Process Improvement Before Automation

[GarethBevan]

​Hi all,
Firstly please let me introduce myself.
My name is Gareth Bevan and I've been an Incident Manager for telecommunications provider EE for 10 years, and now working as a Specialist Incident lead for BT following their takeover of EE. I'm responsible for ensuring that all incident management processes and procedures are followed and that new services are introduced with the correct levels of incident governance in place.

Opportunities for automation do come up, due to the large volume of incidents that pass through the area, and the need to share them across tool integrations, along with business communications.

What I've noticed is that the method of implementing an automation of a process is focussed on automating the exact step by step process that exists today.  I have challenged my team to think about the most efficient and effective way of achieving the same outcome, and then automating the improved process.

Has anyone experienced the same behaviour and what are tips are there for identifying process improvements to then follow up with the automation activity?

Thanks in advance.

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Gareth Bevan
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[dougpetroshius]

Hi Gareth,

At Capgemini we have a methodology known as ESOAR - Eliminate, Standardize, Optimize, Automate, Robotize. The goal is to organize the processes first so that they are best prepared for intelligent automation. In the IA practice, we look at processes holistically and end-to-end, leveraging all of the capabilities that IA has to offer such as ICR, CDA, ML, NLP, etc. If you would like to discuss this methodology further, please feel free to contact me.

Respectfully,

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Doug Petroshius
AI Consultant
Capgemini
Chicago IL United States
8474216229
http://www.capgemini.com/
douglas.petroshius@capgemini.com
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[PritamPoojari]

Hi Gareth

One of the clients which I am currently working with has Continuous Improvement team who evaluate the process to see if it can be improved. 
Also at Capgemini we use ESOAR (Eliminate, Standardize, Optimize, Automate, Robotize) method to help clients overcome this hurdle. See PDF for more information

https://www.capgemini.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ESOAR-Factsheet2020.pdf

Let me know if you need any more information.

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Pritam Poojari
Solution Architect
Capgemini
Europe/London
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[andrew.beard]

Hi Gareth,

First rule of RPA - don't automate a bad business process 🙂 so you were correct to challenge your team!

If only minor rework of the business process is required then capture the existing process (and input from the SME on any improvements), but consider the strengths of RPA in the solution design. Many customers successfully work this way. 

• Ensure those responsible for Solution Design (Design Authority?) are familiar with Solution Designer training on the BP University, this includes some considerations for optimising business process to make optimal usage of a Digital Workforce.
• Ensure that the business are aware of any impacts and consulted where necessary.

If the business process requires significant rework, typically the recommendation would be along the lines of Doug/Pritam, "fix" the business process with an eye to automation. If you understand what the final post automation process will look like then consider this in your reworked business process, it'll save you time in future. Let the new business process stabilise before automating. Only mature, highly experienced teams should consider the challenges associated with significantly reworking a business process and automating in parallel.

Hope this helps.

Kind Regards

Andrew


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Andrew Beard
Senior Consultant
Blue Prism
Australia/Melbourne
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