace tedious tasks. This is done with robotic process automation (RPA) or other AI solutions.
For example, invoice processing is automated in finance and accounting. Traditionally, receiving, verifying, and entering invoices can be time-consuming and error-prone. With automated invoice processing, businesses can use software to capture invoice data from different sources. The software checks the information against purchase orders and sends the invoices for approval. This system significantly reduces the time to process invoices, improves accuracy, and ensures timely payments.
Regardless of the task, automation minimizes human error, producing more accurate and reliable outputs. Automated processes streamline business operations, improving efficiency and reducing the time and effort required for repetitive tasks.
Automated processes have numerous benefits, though most center around shifts that boost productivity and enhance job satisfaction. People perform better when they are more connected to their work and each other. When technology is an enabler rather than a detractor, frustrations are lifted, and output increases. This is part of the hype around agentic AI. People want AI to deliver more context and operate interdependently across multiple sources.
Customer Contact Center Use Case
For example, CX Centers and Business Process Outsourcing use automated feedback collection systems, which are cost-efficient and effective. Businesses automate feedback requests after a customer interaction, like a phone call, chat, or email. This helps them learn about the customer’s experience in an automated, scalable approach. Then, they manually review the results or use AI to mine the data for patterns.
Accounting and Finance Use Case
For example, a KYP.ai customer struggled with delays in end-of-month closing. The reports were timely to build and caused massive departmental stress. Our platform helped them identify a critical hardware fix causing their machines to slow down during timely reporting windows. By finding this challenge and suggesting an automated solution, the company cut its end-of-month close time by two days!
Automated systems ensure consistent adherence to regulations and facilitate accurate data tracking and reporting. These are just some benefits that collectively demonstrate the transformative potential of automated business processes.
Common Process Mapping Examples
Process mapping is an essential tool for identifying areas within a business that can be streamlined through automation. The best process map depends on your specific needs. (See this guide for a breakdown.)
Value Stream Mapping has been a pillar of continuous improvement for many years and is still highly valuable today. Automation makes it much more efficient.
For example, one organization we work with has over 2,000 processes performed by 1,300 employees in 55 countries. By digitally capturing and evaluating which processes needed automation, the project lead saved about 15 years of work. He avoided cataloging each process and adopting any changes that occurred manually.
KYP.ai is used with this customer to continuously assess which processes have the most potential for improvement with automation. This creates instant and long-term prioritization by understanding and prioritizing which challenges must be solved first.
There are several process mapping examples, though it ultimately depends on what you’re trying to achieve. For instance, SIPOC (Suppliers, Inputs, Processes, Outputs, Customers) gives a high-level view, perfect for understanding the big picture. Imagine a production process where the “Supplier” is the raw material provider, and the “Customers” are the final consumers. The SIPOC map shows each stage from input to output, identifying value-added and non-value-added steps. This high-level overview shows the entire process from suppliers to end customers.
Platforms like KYP.ai help capture the data required for end-to-end visibility. Then, they share recommendations on what type of automated process to consider. KYP.ai identifies Intelligent Document Processing, Robotic Process Automation, GenAI, and other tools by their potential level. You can easily find answers in your data if you want to understand time, resources, or FTE impact.
These process mapping examples show how businesses can use automation. Automation reduces manual work and improves efficiency, creating a more responsive and agile organization.
Implementing Automated Business Processes
Key Steps for Success
Successful implementation of automated business processes requires planning and execution. Whether you hire an external consulting team, develop an in-house optimization team, or combine the two, preparing for change management, communication, and shareouts is critical to your success.
Beyond human contributions, you must ensure the proper architecture for success. Thankfully, automation and AI use case detection software can help. Gone are the days of manual process discovery through extended interviews and observation. Instead, consider how productivity intelligence can fast-track your success. Productivity Intelligence combines process, task, data, and transformation mining to uncover user cases compatible with automated processes.
