Streamlining workflows - The Human Factor

I have worked in the document management/business process automation industry for over 30 years. Every solution I have sold or implemented has focused on streamlining workflows and processes as their value statement and return on investment.

“…automate seamlessly and streamline your operations — effortlessly.”

“Discover a smarter way to automate your business processes…”

Every demonstration to IT Management and CIOs emphasizes how their solution can solve their business process bottlenecks and save them money and time.

I have helped many companies and government agencies improve their processes with technology solutions. Many still need help with paper-based processes and productivity.

Present-day AI-based solutions are touting the same features and benefits.

Here are some recent announcements:

VentureBeat: ClickUp takes on Slack and Teams with its own AI-powered ‘everything’ chat

"By keeping conversations directly linked to projects, tasks, and documents, and using AI to streamline workflows, ClickUp aims to create a more organized, focused, and productive workplace — getting closer to realizing its vision of becoming the “Everything App for Work.”"

SiliconANGLE: Workday jumps on the AI agent train, promising to bolster employee productivity.

"Workday said its new AI agents will pave the way for users to automate workflows across recruitment, human resource management, expenses reporting, succession planning and more, while also helping to optimize various other business processes. The agents are joined by a new Workday Assistant that leverages generative AI to help workers dig up information and insights and complete simple business tasks."

Tech Startups: Wegrow raises €7M in funding to tackle €27 billion in losses caused by business inefficiencies

“Wegrow addresses a common and costly issue in large organizations: wasted time and resources due to duplicative efforts. Harvard Business Review estimates Fortune 500 companies lose around $31 billion annually from this inefficiency.”

These are articles on use cases and recommendations.

Diginomica: Workday Rising 24 - three CIOs on modernizing tech and improving business processes

I really liked Dignomica’s take. It is much more than the technology.

“Three stories that demonstrate that the role of the CIO, and the platform they chose to implement, are about so much more than technology; these are stories of organizations working in new and more efficient ways.”

Digital Insurance: How insurers use AI to improve their practices

“There's clearly room for AI to help with insurers' operations. Capgemini research shows that underwriters spend 41% to 43% of their time completing administrative tasks, such as data entry and record keeping. This means that more time is spent on these manual processes than on core activities; only a third, 32% to 33%, of underwriters' time is spent on essential responsibilities like risk assessment and premium calculation, and 25% to 26% is allotted to agent-broker collaboration and sales activities.”

Data Science Central: How to transform your business digitally with AI

“To automate the data extraction process, numerous optical character recognition and NLP-powered tools are available like Imagetotext.info. Tools like this are capable of accurately extracting editable information from invoices, receipts, etc. with a single click.”

ZDNET: What is digital transformation? Everything you need to know about how technology is changing business

“Definitions of digital transformation differ depending on the industry and the project. What everyone can agree on is that -- beneath the hype, the fluff, and the confusion -- digital transformation involves significant changes. The main components might include rethinking business models, changing the underlying technology stack, innovating with customer experiences, and potentially changing organizational culture.”

Based on my experience, the continuous need for streamlining processes will not be solved anytime soon, even with AI tools and advanced technology.

Why?

The human factor.

For these tools to have an impact, people must use them daily and use them to their full capabilities.

Inviting the end-users to participate in the selection process (since they are the main ones who know the current processes and bottlenecks) is very important. You can't automate something until you document, step by step, what is currently being done.

The IT departments that implement and support these solutions will be there for technical support. However, they must also be there as cheerleaders, rooting for the project's success and future return on investment.

And department heads also need to be engaged and held accountable for their department's usage and productivity improvements. If they don't support the solution, neither will their employees.

I have seen many solutions where some IT staff and some end-users love the solution and their vendor, while others dislike the solution and do everything they can to make it a failure or complain. Employee turnover also plays a large part in the success or failure.

Once a solution is selected and moves forward to implementation it is vital that  accountability, usability metrics, and reporting are mandated.

Who will be responsible for ongoing support, training, and reporting?

Usually, vendors are responsible for the initial setup, implementation, and training. After that, their annual support is only there to help with software glitches and break-fix support. It is essential to start building power users in each department.

And it is important to have regular reviews on how a solution is increasing productivity and providing the ROI that was promised.

I am all for streamlining processes, saving money and time, and empowering people to grow and learn.

But just saying "streamlining" or "automating" does not make it magically happen.

There are a lot of pieces involved, and many of them are human-related.

I focus on business process automation and tools to help businesses and government agencies. Many AI-based solutions have automated text-to-voice, Image, and video creation. These may require less human involvement, but it is out of my realm.

To read more about AI's effects on jobs, visit our ongoing collection.

https://docs.teckedin.info/docs/ai-and-its-effects-on-jobs

Thank you for reading.

Debby Kruzic, President of Records and Data Management and Creator of Teckedin.com knowledge base