As Digital Transformation garners renewed interest across businesses in different industry sectors, it has assumed an entirely new meaning, that of “sustenance and growth”. Due to this deep inset realization, businesses are moving further towards the adoption of its nth generation version, Hyperautomation. Commonly referred to as Automation of Automation. Hyperautomation is an effort deliberated by organizations to optimize the business processes vis-à-vis their current IT landscape. However, finding the right technology for the right process remains a challenge. Hyperautomation, as per Gartner, is slated to achieve a $596.6 billion market space in the pursuits of digital-first organizations.
What is Hyperautomation?
Hyperautomation is the automation of the existing IT processes that operate in silos. It engages process-agnostic technologies, such as, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Intelligent Document Processing (IDP), Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML), Intelligent Business Process Management (iBPMS), Integration Platform as a Service, Process Mining, User Experience Design (UXD), low-code application platforms, virtual assistants, et al., to deliver a secure and seamless IT architecture. It creates a hyper connect between field executives and back offices to improve TAT to minutes and seconds while eliminating error and rework.
Why is the business community faced with the pressing requirement for Hyperautomation?
The recent tryst with force majeures, the resulting avalanches, and market disruptions have clearly distinguished between the survivors and the inundates. Those already on the path of Digital Transformation could not only sustain but also grow their businesses by leveraging their existing resources and assets. In most cases, the collective growth that the businesses registered is the largest in history. As a result, Digital Transformation and Hyperautomation have emerged as the growth catalysts even in subdued market conditions.
What is CP4BA?
IBM CP4BA or IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation offers digital foundation blocks for jumpstarting the Digital journey. These cloud-based paks (short for packets) have the requisite base technologies, such as IDP, RPA, AI/ML, Workflows, Rules engine, and much more. These paks are customizable and deployable. These cloud-based paks are used for different permutations and combinations of process integrations to disembark on the Digital Transformation journey. CP4BA is process-agnostic and offers building blocks to digitize and build new processes as well as easily integrate with existing technology-enabled processes, mammoths, legacy, custom-built bespoke, ERPs, etc. Being cloud-based, the resultant architecture offers the capability of remote access and remote monitoring.
How does CP4BA enable Hyperautomation led Digital Transformation?
Ever-increasing CapEx is the preliminary issue faced by most businesses. It is a fixed cost that is indispensable. However, it can be overcome by embracing a cloud-based platform approach. IBM CP4BA is a cloud-based digital automation platform, which is easily customizable. Digital partners and system integrators help with the process integration and process orchestration on top of the CP4BA platform to overcome impediments, such as fragmented processes, siloed legacy platforms, and increasing CapEx. This move towards Hyperautomation allows businesses to adopt Digital Transformation with a holistic perspective. It connects through each and every standalone process or point solution and provides an integrated IT architecture. The resultant process orchestration offers increased straight-through processing (STP), improved customer satisfaction, and increased efficiency.
Best practices for Hyperautomation led Digital Transformation
Hyperautomation allows businesses to accelerate their Digital Transformation journey. Here, are some best practices that enable businesses to optimize their IT investments –
- Paper and ERP on the same plane: Migrate all the moving parts in a process on the same digital plane, including paper-based processes. Use Intelligent Document Processing or IDP to digitize documents and bring them on the same levelled turf as part of Digital Transformation. It allows easy graduation into Hyperautomation, as the next step.
- Mobile-first approach: Use cloud-based apps enabled with the right UXD to give both the internal and external customers a good customer experience. The increased customer satisfaction allows businesses to improve their net promoter score or NPS.
- Change Management: Engage change management project principles and run it as a parallel project while embarking on the Hyperautomation journey.
- Change Leaders: Appoint change leaders in each department and each location to accelerate the process of Digital adoption.
- Instant Decision Making: Use AI / ML algorithms to improve the decision-making processes and 10 second go/no-go decision-making. Leverage data and data storage at scale to continuously train the AI / ML algorithms as part of the AIOps and improve the end-customer servicability. For example: Insta loan disbursements by analysing customer profile as well as bank and global credit scores.
- Predictable outcomes: Engage AI / ML layers at all process junctures to enable predictable outcomes.
- Open Hybrid Multi-Cloud: Use multi-cloud setups to engage the best of the cloud provider solutions. Each cloud service provider has specialization in different areas, hence the multi-cloud setup allows to integrate the best areas from the respective cloud. The open hybrid setup allows businesses to integrate the on-premise investments into the new architecture.
- Kubernetes platform: Deploy the Kubernetes integrated Red Hat OpenShift to leverage a new application or even an existing system across different clouds and multiple end-point accesses in a safe and secure environment.
- Digital Education: Engage e-learning concepts to deliver online educational content and Kiosk learning nuggets to educate all the stakeholders, including internal and external customers.
Benefits of Hyperautomation led Digital Transformation
Hyperautomation led Digital Transformation allows businesses to not only sustain but also grow in obscure business environments. It offers –
- Improved customer satisfaction: Hyperautomation results in quick-decision making, eliminates rework, improves speed and TAT, which not only results in enhanced customer satisfaction but also an improved net promoter score (NPS).
- Improved STP: It eliminates all bottlenecks, errors and miscalculations, process latencies, etc., and offers a mindboggling jump in STP. The 10-second decisions and loan disbursals are a direct outcome of this hyper STP.
- Increased efficiency: It cuts through all red tape, policy paralysis, and process stagnation and results in 10X to 50X efficiency.
- Increased productivity: It eliminates the back-and-forth movements in papers and resulting decision making, improves employee morale and productivity, and steps up the enterprise productivity.
- Reduced CapEx: The clearly though-out Hyperautomation strategy allows to off-load CapEx and move to pay-per-use OpEx due to the cloud platform. It also offers the capability to scale up and down as per the business requirement.
- Increased transparency: It offers real-time process visibility and role-based access to all process owners as well as internal and external stakeholders.
Simply put
Hyperautomation optimizes processes and their outcomes at the enterprise level. It involves digitizing all assets and hyper connects the enterprise siloed systems and point solutions to improve STP. The open hybrid multi-cloud setup brings in the scale of automation and speed of deployment while integrating the on-premise and on-cloud assets. The Hyperautomated IT architecture allows businesses to seamlessly operate even through unforeseen market disruptions and force majueres.
–Sachin Rane, EVP & Head – Software Solutions, Datamatics
