Introduction
With monthly Peercasts featuring member companies and frequent polls to help members better understand the issues, Peeriosity members have many tools available to cut through the hype to develop meaningful strategies and tactical plans for their Intelligent Automation initiatives [1]. A couple of considerations for our members are how to measure the success of Intelligent Automation projects, and what are the most typical resources needed. Because the nature of the effort typically includes many smaller projects, having a method to formally track and measure success is an important consideration. It’s also important to know where resources are most critically needed to create as much success as possible.
iPollingTM Results Review
Recently, Peeriosity’s iPollingTM was used to better understand how Peeriosity members were measuring success for Intelligent Automation projects [2], with insight into the most likely resource constraints.
Regarding success measurement, 50% use Human Hours Saved (which easily converts to an estimate of dollar savings) as the primary measure, with an additional 44% taking a more complete full cost and benefits approach by looking at Return on Investment. Both approaches are focused on hard-dollar impact, either by delivering cost savings or freeing up time that can be spent on higher value-added activities.
Regarding the most pressing need for resources, the biggest challenge for 47% of member companies is having people with a combination of business / technical skills who can deliver a complete solution. An additional 20% struggle with having people with technical skills to implement projects, and 13% report their biggest challenge is having the right people in the organization to sell the vision and create excitement and buy-in. Here are the details:
Here are several of the comments added by members:
- Human hours saved have acted as the primary measure, but we also have evaluated success by analyzing the efficacy of the automation [3] as well monetary impact and increases in compliance.
- We use human hours saved (converted to dollars). There is debate as to whether this is the right/sole measure, as we have found it can prevent using IA to improve controls or improve customer/employee experience if there is no significant saving.
- We are still trying to create the right metrics for showing what the bots are saving, but hours have been our focus so far.
- Currently, we keep a “score” by tracking actual financial value realization (typically cost take-out or cost avoidance of budgeted expense). While there are many value drivers for Intelligent Automation projects, we tend to focus on the direct impact on a business unit’s P&L.
- ROI Seems to be the primary gauge and filter for automation
- Our biggest challenge is on the “demand side” of the automation equation. Therefore, our most pressing need is to have more process owners and operations leaders within the business units do opportunity identification. Without a pipeline of large, meaningful projects, we cannot successfully scale Intelligent Automation
- A combination of business and technical skills is crucial in implementing IA solutions, you need someone to translate business needs into technical solutions.
Closing Summary
Implementing Intelligent Automation solutions [4] is increasingly becoming a proven approach to reducing employee time on routine tasks with associated improvements in quality and timeliness. Because the nature of the effort typically includes many smaller projects, having a method to formally track and measure success is an important consideration. It’s also important to know where resources are most critically needed to create as much success as possible. Because Peeriosity members are able to discuss these issues candidly without the influence of vendors or consultants, with the ability to directly network on specific topics, they can quickly develop a more complete picture allowing them to make better decisions.
How does your company measure the success of Intelligent Automation projects? What are the people resources you most need to maximize your success?
Who are your peers and how are you collaborating with them?
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“iPollingTM” is available exclusively to Peeriosity member company employees, with consultants or vendors prohibited from participating or accessing content. Members have full visibility of all respondents and their comments. Using Peeriosity’s integrated email system, Peer MailTM, members can easily communicate at any time with others who participated in iPolling.
Peeriosity members are invited to log into www.peeriosity.com [5] to join the discussion and connect with Peers. Membership is for practitioners only, with no consultants or vendors permitted. To learn more about Peeriosity, click here [6].