Automation has become critical for enterprises to remain relevant and competitive in today’s digital age. But automation is also a complex beast. About 30% to 50% of all automation projects fail. The enterprise wastes considerable money and resources and has nothing to show for it. 

Automation projects fail due to lack of clarity. Many enterprises do not know where to start. They throw in money but struggle to do it right. They do not have a coherent strategy and invest in random, piecemeal projects. Such disjoined automation delivers only marginal benefits, if at all.

The first step when committing to automation is to develop a clear business case for automation.

Starting automation without a solid business case leads to unintended consequences.  

Lack of clarity on the business problem that automation has to solve makes the solutions complex. Such complex solutions become difficult to maintain and scale. Complex systems may mishandle data and cause security risks. Lack of clarity also increases fears of job losses, making employees resist change.

How to Develop a Business Case

Most enterprises automate customer service chatbots, payment processing, configuration management, and some workflows. But such random projects do not deliver notable value-addition. 

Identifying a good automation case requires much more than choosing a random area that everyone seems to be automated. It also requires going beyond the obvious enterprise pain points.

Look Into the Enterprise Strategy

While it is a good idea to focus on business pain points, all pain points need not make good business cases. There may be a pressing need to update a core system to drive operational efficiencies. But there should also be a sound business case to automate such systems. The two need not always sync.

For instance, automating an inefficient legacy system may deliver huge operational benefits. But the high costs to upgrade the core system and the potential downtime or disruption may make the project unattractive.  A business case would emerge only when the system becomes outdated and cut off from other systems.  Likewise, there is no case for automating a manual system that will go away in an upcoming business process reengineering.

The best automation goals sync with business goals and the enterprise strategy. For example, if the strategic goal is to reduce costs, automation of repetitive tasks makes for a good business case. If the vision is to become customer-focused, AI-powered chatbots may become the priority.

Focus on the Customer

The best business cases focus on the customer. It identifies pain points or areas for improvement that will make customer engagement better. 

Customers need not always be external revenue-generating ones though. Delighting the internal customer – employees – can make the automation project just as impactful. 

But only as long as satisfying internal customers does not annoy external customers!

For instance, making customers repeat information many times for employee convenience is a no-no. Rather, automated scripts could make sure the customer enters the information only once. The customer information could pop up when the customer engages with an agent. Such a design offers a win-win solution. Agents save time and energy by not having to ask for information every time. Customers likewise do not have to repeat every time they engage.

Prioritise

Automation offers infinite possibilities. But budgets are finite. And automation requires upfront investment.

Prioritisation becomes inevitable when the business identifies many use cases fit for automation. To get prioritisation right:

• Sort the must-haves from the nice-to-haves.
• Balance short-term wins and long-term gains. Prioritise easy, high-impact wins to prove the value of the strategy. An early win makes the rank-and-file more accepting of change.
• Identify the highest-value use cases or projects that can deliver top ROI. Consider the impact on the enterprise in revenue, savings, productivity, time-to-market or quality.
• But do not remain blinded by quantifiable measures alone. The qualitative benefits may exceed the measurable benefits. There may be several indirect, non-attributable benefits as well. For instance, automation frees up employees from repetitive, mundane tasks. They get more time to focus on strategic and fulfilling work. In such a scenario, job satisfaction and employee morale improve. This leads to better quality, improved engagement with the customers, and lower employee turnover rates.

Best Practices to Articulate a Sound Automation Business Case

Developing a robust and workable business case goes beyond identifying the areas for automation. It requires articulating the business case well.

Make Automation Projects Parts of a Wider Goal

Most enterprises start their automation journey with isolated pilots and one-off implementations. Such one-off projects may deliver some short-term cost savings or process efficiencies. But sustained long-term value depends on an enterprise-wide vision of what automation will achieve.

For instance, putting RPA on a bureaucratic system will only streamline some steps in an inefficient process. It will improve the symptoms, but will not address the slow decision-making and inefficiencies that are the major pain points. Transformation change requires addressing the root causes, viz: rigid rules and complex hierarchies.

Go into the Specifics

While general statements or intents make a good starting point, a viable automation business case goes into the specifics.

For instance, “automating the end-to-end supply chain” offers a good starting point. The specific cases include stock taking, reordering, or syncing inventory with work orders.

The general strategy of “automating the supply chain” does not require automating all aspects of the supply chain at once.  Automation can be incremental or continuous. But incremental automation should be part of a wider, long-term plan.  For instance, automating stock-taking may become part of a wider end-to-end supply chain automation. The timeline depends on the budget and resource availability. But improvising on the go is a recipe for disaster.

Define the Existing and Future Desired State

The best automation strategy captures the present state and visualises the desired state. It articulates the what, when, where, why, and how to achieve the desired future state.

Consider the business case as improving customer experiences. The first task is to capture the existing state of customer experience. , through customer satisfaction surveys, feedback, or other interventions. Next, articulates the ideal future state. In quantifiable terms, this may manifest as a target customer satisfaction score. The automation project is all about specific steps to progress from the existing stage to the desired stage. The interventions may come through AI-powered chatbots, automated self-service, or anything else.

Without clarity on the future state, it becomes difficult to overcome challenges such as resistance to change.

Prepare a Blueprint 

A good business case co-opt

• A description of the challenges or inefficiencies that the automation project will address.
• A description of the automation technology or approach to solve the problem.
• The description of the project, along with the goals and expected benefits.
• The project budget includes hardware, software, implementation, and ongoing maintenance costs.
• A cost-benefit analysis of the project, in terms of cost savings, efficiency and quality.
• Evaluation of potential risks and challenges that may arise during the project, and derail the expected benefits.

Preparing such a strong business case makes it easy for the enterprise to secure funding and buy-in from stakeholders. It also lends clarity to the purpose, strengthening rank-and-file support and commitment.

Co-Opt Flexibility

The sustained success of automation projects depends on flexibility and continuous improvement.

As new capabilities and use cases emerge, enterprises need to adapt, innovate, and realign to meet changing demands. With non-flexible systems, the only option is to create and integrate new projects. Such a setup is the perfect recipe for complexity and technology sprawl.