You could say that there is a happy coincidence. On the one hand, Mexican companies recognize a deficit in process automation. According to various studies, 42.8% of organizations in the country believes that its level of task automation is insufficient for the digital transformation of the business 83% of companies prioritize investment in technologies that automate processes and systems.
As these organizations search for ideas and resources to address their needs, technological innovation continues to power a model of automation that creates new and better possibilities: hyperautomation.
A different vision of automation
Hyperautomation is a technological model that, by combining various innovations, enables the automation of more complex processes where it seemed impossible to eliminate human participation. Before what we can call automation “typically,” this option may be in charge of tasks that involve sophisticated analysis of information to extract perspectives that accelerate and enhance decision-making.
This means that it is not automation focused on simple processes with limits on responsiveness. Hyperautomation is automation that has a clear strategic focus: it assumes activities that convert business information (a massive amount of heterogeneous data) into pieces of knowledge that are very important for business management. These tasks are usually in the hands of people who, in order to mine some understanding valuable must deal with repetitive, tedious and slow processes.
The possibilities of hyper-automation are based on the combined use of various advanced technologies. A demonstration of this innovationAccording to most analysts, it should include five basic technologies:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
- machine learning (ML)
- Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
- Low code (Low code, a method of software development that facilitates and speeds up the creation of applications by up to 50%).
Some consulting firms, when defining the pillars of hyperautomation, add to this universe process mining technology.
The maturity of various technologies that rely heavily on new hardware and software solutions – increasingly suitable for storing, managing and processing huge amounts of information – is a key factor in the progress of hyperautomation implementations. This is because companies respond favorably to the possibility of combining innovations – AI, low code, RPA, etc. – in the area of process automation.
Gartner projects that companies worldwide will reduce their operating costs by 30% by 2024 by mixing hyperautomation technologies with redesigned operational processes. In the same vein, 48% of Latin American organizations are believed to be considering more investments in hyper-automation technologies.
The challenges of adoption
This new automation proposal, as with many other disruptive ideas, has no great difficulty in demonstrating its potential benefits. The real challenge lies in how to integrate into society.
First, the hyperautomation solution can be poorly received by company members who, when they hear words like “automation” or “Artificial Intelligence”, they can only imagine the technologies that will throw them into unemployment.
It’s important for society to explain the true value of hyper-automation as empowered collaborators—freed from boring and repetitive tasks thanks to innovation—who dedicate their time to stimulating tasks and truly influence the direction of the business. Enhance talent rather than replace or eliminate it.
On the other hand, the possibility of automating complex tasks is very tempting. However, companies should not fall into the temptation of excess, believing that everything is hyper-automated.
In fact, before making any strictly technological decision, organizations must conduct a deep analysis of their critical processes and identify those that can be automated, that is, processes whose operation and effectiveness can be analyzed and measured. Automating the task makes no sense. whose performance cannot be assessed. Automation for the sake of automation is a very bad idea.
Although it is not without problems, hyperautomation is an innovation that can be extremely useful for the business times we live in: in an environment of constant uncertainty, any resource that helps speed up decision-making by hyperautomating the analysis process will undoubtedly make a difference. a big difference.
About the Author: Rodrigo Mendoza is the Data Cloud Leader at Minsait, an Indra company, in Mexico. He has over 16 years of experience as an IT, business and project management solutions consultant in industries such as telecommunications, banking, healthcare and personal care.