Why automate what?
We deal in the business of intelligence and automation, and we make no bones about it. However, what if your automation is not intelligent? Let us explain.
Business processes are a bit of a spectrum, and not every single process needs to be automated, and while we are undermining our ability to take your money, it is better you know the truth. The goal of business processes, and any automation plans, are to achieve maximum efficiency. However, you also have to make sure that your staff feel empowered to make decisions within the business that do not necessarily require oversight, it’s a difficult balancing act.
Where adding more and more hard and fast processes increase workload, automation relieves it, and taking the time to understand and develop this before you consider an automation and reporting platform, is critical to your success, measure twice, cut once.
Having this clear in your mind does take a little time, but it pays dividends in the end. Considering automation and reporting and workflows and monitoring and tracking and and and, it can be tempting to Tom Daly right into the middle of it all, but that only works if you stick the landing, and that takes practice.
Through experience, we have always advised of phasing a deployment, taking the biggest elephant in the room, let’s say energy usage of heavy machinery, and solving THAT, and only that. We build out utilisation, configure operational hours, and build in sensors that alert the ops team that machine ‘x’ is non-compliant with expected behaviour ‘y’, and is now costing you ‘z’. Run that in for a month or two, now we can look at your temperatures in the warehouse, is it too low, or too high, get you using the boilers less, saving more money. Then it is staff, then it is configuring quarterly budget expectations and measuring performance against it, but like all things, slow and steady wins the race and this way there is less chance of a belly flop into the pool.
So, when considering automation systems, there are a few things that you need to consider. In brief:
What are your key objectives?
Seems obvious, but there are many possible outcomes in process automation. Are you trying to cut down on downtime? Increase productivity? Reduce waste? More accurately report and assign engineers? Or create auditable records and reports? All valid reasons, not all the same solution.
What existing systems and processes need to be integrated?
Now, this one is interesting. If you are automating, it gets absolutely destroyed by manual data transfers. So you need to be sure, and make sure, you know what systems you currently use, and that they are able to communicate with your solution.
Exacting solution
Again, it seems obvious, but you may be surprised. When you are considering an automation platform, make sure it REALLY does what you want. Flashy adverts are all good, but never ever buy on principle, prove the solution. There are a lot of platforms out there that claim to be the greatest efficiency driving, cost saving, reporting monster on the planet (that can’t be true, because we are that). But, joking aside, in practice they are out of the box, slightly generic, lowest common denominator solutions, which there is definitely a market for. However, if you have specific requirements, you need to make sure your provider is able to develop their solution to meet your needs, completely. A 90% solution leaves an itch, that will never be scratched, so, do your research, and make sure it fits all your needs.
Considering these 3 things should set you on a good path, and certainly, bring about tangible benefits to your business. Always remember, these solutions are journeys, not destinations, and building a lasting solution requires a lasting partnership, with review, change, and growth baked in from day one.
