In this time of continuous disruption and innovation, The Global State of Operational Excellence: Critical Challenges & Future Trends found that Process Automation & New Technologies is the number 1 most crucial source of investment for OpEx programs.
'The Global State of Operational Excellence; Critical Challenges & Future Trends'. identifies a theme which is common across industries, and is something I see emerging among the many clients I work with: the importance of cultural change. It’s listed as the top challenge facing operational excellence programs, and that’s certainly true where part of the operational excellence journey involves adopting new technologies like automation.
As we have increasingly complex and better integrated automation capabilities, we’re seeing a shift from processes executed by people, with some tasks delegated to automation – to processes executed by automation, with only tasks which require human intervention being escalated to skilled workers.
What does this mean for our people? What new skills do they need to succeed in a team which includes a digital workforce element? Some skills are becoming increasingly important – data science, for example, to help train these automata. And how do I manage this digital workforce to ensure it is fully optimized? That means, just as in the management of human resources, making sure resources are properly utilized, have the right skillset, and the workload is optimally balanced?
Organizations which tackle these questions, and which do so by engaging their people to design team-oriented solutions, will be best placed to make the most of these technologies, and really see dramatic improvements in operational excellence.
Elli Hurst will be speaking at the Business Transformation & Operational Excellence World Summit (BTOES18) March 12-16, 2018 in Orlando Florida. Click here to learn more about Elli's involvement at the summit, or download the full report below:
About the Author
Elli Hurst is responsible for the strategy and development of Cognitive Enterprise Automation with a particular focus on automation for application management.
Elli's experience includes over 20 years in leadership roles within IBM in the application development management and innovation space, including deep expertise in global delivery models.