Business process automation is the technology-enabled automation of business processes that are otherwise complex and time-consuming. The goal of automation is to make these processes simpler, to increase the quality of products or services, to contain or cut costs, and to improve service delivery.
However, just like in so many things, business process automation is beset with myths.
What are these myths and what makes them just “myths” in the first place?
1. Process automation is about taking humans out of the equation.
News of automation or any form of innovation in a company always invokes fear among workers. People fear losing their jobs to machines and computers.
The truth is, there will always be those who end up losing their original positions. Most of the time, these are people who do manual, repetitive tasks. These include switchboard operators at a telephone company, weavers at a textile factory, and typesetters at a printing press. However, new positions are also created. Companies mostly train old workers to fill these new positions.
That machines and computer software are so powerful and smart that they can make human operators obsolete is simply a huge misconception. Regardless of how technologically advanced certain software or machines become, humans are still needed to operate them. And if these things conk out or malfunction, humans are still the ones who troubleshoot and fix them.
Technology does take over the more sophisticated tasks from humans. It gives people more valuable and more interesting work to do. Rather than putting people out of work, automation is really more about empowering them.
2. Business process automation is less “digital” than digital process automation.
Digital process automation or DPA is just a marketing hype. It still basically means the same thing as BPA. Digitalizing a process means reworking a process into something that a software can automate. And it’s exactly what business process automation does, too.
3. AI/Robots can solve all BPA issues.
Issues surrounding process automation have one absolute answer: artificial intelligence or robotic process automation. Wrong!
First, AI and RPA are two different things. What they bring to the table are also different, technically speaking.
When problems of process automation arise, people always say that smarter software is what they need. RPA, however, is not exactly “smart.”
The concept of RPA is for software to mimic the interaction between a human and some old application. It’s done by filling in forms, clicking buttons, pasting information, and other such tasks. This kind of automation can be sophisticated. However, for AI to come to the picture, what is needed is cognitive RPA.
Moreover, the problem with RPA is not the fact that its tools are not smart at all. In reality, the challenge is about its ability to deal with largely unexpected changes that come with IT. In other words, it is more of resilience.
So, adding the cognitive or “smart” aspect to RPA does not solve its issue with resilience. Cognitive RPA simply gives you a smarter technology. However, without resilience, your automated process remains as fragile as it was.
So if we focus beyond RPA, can AI help with our BPA? Not significantly. Several products on the market utilizing AI simply act as an autocomplete function for building workflows. Humans come up with a workflow, and the AI suggests what should be done next. And humans that we are, we surely wouldn’t want AI to tell us how we should operate our business.
4. “Wide” vs. “deep” DPA makes sense.
The distinction between wide DPA and deep DPA does not make sense at all. Wide DPA refers to the low-code platform vendors, with tools that are well suited for creating a large number of simple apps. Deep DPA, on the other hand, refers to companies that are better suited for creating complex and large apps.
Nevertheless, these two DPA categories are not really separate from each other. Sure, some low-code platform vendors do have their eyes set on larger apps while the others are more focused on smaller apps. But most of them are better suited for the other type.
Moreover, the notion of “large” is starting to lose its essence. This is because the best approach is to build these apps as modular components, to be assembled. These modular components are something a wide DPA platform would be greatly adept at building.
5. There are separate markets for low-code platforms and digital process automation.
DPA is being packaged as the next-generation of business process automation. But it’s really just marketing crap, and if you cut through it, you will see that DPA products are mostly low-code platforms.
What low-code represents is a model-driven and visual approach to building a software that does not need too much hand-coding, or any at all. In fact, many low-code platforms employ a “drag-and-drop” approach to creating apps. This approach makes it easy to construct workflows.
Many of the low-code products available now started as business process modeling tools. These BPM tools evolved into low-code platforms by adding the automation aspect to them.
DPA is similar in this manner. DPA is the other name for a low-code product that started as a BPM tool and that specializes in BPA.
So why are low-code platforms and DPA being presented as separate markets? Maybe it’s because the low-code market got too crowded. Maybe they just want to feature process-centric low-code platforms separately? My guess is as good as yours.
These myths show that vendors struggle to understand the evolving BPA value proposition that customers need. These also show that analyst firms are likewise confused on how to describe emerging markets.
Yet, with all the arguments regarding automation technology and automated processes, one thing remains clear: Business processes are still mostly about humans, the work they do, and their constant search for ways to accomplish more work in the least amount of time. And it is exactly because of this that process automation will continue evolve for years and years to come.