This audit is critical in conducting a comprehensive assessment of current workflows. You cannot automate a task that doesn’t exist. Of course, you must first identify tasks that are repetitive, time-consuming, and prone to error. Once identified, prioritize these processes based on their potential impact on efficiency and cost savings.
Next, choose the right automation tools that align with your business goals and integrate seamlessly with existing systems. Training and support are critical, so ensure team members are well-prepared to use new technologies. Monitoring and evaluating the automated processes regularly and adjusting to optimize performance are essential. Finally, stakeholders should be involved during the implementation. This will help gain support and align automation efforts with business goals. By following these key steps, organizations can effectively harness the power of automation to drive sustainable growth and innovation.
Overcoming Implementation Challenges
Implementing automated business processes can present several challenges, but these can be effectively managed with strategic planning. A common issue is resistance to change, which will be ongoing. You should explain the benefits of automation to everyone involved. Share personal (time savings, less manual work) and organizational advantages (cost reduction, increased efficiency). Keep everyone informed and engaged. This is an ongoing culture change and should be treated as such instead of a one-off project.
Providing ample training and support can ease the transition and build confidence in using new technologies. While many software providers have certification and other incentives for training, you want to keep the momentum focused on your organization’s goals for automated processes. What are the gains? Why does it matter? How does it improve the daily work?
Ensure that any software you want to use can integrate with existing systems. While most vendors provide implementation onboarding, working with IT teams or external experts is crucial to ensure seamless connectivity. Data security must also be a focus. Regularly reviewing and refining automated processes helps address operational kinks and optimize performance. By proactively addressing these challenges, organizations can implement automated processes and achieve digital transformation goals.
Impact on Digital Transformation
Enhancing Efficiency and Productivity
Automated processes are pivotal in enhancing efficiency and productivity within continuous improvement initiatives. A common pitfall is that businesses want to automate using generic data. While there are certainly processes that are more compatible with automation, just because it worked for someone else does not, unfortunately, mean it will work for you.
Through data acquisition, recommendations, and outcome tracking, KYP.ai helps companies see, understand, and prioritize digital transformation initiatives. Instead of relying on third-party data, you have ready-to-use intelligence about your organization, which is a game-changer.
With this clarity, you understand what is happening and how to approach it. You can automate the most costly routine tasks and significantly reduce the time and resources spent on manual operations. This shift allows employees to increase their productivity, producing more output without increasing the input.
For instance, data entry or report generation automation eliminates errors and accelerates output, making processes more reliable and consistent. Additionally, automation facilitates better resource allocation, ensuring that human effort is focused on complex decision-making and creative problem-solving rather than mundane activities. Think of workforce availability, transaction volume to cash flow, or other critical metrics that make an organization successful.
The scalability of automated systems also means that businesses can handle increased workloads without corresponding increases in resource expenditure. This capability is crucial for maintaining competitiveness in rapidly changing markets. Integrating automated business processes catalyzes improved efficiency and productivity, driving the broader goals of digital transformation initiatives.
Future Trends in Automation
As digital transformation grows, automation will remain a key part of the future of work. One emerging trend is integrating Agentic AI and Productivity Intelligence with automated processes. This combination enables systems to learn from data, adapt to new inputs, and make decisions with minimal human intervention.
Another trend is hyperautomation. This is when different technologies work together to automate complex business processes from start to finish. This approach increases efficiency and enhances the accuracy and speed of operations. As cybersecurity becomes more critical, automated security processes will also gain prominence, ensuring robust protection against threats. These future trends show that automation will remain a key part of digital transformation. It gives businesses the tools to innovate and reach their goals.
The potential of automated processes is vast and transformative, promising to reshape industries and redefine work paradigms. With advanced AI capabilities, businesses can unlock unprecedented efficiency, accuracy, and innovation levels. As we explore and grow these technologies, the future offers many possibilities. This can help organizations meet and exceed their goals. Embracing automation is no longer a choice but necessary for those aiming to thrive in the digital age.