Unleash the Power of Workflow Automation by Leveraging an Automation CoE
Let's face it, when it comes to workflow automation, it can seem like uncharted territory. We hear about the potential of automation, how it can streamline our operations and make us more competitive. But figuring out where to start can feel like climbing a mountain, unsure of your bearings or what path to start down next. That's where an Automation Center of Excellence (CoE) can be your trusted guide, offering tailored advice regardless of where you’re at in your automation journey.
The Automation Challenge
Automation indeed holds immense potential. It can help us work faster, reduce errors, and free up time for more critical tasks. But for many teams, understanding how to implement it effectively can be daunting. An Automation CoE can be your roadmap to making the most out of automation at any stage in your journey.
What is an Automation CoE?
An Automation CoE supports an organization in consolidating and aligning the necessary resources to maximize the value of automation technology through ongoing advice, development, and management activities. It's like having a dedicated automation team, but without the significant overheads.
The Benefits of an Automation CoE
When you leverage an Automation CoE, you gain access to a wealth of benefits that can really move your teams forward. These advantages can be broadly divided into five categories: Strategy & Planning, Identification & Prioritization of Automation Opportunities, Maintenance of Automation Standards & Best Practices, Lightweight Governance & Oversight, and Promotion & Awareness.
Strategy & Planning
An Automation CoE is instrumental in defining your automation strategy and roadmap. It's not just about setting a direction; the CoE ensures your automation initiatives are closely aligned with your business's goals and objectives. This ensures that every automation step your team takes, supports and amplifies your overall business vision. The CoE can also help anticipate potential obstacles and devise contingency plans to ensure a smooth execution of your automation strategy.
Identify & Prioritize New Automation Opportunities
One of the biggest advantages for any team in having an Automation CoE is its ability to identify and prioritize new automation opportunities. The CoE works closely with you, offering a deep understanding of automation potential that helps identify processes within your organization that can be automated. Each process is then evaluated and prioritized based on factors such as potential for business value creation, estimated ROI, and complexity. This ensures that automation efforts are directed towards areas that will yield the greatest return for your business.
Maintain Automation Standards & Best Practices
The Automation CoE also plays a crucial role in maintaining automation standards and best practices. It takes the lead in developing these standards, ensuring their consistent application across your organization. This ensures all automation initiatives are executed with high quality and consistency, reducing variability and improving predictability of outcomes. Moreover, the CoE fosters a culture of continuous improvement by regularly updating these standards based on the latest industry trends and feedback from your team.
Lightweight Governance & Oversight
For many teams, having a dedicated Automation CoE provides lightweight governance and oversight for all automation initiatives. This ensures that all automation activities comply with regulatory requirements, data security protocols, change management, and other organizational policies while balancing the benefit of organic automation growth and adoption.
Promotion & Awareness
Finally, an Automation CoE acts as a catalyst for promoting awareness and education about automation technologies, tools, and best practices across your organization. This includes arranging workshops, training sessions, and seminars that empower your team with the knowledge and skills they need to effectively leverage automation in their daily roles. By driving awareness and education, the CoE helps to create a workforce that's ready and eager to embrace the benefits that automation can bring.
To wrap things up, an Automation CoE isn't just a guiding force – it's a powerhouse that can revolutionize the way your teams approach automation, providing a roadmap to efficiency, competitiveness, and growth.
Let's Get Started!
If you're ready to start your journey towards building an Automation CoE, our Automation Readiness Assessment is designed to help you understand where you currently stand with automation, and give you some ideas about your next steps.
Click below to check get in touch to learn more about the Automation Readiness Assessment and see how we can help you get started.