Discussions around business automation solutions and their ROI, or the absence of it, are common amongst the C-suite across various industries. According to Bain, a staggering 88% of business transformation initiatives fail to meet their goals, including those related to automation. The reasons for this failure to maximize, or even realize, automation ROI include a lack of a clearly defined and comprehensive strategy. Other contributing factors are an inability to define the scope of process automation and difficulties in accurately tracking automation KPIs.
The purpose of this article is to help your organization in conjunction with an automation consulting services provider, create a failsafe automation roadmap. We do this by answering a set of questions that can provide essential guidance.
Can Business Automation Solve Every Operational Problem?
Silver-bullet thinking sells automation initiatives short.
As a provider of business automation services with extensive experience in establishing automation frameworks, we recognize that this is a common problem. Organizations often view automation as a quick-fix solution to a wide range of operational issues. These include lengthy product development cycles, high market entry costs, slow productivity, inconsistent quality, and other inefficiencies.
Success stems from applying automation thoughtfully, aligning it with reengineered workflows, measurable business goals, and a long-term roadmap for process optimization.
Take Bosch as an example, which reimagined its production and logistics processes by seamlessly integrating them to improve manufacturing efficiency. It enhanced predictive maintenance by connecting 60,000 sensors to monitor real-time machine performance, resulting in a 25% reduction in downtime on their ESP/ABS production line.
Can Automating a Flawed Process Do More Harm Than Good?
Misplaced automation urgency can entrench process inefficiency.
The fundamental rule of automation is not to automate a flawed process. A process with inherent flaws, inconsistencies, or one that has been designed solely for manual intervention can have these issues magnified by automation. The phrase ‘garbage in, garbage out’ fits well here, and it must be understood that automating a flawed process can multiply the inefficiencies manifold.
Let us illustrate this with a scenario. The global market for robotic process automation (RPA) in healthcare is expected to reach approximately USD 22.56 billion by 2034. This is good news for both business automation services providers and the healthcare sector, but with a caveat: make sure the process you are automating has no gaps.
Now consider a large hospital network that automates its patient intake process, which speeds up registration. Unfortunately, in a rush to quicken patient admission, the automation process skipped a manual insurance eligibility check. This causes an increase in denied insurance claims, leading to delayed treatment, billing disputes, and damage to the hospital’s reputation.
What Business Outcomes Should Justify Automation Investment?
Automation without a business case is directionless automation.
What do I want to achieve with automation? This is the question the leadership must ask themselves if they’re going to deploy RPA, hyperautomation, or intelligent automation as a strategic priority. Automation is a value maximization framework of technologies, but automation tools don’t directly generate that value. To maximize automation ROI, you first need to define this ROI or the performance metrics.
The idea here is to measure both automation KPIs and metrics to capture the right ROI. To understand this aspect better, put yourself in the shoes of a retailer who is automating order processing; in this particular case:
These KPIs can include:
- Order accuracy rate
- Order fulfillment time
- Cost Reduction
- CSAT/NPS
The automation metrics can include:
- RPA bot utilization rate
- Automation throughput
- Human intervention count
- Average resolution time
And more…
The retailer’s automation framework aims to minimize delays and errors in the order lifecycle, aligning with the predetermined KPIs. This includes reducing the order fulfilment timeframe by half and cutting manual interventions in the order fulfilment process by 50%.
How Can Organizations Address the Human Side of Automation?
Ignoring the human component in automation can derail even the best automation ecosystems.
Business automation solutions have ushered in a new era of change within organizations. Ignore doomsayers who claim this will render your workforce completely redundant over time, resulting in a new set of problems.
Automation will replace specific tasks, not entire jobs, allowing your workforce to concentrate on more high-value tasks that require human input. While automation does not make employees redundant, the C-Suite must be prepared to handle the psychological effects on staff.
Amazon, a company known for its automation-led approach towards improving operational efficiency, has executed change management brilliantly. It made it very clear that its robotic solutions will not replace people, but support them, and help move them to other high-value tasks that improve customer satisfaction.
Also, it helps that 60% of employees surveyed globally, who have interacted with AI and robotics, say they will have a positive impact on their careers. This means you only have to approach change management in a sure-footed and employee-centric manner to make automation more acceptable.
What Are the Risks of Ignoring Governance in Intelligent Automation?
Overlooking governance in automation is a recipe for disaster.
You must develop an automation strategy by first identifying those responsible for oversight, control, and accountability. Ignoring governance can lead to ‘RPA-Sprawl’, an environment where multiple bots operate without supervision, remain undocumented, and function independently.
The emergence of hyperautomation and intelligent automation within the automation matrix has added complexity to governance. Ungoverned AI, ML, process mining, and even low-code platforms can result in independent workflows, disconnected analytics, and orphaned decision models.
