Digital Transformation & Intelligent Automation

January 31, 2018 / G C Network / Comments Off on Digital Transformation & Intelligent Automation

Quantum Computing Delivered From The Cloud

By G C Network | March 6, 2017

Photo credit: Shutterstock IBM Cloud is now providing developers with the infrastructure and portal to a 5 qubit quantum computer. This equips them with the ability to build interfaces between…

Connections Redefining the Enterprise Network

By G C Network | February 23, 2017

Photo credit: Shutterstock The computer and the network that connects them are both inextricably linked to the success of any business.  This truth is at the heart of our contemporary…

Business Chatbots Taking Over

By G C Network | February 9, 2017

Chat apps characteristics make them very appealing to businesses and marketers. Prominent ones include their size, user retention, usage rates, and user demographics. In fact, the combined user base of…

NCTA CloudMASTER®: The Path To Your Future

By G C Network | January 31, 2017

In 2016, cloud computing started to dominate many IT market segments. As a business, Synergy Research Group reported that industry revenue for the four quarters ended Sept. 30 grew 25%.…

Cybersecurity in the President Trump Administration

By G C Network | January 29, 2017

From the rise of increasingly capable nation-states—like Iran and North Korea—conducting destructive attacks against American private sector companies, to the continuing pace of IP theft by China striking at the…

Creating Your Digital Strategy

By G C Network | January 20, 2017

Photo credit: Shutterstock For many corporations, welcoming the New Year also heralds the season of strategy development and budget distribution. This year, however, companies of all sizes are struggling with…

CloudMASTER® Pays Well In The US Great Northwest

By G C Network | January 17, 2017

The City of Beaverton is located seven miles west of Portland, Oregon, in the Tualatin River Valley, It encompasses 19.6 square miles, and is home to more than 95,000 residents.…

NATO ACT “Art of the Possible” Interoperability Demonstration

By G C Network | January 7, 2017

GovCloud Network is proud to have served as the Program Manager for the NATO Allied Command Transformation, “Art of the Possible” Interoperability Demonstration on December 16, 2016. supporting the The…

Olisipo Can Make You A CloudMASTER®

By G C Network | December 29, 2016

Olisipo Learning in Portugal has a culture that is based on the constant search for new challenges. Recognized by their clients as the “Best HR Supplier”, they have placed more…

What is Your 2017 Business Strategy?

By G C Network | December 26, 2016

Photo credit: Shutterstock End of year predictions in December are as predictable as tomorrow’s sunrise, but a recent video on 2017 Technology Trends helped me really understand how important a…

 
By Kevin Jackson & Dez Blanchfield
 
Digital Transformation often needs Intelligent Automation. This type of change is the focus of a recent “Pioneers of Possible” podcast.  In discussion with Elli Hurst – Vice President, Global Automation – IBM Global Business Services (GBS), Dez Blanchfield finds out how her life’s journey inspires her in helping IBM clients use Intelligent Automation to enable globally integrated capabilities.
 
With six years at Price Waterhouse and 24 years at IBM, Elli seems to have moved a long way from her family’s restaurant business. The service industry passion that she learned from her father, however, is still deep in her heart. That care and passion areevident in how she focuses on understanding her client’s desired business outcomes. By using these targeted outcomes as a beacon for every engagement, her team helps clients align and execute on priorities in a manner that delivers a returnon investment in months.
 
Her being a technology company executive, it is surprising to hear her describe technology as only “table stakes.” While recognizing the critical and fundamental role that technology plays, Ms. Hurst prioritizes the need for process and people elements to work together with the technology.  While automation typically starts with a focus on reducing cost, it moves quickly to the delivery of value. Cost efficiencies exist, but value gained by the speed at which an enterprise can perform a business process with high quality is more important than to cost savings. According to her, attaining these types of business outcomes and values stem from a strategy that addresses:
  • Impact onthe business and to the people that are performing work;
  • How people interact with the technology and automation;
  • How people can help enable automation; and
  • What new skill setsare needed.
The answers to these points are the basis for a successful Digital Workforce Strategy.
Organizations often err by trying to automate what people do.  Ms. Hurst’s insight is in knowing that automation should be designed to assist people in what they do which represents the real secret to bringing automation forward into the enterprise. Automation always impacts a workforce and jobs always change. Business value is released, however, when this change frees up innovation and unveils more exciting projects and tasks for that workforce.
 
The impact of automation on the workforce is not a bad thing; it is a good thing. Elli recommends “Taking it to the Positive” by getting buy-in and engaging the workforce teams impacted by automation. Experience has taught her that while point solutions may deliver 40% increases in efficiency, used in tandem with a Digital Workforce Strategy, they can simultaneously deliver a 95% increase in employee satisfaction. Establishing and executing that strategy is the key to any transformation that uses automation.
 
Another one of her telling observations is that automation drives the most significant disruptions to back-office repetitive tasks. By looking at the end-to-end business model through an industry lens, her teams have helped clients to impact the external world beyond the back office and through to the client’s customers. Described as enabling digital experience “concentric circles,” this process enables enrichment of a client’s entire business ecosystem.
 
The automation conversations usually start in a specific area, like robotic process automation, which has been spurred by a back-office disruption. Addressing any disruption like this requires a strategy because global automation is a journey that aligns business process with rapidly changing technology. The organizational strategy must be able to flex and continuously adapt its strategy. The typical 3-5 year strategy is no longer viable. Intelligent automation demands a “fail fast” strategic approach.
 
Ms. Hurst ended this fascinating conversation by describing the future of automation as the convergence of all technologies at the enterprise level. In her view, the enablement of self-healing, lights-out, information technology platforms will give business executives the ability to couple an integrated view of all business processes with an ability to take immediate and effective action through mobile devices.
 

This post was brought to you by IBM Global Technology Services. For more content like this, visit IT Biz Advisor.

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS – © Copyright Kevin L. Jackson 2016)

Follow me at https://Twitter.com/Kevin_Jackson
Posted in

G C Network

Cloud Computing

Cybersecurity