Automation The Right Tool And The Right Way by Chee Kin Tho | Track 3

Many projects have failed to meet the expectations of the stakeholders and deliver the required business values. Some reports put this figure at over 80%, and many more delivers on partial value or are delayed or both. Automation projects are no different, some of the reasons are common and some are very specific to automation projects. With the growth of the many so-called "Digital Transformation Initiatives" where process automation is a common and critical requirement cutting across all sub-initiatives, lets focus more on automation projects, what are the main reasons why they fail and what you can do to improve your chances of success.

Firstly, we need to look at organization readiness. We need to start looking at human resources and the organization. How skillful is our workforce, how they are structured, what is the formal responsibility and authority like. The we need to look at our systems, what functions they provide and how they integrate with each other. Processes which are the glue between human and system actors need to be matured and ready for automation as well.

Secondly, we need to make sure we select correct technology (ies). Automation is not just about implementing a single technology like Workflow or Robotics Process Automation (RPA) or Enterprise Content Management (ECM). It is about doing things faster (efficient) and better (effective) and may require many technologies to be integrated. Some of these we may already have and may need to be acquired.

Thirdly, is what I call vendor influence. During selection, the team must be focus on what is required to enable achieving the objectives and not get caught up in all the bells and whistles regularly pushed by the vendor (s). Remain focus on what the organization needs not what individual stakeholders want.

We must remain Enterprise focus. Borrowing what Enterprise Architecture (EA) practice strive for is reusability and agility amongst others. We must have a concrete technology and plan that what we do is not just another silo and can be reused.

This presentation shall cover to overcome the above challenges. We will have a looking at the technologies that are key to any automation projects and some key characteristics of what technologies will be required for some example scenarios. We will also go through some of the key things to avoid and key things that must be done or be ready for a greater chance success. Lastly, borrowing some best practices from the EA practice is how to present Return on Investments to the stakeholders.

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