A well-structured, comprehensive governance framework reduces automation silos and helps achieve a level of consistency and scalability across all automation assets.
But how does a lack of governance impact an organization or business?
Consider a scenario in which a food production company deploys automation across multiple manufacturing units to streamline procurement. Unfortunately, the lack of an automation governance framework means that the automation rollout occurs at different times across various units. Moreover, data integrity issues result in a fragmented data landscape, resulting in inherently flawed automation. These problems bring a degree of unreliability to procurement and weaken supply chain governance.
Key stakeholders cannot trust automation-generated insights, mainly due to governance missteps.
Why poor automation scalability can turn into operational risk?
Not designing automation for scale is not future-proofed automation.
One of the key reasons why business automation ROI is fleeting for many organizations is that they have configured automation for isolated use cases. This delivers short-term wins but can erode ROI over the long term. Typically, every process needs to be scaled to meet growing business requirements, and therefore, automation must be built to scale, on demand. Otherwise, workflows that functioned effectively in specific scenarios for particular workloads are likely to fail when faced with seasonal business spikes and business expansion.
Scalability problems arise across every industry. Take the case of manufacturing. One of its essential requirements is that processes must scale to meet increasing or fluctuating market demand.
Let’s consider a scenario involving an electronics manufacturer that leverages RPA bots integrated with legacy MES to automate daily production scheduling. Things run smoothly until the company adds new SKUs to meet seasonal demands, causing the bots to fail. The automation script did not consider dynamic scheduling rules. This means some production lines remained idle, while others worked overtime.
The core problem here was static bots not configured for scalability.
Can Automating Every Task Prove to be a Problem?
Discerning automation brings more value to both the process and the business as a whole.
Don’t automate everything. Bot-led processes are good, but not every task in a process needs to be automated. Consider the example of a process that requires situational awareness or emotional intelligence. This shouldn’t be driven by automation, but business process automation solutions can support some of its key tasks.
When organizations over-automate, they risk building rigid systems that lack the flexibility to respond quickly to dynamic scenarios. This challenge is particularly evident in customer service environments, where context, urgency, and emotion often require human judgment.
Consider a bank that introduces chatbots and automated workflows to streamline customer complaint handling. Automation focuses on routine queries, such as balance checks and card blocking, resulting in noticeable efficiency gains and a reduced call centre load. The automation footprint is then expanded to manage more complex issues, including fraud claims and transaction disputes.
But these scenarios often involve urgency, emotional distress, and require situational nuance, factors that automation couldn’t interpret or prioritize. The bots follow rigid scripts, missing signs of frustration or escalation. This results in prolonged resolution times and loss of reputation.
What Does a Scalable Automation Blueprint Look Likefor the C-Suite?
For automation to become a sustainable value-driver, not just another IT experiment, the C-suite must lead with clarity, alignment, and foresight. Here’s a blueprint that provides actionable guidance to implement an ROI-led business automation strategy:
| Pillar | Description |
|---|---|
| Underpin Business Value with Automation | Before engaging with any business automation services provider or deploying RPA tools, frame automation as a business initiative, not a technical project, and define tangible outcomes:
Align these KPIs with strategic metrics and make them non-negotiable indicators of success. |
| Scalability is Paramount | Too often, automation is designed solely for current-state processes, solving today’s bottlenecks without considering what happens when the business scales. With BOAT (Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies), processes can be designed with dynamic workflows, built-in exception management, and centralized control, allowing automation to scale on demand. |
| Governance Mechanisms for Defining Automation Scope | Without governance, you risk having disjointed bots, duplicated efforts, and exposing your automation framework to risk. A robust governance model establishes ground rules and policies for bot development, version control, reuse, auditability, and exception management. It adds guardrails to automation, ensuring every initiative aligns with the broader IT architecture, data policies, and compliance standards. |
| Selective Automation for Real Value | The real value of automation lies in targeting high-volume, rules-driven, and error-prone tasks. Intelligent automation is not about replacing human talent; it’s about enabling it. When used strategically, it allows teams to focus on higher-value work, ensuring consistency and speed. |
| Be a Change Leader, Not Just an Approver | Business automation impacts culture, roles, and how value is created across the enterprise. The C-suite must champion change management, clearly communicate purpose and intent, and empower teams to evolve their skillsets. |
Conclusion
Automation begins delivering genuine value guided by the right mindset, for the right reasons, and with a clear goal. Whether it involves aligning with business outcomes, designing for growth, embedding governance, selecting appropriate opportunities, or leading cultural change, each element plays a critical role. Together, they contribute to a framework that streamlines processes, boosts efficiency, and enhances accuracy. When supported by effective business automation services, this approach guarantees that automation delivers not only technical benefits but also a measurable business impact across the organization.
