Enterprise operations are quickly becoming more complex. The drive to a digital-first way of doing business means more apps, devices, channels, data, and integrations to manage. And the pressure is on CIOs and other C-suite leaders to make it all work. As I’ve mentioned before, Pega’s research finds that a majority of business leaders recognize intelligent automation as key means to simplify complexity and streamline operations. With technologies that include RPA, AI, BPM, email bots, chatbots, and natural language processing combined on a scalable, low-code platform, intelligent automation can be pervasively applied throughout an organization.
So, how are businesses using low-code automation and where are they realizing its biggest benefits?
To find out, we surveyed 1,000 C-suite executives in the Financial Services, Insurance, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Government, Manufacturing, Media and Communications, Consumer Services, and Education industries across Europe, the Americas, and the Asia-Pacific regions. Our research report, “Don’t get left behind: An enterprise view of the low-code automation landscape,” explores how leading businesses are applying intelligent automation to people, processes, and technology to stay ahead of the competition.
Don’t get left behind: An enterprise view of the low-code automation landscape
We surveyed 1,000 enterprise leaders across nine sectors to understand how they are embracing low-code automation and the effect it has on digital transformation.
Takeaway #1: Include everyone
Industry-leaders take an inclusive approach, inviting workers at every level to be involved with intelligent automation. From identifying business objectives to using low-code development tools to build out essential processes, leading enterprises are fostering collaboration among a diversity of roles – business, IT, and other stakeholders.
Our research found that organizations furthest along in their implementation and adoption of intelligent automation technologies have a higher percentage of business users contributing to low-code app development and active collaboration between those users and IT departments. Subsequently, the more business users are involved in the planning and development of business processes, the more likely an organization will succeed at adoption of intelligent automation.
Takeaway #2: Apply governance
Being inclusive is fantastic in theory but, without the proper framework in place, can quickly result in chaos for IT. To help get the best results from a collaborative environment, leading organizations have strong governance structures in place.
By defining systems, strategies, guidelines, and guardrails, leaders embrace agility and reduce the risks of shadow IT. However, only 30% of our survey respondents say they have adopted a formal governance structure for intelligent automation projects. Even for organizations where only a handful of non-IT workers are involved in app development, a coordinated governance process better positions your enterprise for production at scale.
Takeaway #3: Build with best practices
Speaking of scale, leading businesses are already baking a comprehensive intelligent automation framework into their future plans by establishing Centers of Excellence (COEs) for their process infrastructure.
COEs play an important role in defining, educating, and updating workers on standards, policies, and best practices for intelligent automation processes. They also facilitate adoption, help drive efficiency, and provide a framework for resiliency – helping organizations more quickly respond to changing needs by fostering a culture of innovation. It’s no wonder 81% of organizations that take an executive team approach to oversight say they already have a COE in place.
The time to start benefitting from the capabilities of intelligent automation is now
Intelligent automation is developing at fast pace, and enterprises that are not constantly updating their tech are falling behind. Leading organizations will continue to implement smart automations as a competitive edge. The question is, are these automations being built to be tomorrow’s silos or creating a foundation for true digital transformation?
No matter where your organization is in building automations into your operations, you can take simple steps now to drive results in both the short- and long-term.
First, read the full report for deeper details on how to plan around the people, processes, and technology that will make intelligent automation work for you. Next, focus on bringing your business and IT workers together on collaborative, low-code app development platform that allows you to define the guardrails and governance specific to your business needs. Finally, restructure your business architecture to connect all of your processes from the center out – with AI-based decisioning and case management driving the connections down the stack to your systems of record and up the stack to the channels and devices you need to reach your customers.
Learn more:
- Watch our webinar on how to gain workforce resilience through intelligent automation.
- Read this blog for more background on BPM, RPA, and the intelligent automation future.
- Join us at PegaWorld iNspire and hear how some of the world’s biggest brands are using intelligent automation to drive real results.