Photo courtesy of WOCinTech Chat (Flickr).
Uendeshaji wa mchakato wa biashara ni teknolojia iliyowezesha automatisering ya michakato ya biashara ambayo vinginevyo ni ngumu na inachukua muda. Lengo la automatisering ni kufanya mchakato rahisi, kuongeza ubora wa bidhaa au huduma, kuzuia au kupunguza gharama, na kuboresha utoaji wa huduma. Hata hivyo, kama ilivyo na mambo mengi, automatisering ya mchakato wa biashara ni beset na hadithi. Hadithi hizi ni zipi na ni nini kinachofanya ziwe "hadithi" tu? 1. Uwe na mtazamo wa kweli Utaratibu wa kiotomatiki ni kuhusu kuchukua wanadamu nje ya equation. Habari za automatisering au aina yoyote ya ubunifu katika kampuni daima huamsha hofu miongoni mwa wafanyakazi. Watu wanaogopa kupoteza kazi zao kwa sababu ya mashine na kompyuta. Ukweli ni kwamba, sikuzote kutakuwa na wale ambao mwishowe watapoteza nafasi zao za awali. Mara nyingi, hawa ni watu wanaofanya kazi za mikono, zinazorudiwa-rudiwa. Hizi zatia ndani watendaji wa uingizaji wa simu katika kampuni ya simu, watengenezaji wa nguo katika kiwanda cha nguo, na watengenezaji wa maandishi katika mashine ya kuchapisha. Hata hivyo, nafasi mpya pia huundwa. Kampuni hasa mafunzo wafanyakazi wa zamani kujaza nafasi hizi mpya. Kwamba mashine na programu za kompyuta ni zenye nguvu sana na zenye akili sana hivi kwamba zinaweza kuwafanya watendaji wa kibinadamu wawe wa kizamani ni wazo lisilo la kweli. Haidhuru programu fulani au mashine fulani zimesitawi kadiri gani kiuchumi, bado wanadamu wanahitajiwa ili kuzitumia. Na ikiwa vitu hivi vitashindwa au vitakuwa na kasoro, bado ni wanadamu watakaochanganua na kurekebisha matatizo hayo. Teknolojia inachukua kazi za hali ya juu zaidi kutoka kwa wanadamu. Inawapa watu kazi yenye thamani zaidi na yenye kupendeza zaidi ya kufanya. Badala ya kuwafanya watu wasiwe na kazi, automatisering ni kweli zaidi kuhusu kuwawezesha. 2. Business mchakato automatisering ni chini ya "digital" kuliko digital mchakato automatisering. Digital Process Automation (DPA) ni mbinu ya uuzaji ya teknolojia. Kwa kweli, hii inamaanisha sawa na BPA. Digitizing mchakato ina maana ya reworking mchakato katika kitu kwamba programu inaweza automatize. Na ni hasa nini mchakato wa biashara automatisering hufanya, pia. 3. Uwe na mtazamo wa kweli AI na Robots inaweza kutatua matatizo yote ya BPA Masuala yanayohusu automatisering mchakato kuwa na jibu moja kamili: akili bandia au roboti mchakato automatisering. Ni kosa! Kwanza, AI na RPA ni vitu viwili tofauti. Kile wanacholeta kwenye meza pia ni tofauti, kiufundi. Wakati matatizo ya mchakato wa automatisering kutokea, watu daima kusema kwamba programu smart ni nini wanahitaji. RPA, hata hivyo, si hasa "smart". dhana ya RPA ni kwa ajili ya programu kuiga mwingiliano kati ya binadamu na baadhi ya maombi ya zamani. Ni kufanyika kwa kujaza katika fomu, kubonyeza vifungo, pasting habari, na kazi nyingine kama hizo. Aina hii ya automatisering inaweza kuwa ya kisasa. Kwa hivyo, kwa AI kuja kwenye picha, kile kinachohitajika ni RPA ya utambuzi. Kwa kuongezea, tatizo na RPA si ukweli kwamba zana zake si smart wakati wote. Kwa kweli, changamoto ni juu ya uwezo wake wa kukabiliana na mabadiliko yasiyotarajiwa ambayo huja na IT. Kwa maneno mengine, ni zaidi ya uimara. Kwa hiyo, kuongeza kipengele cha utambuzi au "smart" kwa RPA haisuluhishi