Digital Transformation Journey

A Center of Excellence (CoE) is essentially the way to embed RPA deeply and effectively into the organization, and to redistribute accumulated knowledge and resources across future deployments. This is actually a shiny penny term that is used heavily in the RPA world. But unfortunately, the CoE is yet another item of absolute dogma in the RPA world that, as defined and currently implemented, directly and significantly contributes to the ongoing failure of RPA initiatives. Nearly every organization selling and supporting RPA claims that CoEs are critical to success. A Center of Excellence is NOT critical to the success of an RPA initiative. It prevents the success of the initiative and is completely opposed to what has been the unified hue and cry of the RPA world for the last decade. How could it be that consultants, vendors, pundits and analysts all be wrong about having an RPA CoE? The following points lay out my case. CoE misconception: Excellence should be centralized   The mos...

These Days if you look around the RPA led business world, you will find that nearly every business leader regardless from which experience background he is coming is attempting to implement BOT's and that as well without the help of IT but surprisingly with a very technology focused approach. There is a strong acknowledgment that BOT's are just a software, and they require few things like specifications, process maps, mockups, configurations, hardware, software, and the like.  But if you take a deep dive into the system, you will find that this is a big mistake. BOT’s are not a software; they’re a new workforce pool or workforce having strengths and weaknesses, abilities and constraints, values and needs, and they must be managed as such for them to be successful. This is even more relevant when BOT’s interact with human co-workers, which occurs often.  True enough, RPA is software and it’s typical to manage an RPA project like a technology project.  This sort of works ke...

If you closely look at Robotics Process Automation and listen what people talk about “robotization of processes”. You will find that everybody agrees that RPA can be realized in any of the chosen operating model- centralized, decentralized or hybrid manner. And it is critical that there is a well-defined governance overseeing the development and operation of BOT's. This governance will provide assurance of the quality of that automation, minimizing risk and avoiding rework.  But if you go few steps back and relook at this Governance, you will find that we all talk very high about this governance, and surprisingly it is there in the system from decades but is one of the most undervalued modules of running an RPA business model. This is considered as unnecessary overhead cost. Someone said very rightly that this module is treated a bit like toilet paper in a public toilet; no one wants to pay for it but feels that it better be there when you need it. If you look closely at RPA; you w...