In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, many countries recognize the urgency of embracing automation to maintain a competitive edge. As a result, there is a growing realization of the need for senior executive oversight and support for automation initiatives to effectively navigate the digital era.
The concept of appointing a Chief Automation officer has gained traction due to the increasing acknowledgement of automation's role in transforming business operations and driving efficiency. Despite the widespread recognition of process automation as a fundamental component of digital transformation strategies for 70% of organizations, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, it’s important to approach this with caution.
The tech industry is constantly evolving, and trends shift rapidly from one innovation to the next. Instead of hastily creating roles driven by industry hype, what’s truly essential is strong executive sponsorship and leadership for advanced automation programs at the most influential levels. This approach should be fortified with comprehensive business acumen and a robust network to effectively instigate substantial change.
If you’re serious about automation, it needs to be embedded into a primary C-suite role that’s not transitional, and a person able to tie-in, and federate tasks or projects across the organization.
Our automation champion needs to be a senior leader tasked with driving digital transformation, by optimizing resources and able to keep pace with evolving customer demands, and fluid market and technology dynamics. They’re also the pathway to efficiency and agility, streamlining workflows, enabling the organization to allocate resources to focus on higher-value activities, while maintaining compliance according to internal and external policies.
To succeed and unleash the full potential of intelligent automation (IA), organizations need to foster collaborations with their sales, finance, compliance, legal and other functions, as they deploy automation to boost productivity and revenue opportunities across the enterprise. It demands strategic vision, cross-functional collaboration, and a deep understanding of the enterprise’s digital infrastructure.
This is where your product and IT support teams become indispensable as – with a top-down mandate from your CIO / CTO and CEO – everyone is laser-focused on faster tangible outcomes and can capitalize on synergies as internal communication channels are more open and have less barriers to overcome. And if you’re working in a constantly changing fast-moving market, as you automate, you’re more flexible and better able to control and direct customer conversations based on outcomes when scaling digital workers.
Global SVP for Product and Strategy at SS&C Blue Prism.
Why C-level executives must be the ones to prioritize automation
The success stories of companies that have embraced automation underscore the transformative potential of strategic automation initiatives. For instance, some companies have identified intelligent automation as a solution to enhance efficiency and bridge process gaps. By prioritizing automation at the executive level and investing in teams, these companies have streamlined operations, allowing frontline staff to prioritize exceptional customer service.
This is all great, but the journey to automation excellence requires more than just deploying digital workers or implementing robotic process automation (RPA) tools. A non-traditional IT approach that embraces business and operation can help build a multifaced team with a unique blend of skills, including a deep understanding of technology, business acumen, and change management expertise.
Such teams can align automation initiatives with business objectives and drive organizational change, constantly identifying areas ripe for automation, prioritizing initiatives based on their potential impact, and securing executive buy-in for automation investments. Moreover, they play a pivotal role in fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement, where automation is embraced as a strategic enabler of business growth.
Building your ‘E-Suite’: A future-ready approach
Placing automation directly in the boardroom signals a paradigm shift in managerial leadership, but it also raises questions about the requisite skills and qualifications.
While a CAO sounds great in principle, you need a diverse skill set encompassing technology, business strategy, and change management gained from a process management and IT systems background and a diverse network and knowledge of the business and IT environment.
In most cases, your CIO and / or CTO is the orchestrator of automation initiatives, driving alignment between technology investments and business objectives, understanding of both the technical aspects of automation and the strategic imperatives driving business transformation. They may choose to identify a dedicated role within their leadership team, but will have the overall mandate, breadth of influence and knowledge to drive true transformational and cross departmental change.
In the future, automation will play an increasingly crucial role in your organization as it continues to develop. With the rise of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), RPA, and process orchestration, the range of automation projects will only grow. Consequently, organizations that invest in developing automation capabilities and placing automation leadership at the highest levels of management will be best positioned to succeed in the digital era.
The importance of top-down thinking and support emphasizes the strategic role of automation in propelling digital transformation and business achievements. By doing this, organizations can speed up innovation, streamline operations, and gain a competitive advantage in today’s rapidly changing business landscape.
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