Most Automation projects are losing from day one

A recent McKinsey report stated that many businesses face a value loss as early as day one after implementing a digital transformation. Furthermore, even successful transformations are only realising 67% of the maximum benefits that their transformations should produce. “On average, respondents say that nearly one-quarter of value loss occurs during the target-setting phase, suggesting that the full potential might be compromised before companies’ transformations even get started .” (McKinsey 2021) As Automation and transformation specialist we have seen first-hand the common pitfalls when implementing automation and also how our strategies and methodologies have helped organisations avoid these mistakes. One key topic must be addressed, this is the misconceptions of where automation fails. Many businesses believe failure starts with external factors, such as market changes or disruptions, in our experience we found this was simply not the case. We have found the single biggest influencing factor contributing to your transformation failing is when a business fails to align its transformation strategy with the overall company strategy. Establishing realistic timelines is crucial to success. McKinsey’s report found that companies transformations, whether successful or unsuccessful, did not start to realise value until after at least 18 months where around half the value is realised. For many organisations, this is not an acceptable outcome, especially when you consider the high level of financial investment in both infrastructure and resources. Losing value from day one and not delivering expected outcomes should not be the norm. How can we help? We believe in de-risking automation through our proven frameworks which allow you to scale and be stable in operations, but before we even implement any project, we assess its viability. We have the programs to analyse what the automation initiative outcomes are, and most importantly if it aligns with your business’ wider transformation goals. Without this initial assessment you run the risk of the previously mentioned value loss. We believe that the planning phase is crucial to the success of any automation project and even once a project is implemented, automation should not be a ‘do once and move on’ project but an ever-evolving solution, to better serve your business goals. It has been proven that businesses that establish a comprehensive approach to automation, and those that automate more often, find their transformation initiatives are significantly more successful than those that plan poorly and fail to evolve their processes. Automation Catalyst is technology agnostic. We believe in choosing the correct automation technology for your business whether that be Microsoft Power Platform, Ui Path, Cortex Evolution or a tool of your choice. Our experience shows that not setting any technology as a starting point ensures the highest rate of success for all automation projects. Our approach doesn’t just help you implement your latest automation project. We guide you through the transformation journey, aligning strategy with technology, and giving you the skills and knowledge to embed and maintain a continuous innovation culture. For more information feel free to contact me on LinkedIn or by filling out a form on this site.