Leaner, stream-lined, agile, efficient, dynamic, productive; all key terms organisations hope to be able to use when describing how their business operates. 

Businesses that hope to operate with a minimalist approach are continually looking for ways to move away from spending time and resources on non-value add tasks, towards spending time on tasks that enhance an organisation, to provide better customer experiences, reduce costs and increase profits.

As technology becomes a bigger part of an organisations footprint, I feel that more emphasis is being put on the introduction of efficiency initiatives using automation of tasks as a key driver to a more minimalist approach. 

The road to creating a pipeline of Automation initiatives within an organisation won’t be without it’s twists, turns and bumps.  While a large part of the initiatives will centre around the type of technology to use, other factors will play a large role in the journey.

Here are five points to think about when using Automation as an efficiency intiative.

1. Start with low hanging fruit

Don’t be afraid to start with ‘low hanging fruit’, as when it comes to Automation this isn’t about taking the easy path, it’s more about getting quick results to encourage the journey to continue .  Look for tasks that are well understood, require little manual decision-making, are repeatable and higher in volume. Automation of these tasks will allow users to understand the process and more willing to be involved in further automation of tasks.

2. Create a pipeline of work that splits implementation into stages

Creating or updating software to automate processes should be carried out using an iterative delivery pipeline of work, delivered in stages. Switching to a fully automated process on day one of implementation may cause problems for customers, business users, IT support staff, developers and anyone else involved in the implementation.

Implementing useful automation of sections of a process allows the dust to settle between each iteration, and makes it easier for improvements or changes to be made.

3. Be open to feedback

Ensure feedback on the automation of a task or process can be given and received in an open and easy manner. Having an a feedback mechanism where errors, questions and ideas can be shared in a trusting environment, will make users more willing to embrace new technologies and ways of doing things.

In addition to this, feedback needs to be responded to in a timely manner to let people know their involvement in the process is taken seriously.

4. Manage the expectations of Stakeholders

Sometimes automation initiatives are sold to stakeholders as a quick way to increase profits by the removal of all human intervention from processes, with technology taking over the tasks, delivering a higher volume standard of work straight off the bat. If this doesn’t happen, Stakeholders may be inclined to loose interest in the automation journey.

It’s important to make sure everyone understands the process and what will be delivered and when.  Having a good set of data that outlines the current volumes of work completed and a set of objectives with predictions of changes to expect along the automation journey, will ensure no-one is disappointed.

Not every process can be 100% automated and stakeholders need to be aware of this. 

5. Keep talking to the people who do the tasks 

Understanding tasks and mapping out all of the inputs, actions and outputs can be completed with regular analysis. Workshops, written procedures, interviews and process maps all help to understand the required steps taken to transform inputs into a desired output. 

Sometimes this isn’t enough.  Asking a person to explain how they complete a task will return a different set of steps to asking a person to show you how they complete a task. It’s human nature to go into auto-pilot and complete repeatable tasks, and when you asked about the steps taken, some that don’t take brain power can be forgotten.

Be willing to keep updating process flows and procedures as tasks are automated. It is easier to get people to tell you what is missing when they are doing a task, than to tell you what needs to be included at the beginning.

An automation journey needs to be driven by a set of objectives an organisation hopes to achieve. The objectives need to be derived from a combination of understanding how the business works, the areas that need improvement and the amount of investment they are willing to put into automation of processes.