Automation is the future. No! Automation is a necessity now if your business is to remain competitive. If you are still thinking about investing in automation, you are already lagging behind your competitors. Automation technologies like robotic process automation help reduce costs, streamline operations, and frees up your workers to enable them to work on value-addition tasks.

While automation can do wonders for your organisation, there is a risk that the implementation may fail. A failed implementation means financial losses, employee dissatisfaction, poor customer experiences, and lost time. However, it does not mean that you avoid new technologies altogether. Instead, you need to adopt a careful approach. In this article, we will guide you on how to start your automation journey.

Starting the Automation Journey

We acknowledge that investing in a new technology can be a worrying experience for businesses, especially SMEs. They do not have the financial cushion to deal with failure. The following tips are based on our experience in providing robotic process automation services in Dubai and globally across different industries.

1. Preparation

The first step is preparation. The organization must secure top-management support for the initiative. After all, it is the top management which provides the necessary resources to undertake the implementation. Apart from the resources, they create the policies which facilitate deployment and use of the new technology.

The top-management is only one side of the coin. You need to convince your employees that RPA is not a job killer. RPA will reduce their workload without impacting their job role. Secondly, it can help the organisation improve profitability which can help the business provide better benefits to its employees.

2. Identify Automation Opportunities

Once you secure the buy-in from the stakeholders, it is time to focus on areas that can benefit from automation. Instead of limiting this exercise to a few people, it is better to engage the entire organisation. It will result in greater suggestions for automation. In certain cases, you will need to refine processes prior to automation. It may involve removing redundant activities or adding new ones.

3. Setting Clear Goals and Objectives

After identifying the processes to automate, it is time to set the goals and objectives. Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives as it will help with monitoring the progress. A business may value time over money. It may be implementing RPA to speed up processes, whereas cost-savings are a second priority.

4. Selecting the Automation Tools

Agile Managex Technologies works with numerous automation tools. It is what helps us enjoy a competitive advantage and allows us to cater to each organisation’s unique demands effectively. If you wish to implement RPA yourself, you need to carefully consider the available tools and how they add value to your business.

5. Proof of Concept

Select a process which closely resembles the process you wish to automate. Automate it to see the benefits realised, challenges faced, and further opportunities. This small-scale implementation is equivalent to a pilot study. It will help you assess if your automation solution can meet the goals and objectives. If not, you need to re-evaluate your strategy.

6. Think Organisation Wide

Don’t limit your automation journey to a specific process or business function. Instead, think big. It will help foster an automation culture in your organisation. Don’t forget the importance of feedback as it can help bring necessary improvements in your automation strategy.

Conclusion

By following the above tips, businesses can take the first step in their automation journey. If you require help at any step, don’t hesitate to contact us. As experienced RPA solutions providers in Dubai and worldwide, we have the resources and expertise to help you overcome any RPA challenges. We even offer RPA on a RPA as a Service model. It means you can benefit from RPA without any substantial upfront costs.

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