Steering a Course Towards Automation Excellence, With Work Orchestration at the Helm
By: Colin Redbond, Global SVP for Product and Strategy, SS&C Blue Prism
If the past five years have taught business leaders anything, it’s to expect the unexpected. No one could have predicted the world of work would change as much as it has. As a result, organizations’ expectations from technology, to enable them to remain resilient, competitive, and agile, are higher than ever before.
Throw in the explosion and promises made by artificial intelligence (AI) in recent months and it is becoming harder for business leaders to know which way to turn, to find the right solution for their needs, amidst complex processes and complicated tech. They want simplicity and scalability.
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For players in the intelligent automation (IA) field, this customer demand has been a double-edged sword. Businesses today are more likely to see the value in technology and take steps towards automation, but there is a marked shift in how they want to embrace it.
Customers are finding it hard to navigate the options, acronyms and capabilities. They also want an understandable solution that can satisfy all their use cases. Consolidation of offerings will be key, which means competition will become even more fierce – but the rewards greater.
Market moves
This shift in how technology is consumed in business has led many industry analysts to change their view and perspectives on the market. In recent months we’ve seen Gartner coin the term ‘BOAT’– Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies.
Essentially, what we’re talking about is a combination of multiple automation technologies – including robotic process automation, business process automation (BPA), low code environments, integration services, AI and more – focused on helping deliver tangible results such as financial performance or customer satisfaction, and overall business growth.
It’s a move towards a unified architecture when implementing automation technologies. A recent report from IDC focuses on ‘AI-powered automation’ and the move towards AI and business automation convergence. This is in response to organizations looking to reshape their operations to become more proactive and adept at orchestrating complex business processes.
While automation technology is not new, the change in terminology surrounding the platforms from the analyst community is telling. It’s reflective of how businesses are moving from a deployment approach based on multiple best-of-breed products and services to end-to-end business processes and expectations. Customers now want an enterprise glue that optimizes their entire organization.
The future of automation therefore lies in integrated ecosystems which go beyond robotic process automation (RPA), and other standalone capabilities. Instead, this integrated ecosystem combines RPA, business process automation, low code platforms, process discovery, AI, Gen AI and more, into one unified platform that orchestrates work.
By doing this, businesses can organize, automate, and continuously improve business processes, all while bringing together every application from across their operation. AI is used to improve both the results and the experience for everyone involved. Those vendors who can combine automation capabilities with orchestration, AI, analytics and management capabilities will be the ones that can ride the wave and come out on top.
Whose role is it anyway?
Automation has become a strategic asset across every aspect of business, with work orchestration key to unlocking its success by optimizing processes and workflows for big picture gains.
For those interacting with customers, access to accurate information and increased data visibility across platforms enables a better customer experience. For those tasked with governance and security, compliance can be ensured.
HR teams can benefit from improved employee retention gained by deploying an AI-powered virtual workforce which allows for more rewarding and valuable tasks to be undertaken. The finance function benefits from streamlined and unified processes which save costs and time as well as improve transparency and accountability.
The benefits and possibilities are endless. No matter what your line of business or role, taking a unified approach to intelligent automation across the business will have a positive impact on ways of working and business success.
Our customers have told us that being agile and adapting quickly to new technology is crucial. Generative AI is a perfect example as it rapidly disrupted both our personal and work lives, becoming the center of attention overnight. Everyone is now focused on its potential: how to use it, what’s next, and where the financial opportunities lie when it comes to making money. Its impact could be significant for everyone – customers, patients, employees, and more alike.
To fully harness the potential of Gen AI in a responsible and secure way, firms must integrate it with technologies like work orchestration and automation. Gen AI’s value is diminished if it’s siloed from your team or hindered by issues like changing priorities, absent staff, or redundant tasks.
The full value of technologies such as Gen AI and automation are only going to be realized through a holistic approach to work orchestration.
An example of enterprise-level orchestration is as follows:
- At the lowest level, it’s orchestrating individual tasks as well as the workforce, data and applications involved in completing those tasks.
- Next, it’s orchestrating all those connected tasks into joined up, end-to-end processes that deliver the right output.
- Finally, it’s connecting all these end-to-end processes across the entire business operation to focus on overall business outcomes and exceptional experiences.
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Considerations when planning work orchestration strategies:
- Orchestrate work across the whole workforce – people and virtual alike –
including employees, managers, teams, digital workers, AI assistants, agentic agents, APIs, and more.
- Orchestrate every type of work and workflows, from simple, routine, structured, transaction-based work to non-linear, complex, deadline-driven and knowledge-based tasks.
- And of course, make sure all relevant resources – applications, data, documents, AI and more – are orchestrated to support whatever you’re doing.
Working with just one provider to support the entire customer journey means change can happen swiftly for better business outcomes.
Optimizing outcomes on a global scale
The ability for businesses to scale and achieve ROI quickly is spearheading market change and the consolidation of services. Highly regulated industries are leading the charge, putting work orchestration at the heart of their digital transformation strategies. It not only enables them to understand the complexities involved in their processes, but also see where automation can be best used across the entire business.
It’s not enough to just connect multiple systems together. It’s about ensuring the right processes are being done at the right time, by the right person, or virtual agent.
To do this, organizations need to consider the different ‘modes’ of orchestration. First, they must consider human-centric orchestration, which will take into account human constructs such as teams, business units, and availability, for example. Second, automation-centric orchestration should be addressed when thinking about digital worker availability, technical capabilities, and where this feeds into the overall process. Finally, AI-centric orchestration should be considered to know when to add AI intelligence in the right place, all within the required governance and security standards. This is where the value of orchestration and a single vendor view comes into play.
For one of our customers in the global banking sector, we were able to simplify and optimize the processes of four core operating entities with long-established businesses and international commercial, private, retail banking and market networks.
By creating a single integration point and processing layer for direct custody and clearing processes, we were able to increase visibility, control and regulatory adherence. By optimizing core processes, the installation of BPM software reduced the average cycle time from more than five days to same-day execution, dramatically reduced errors down to zero for multiple processes and consolidated operations in 37 countries onto a single platform.
Beyond banking
Automation excellence isn’t just for highly regulated and complex industries. Any business with an e-commerce capability will know the pain of managing orders and workflows, all while trying to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction.
It’s here where the power and benefit of automation can improve systems integration, provide valuable insights into work volumes and productivity, while also streamlining reporting. Beyond this, by taking the single vendor approach, there are benefits and huge value for any industry, from accountability to delivering cost savings that underpin the entire customer journey and experience.
For one of our clients in this space we were able to automate, centralize and standardize key processes and workflows. Tasks were intelligently routed using customized rules, data from other systems and client/order requirements. Automation and auditability of workflows also reduced compliance risks and decreased regulatory penalty costs by more than $1 million. Overall, 70% of existing processes across the business were automated to enhance productivity, save costs and improve team performance and customer satisfaction as a result.
Consolidation brings clarity
For many companies globally, AI has become a distraction rather than a key enabler and champion for technology adoption. What seemed at first to be an overwhelming prospect, AI has clouded the market leaving many businesses unsure of what to prioritize when it comes to the right business strategy or deciding their automation needs.
Automation adoption should not be complex or cumbersome. If approached in the right way, it has the power to help any business remain agile and competitive, but the ability to scale quickly and effectively is key. By standardizing and centralizing the management of processes through a single vendor, businesses can remain focused, achieve untold ROI and bring clarity and calm waters to decision-making.
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