suala lake na upinzani. RPA ya utambuzi inatoa teknolojia ya akili zaidi. Hata hivyo, bila upinzani, mchakato wako wa kiotomatiki unabaki kuwa dhaifu kama ilivyokuwa. Kwa hivyo, ikiwa tunatafuta zaidi ya RPA, tunaweza kupata msaada wa AI kwa BPA? Si kwa njia kubwa. Bidhaa kadhaa kwenye soko zinazotumia AI hufanya kazi tu kama kazi ya kukamilisha moja kwa moja kwa kujenga mtiririko wa kazi. Watu huamua jinsi ya kufanya kazi, na AI huamua kile kinachopaswa kufanywa. Na kuwa sisi ni wanadamu, kwa hakika hatutaki AI kutuambia jinsi tunapaswa kuendesha biashara yetu. 4. Uwe na uhakika "Kutoka kwa ""Wide"" hadi ""Deep"" ni sawa na ""Deep"" na ""Wide"" ni sawa na ""Deep""." Tofauti kati ya DPA pana na DPA kina haina maana hata kidogo. Wide DPA inahusu wauzaji wa jukwaa la chini la nambari, na zana ambazo zinafaa sana kuunda idadi kubwa ya programu rahisi. DeepPA inahusu kampuni ambazo zinafaa zaidi kwa kuunda programu ngumu na kubwa. Hata hivyo, aina hizi mbili za DPA hazitofautiani kabisa. Kwa kweli, baadhi ya wauzaji wa jukwaa la chini la nambari wana macho yao kwenye programu kubwa wakati wengine wanazingatia zaidi programu ndogo. Lakini wengi wao wanafaa zaidi kwa aina nyingine. Zaidi ya hayo, dhana ya "kubwa" inaanza kupoteza kiini chake. Hii ni kwa sababu mbinu bora ni kujenga programu hizi kama vipengele modular, kuwa wamekusanyika. Vipengele hivi vya moduli ni kitu ambacho jukwaa pana la DPA lingekuwa na ustadi mkubwa wa kujenga. 5. Uwe na mtazamo mzuri. Kuna masoko tofauti kwa ajili ya majukwaa ya chini ya kificho na taratibu digital automatisering. DPA ni mbinu ya kizazi kijacho cha automatisering ya mchakato wa biashara. Lakini ni kweli tu masoko crap, na kama wewe kukata kupitia yake, utaona kwamba bidhaa DPA ni zaidi ya chini ya kificho majukwaa. Nini chini ya kificho inawakilisha ni mfano-kuendeshwa na mbinu ya kuona kwa ajili ya kujenga programu ambayo haihitaji sana mkono-coding, au yoyote wakati wote. Kwa kweli, majukwaa mengi ya nambari ya chini hutumia mbinu ya "kuvuta na kushuka" kuunda programu. Njia hii inafanya kuwa rahisi kujenga workflows. Wengi wa bidhaa chini-nambari inapatikana sasa ilianza kama biashara mchakato wa kuiga zana. Vifaa hivi vya BPM vilibadilika kuwa majukwaa ya chini ya nambari kwa kuongeza kipengele cha automatisering kwao. DPA ni sawa katika njia hii. DPA ni jina la bidhaa ya chini ya kificho ambayo ilianza kama chombo cha BPM na ambayo inasimamia BPA. Kwa nini DPA na Low-Code Platforms ni tofauti? Labda ni kwa sababu soko la chini-nambari got msongamano sana. Labda wao tu wanataka kipengele mchakato-centric chini ya kificho majukwaa tofauti? Dhana yangu ni nzuri kama yako. "Hizi hadithi zinaonyesha kwamba wauzaji wanajitahidi kuelewa ""maendeleo ya BPA"" thamani proposition kwamba wateja wanahitaji." Hizi pia kuonyesha kwamba makampuni ya uchambuzi ni vivyo hivyo kuchanganyikiwa juu ya jinsi ya kuelezea masoko yanayotokea. Hata hivyo, kwa hoja zote kuhusu teknolojia ya automatisering na michakato ya automatisering, jambo moja bado ni wazi: mchakato wa biashara bado ni zaidi kuhusu watu, kazi wanaofanya, na utafutaji wao wa daima wa njia za kukamilisha kazi zaidi katika muda mdogo. Na ni hasa kwa sababu ya hii kwamba mchakato wa automatisering itaendelea kubadilika kwa miaka na miaka ijayo. Picha ya wonyesho wa WOTCinTech (Flickr)