A better way to think about business automation

Why taking a holistic approach to automating your business processes can increase the ROI of your digital transformation efforts

Jan 26, 2023
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Data & digital services Digital transformation

The need for business automation is growing

Middle-market companies are increasingly taking advantage of business automation to become more agile and efficient. Some of the drivers are:

  • Talent attrition and/or lack of needed skills that threatens efficiency and effectiveness
  • Competitive pressure to meet growing customer expectations
  • Regulatory complexity that can increase risk
  • Availability of user-friendly and easy-to-use automation platforms 

 

RSM report: The talent gap is wearing out workers

The talent gap is just one driver of automation, but it’s growing in significance. These are some of the top consequences of the hiring challenge. 

A holistic approach maximizes business value

Start instead by identifying the root cause of the inefficiencies to build an automation solution that takes the full business process into consideration to avoid limiting the potential impact. Steps can include:

  • Leveraging process mining tools to identify opportunities for optimization
  • Assessing all aspects of the business process from end to end, including people, process and technology
  • Establishing a target operating model so you build a solution that enables where the organization is going
  • Confirming data availability and quality to ensure consistent outputs across shared processes

 

Business automation reduces the time, cost and risk of your processes

Use case: Risk management process automation

With the smart use of automation, you can transform your internal audit, compliance and risk management programs to maximize value. Using cutting-edge technology with a focus on innovation, you can develop predictive modeling, robotic process automation (RPA), optimize enterprise resource planning and implement governance risk compliance products. With an effective approach, you can ultimately: 

  • Improve assurance of data accuracy and completeness
  • Incorporate data analytics into internal audit, risk and compliance processes
  • Manage the full spectrum of risks across the entire enterprise

 

Use case: Workflow automation in HR

Automating multiple related workflows in HR helps your organization take an employee-centric approach to HR service delivery. With automation, you can:

  • Simplify access by transforming complex business processes into scalable services
  • Engage employees with streamlined self-service
  • Support hybrid work with a unified employee experience
  • Streamline employee journeys by helping them navigate complex cross-departmental processes.

Use case: Automating the financial close

The financial close is a complex process that continues to grow in importance as CFOs face increasing pressure to deliver timely information to the market and critical information to the internal organization. Close automation technologies provide:

  • Integrated governance and control
  • Greater efficiency and accuracy
  • Built-in return on investment
  • Greater analytical insight

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