Say goodbye to the rise of fragmented and inefficient overall automation. Automation architecture helps enterprises digital transformation and upgrading.

Affected by comprehensive factors such as the epidemic, economic downturn, and rising costs, automation has become a digital transformation solution that is valued globally. A large number of organizations have introduced artificial intelligence, RPA, low-code and other technologies into their operations to optimize business processes to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

Live up to expectations, in the process of continuous integration and development of various technologies, automation has also demonstrated higher potential for efficiency improvement and cost reduction. A Gartner report shows that nearly 80% of BPM users believe that hyperautomation technology plays a key role in the digital transformation of their businesses.

At the same time, the report predicts that by 2024, by combining hyperautomation technology (Hyperautomation) with redesigned operational processes, companies will reduce operating costs by 30%.

In fact, if we compare it to the comprehensive automation defined by UiPath, when all processes operated by an enterprise are automated to the greatest extent, hyper-automation will bring more than just 30% cost reduction and efficiency improvement to the enterprise. Because the automation strategy can continue to promote the reshaping of business processes in the front, middle and back offices of enterprise operations until full automation is achieved.

As hyper-automation is accepted by more organizations, both RPA vendors, intelligent automation vendors, and vendors focusing on intelligent processes are evolving towards hyper-automation.

Hyperautomation, as a technology collection and automation methodology, aims to help organizations achieve automation-based digital transformation in a simpler way. The key is simplicity and comprehensiveness, and the reason behind this is that many organizations have been frustrated by the fragmented automation technology for a long time.

In a situation where fragmented automation technology causes more problems than it solves, with the maturity and application of various technologies, more technologies and more integrated technical architecture and Automation methodologies emerge naturally.

This methodology is called hyperautomation at Gartner and Automation fabric at Forrester.

I believe that many people already know a lot about hyperautomation, but are still unfamiliar with automation architecture. After all, there is really very little introduction to this concept on the domestic Internet. So, what is automation architecture? What does it bring to the organization? And how to build it?

In this article, Wang Jiwei Channel will talk to you about the automation architecture defined by Forrester.

What is automation architecture?

Automation architecture is Automation fabric, which can also be translated as automation structure. It comes from an article titled "Automation is the new era of digital business" published by Forrester in June 2021. Structure” best practice report.

Forrester believes that the post-pandemic industry development trend points to the integration of automation technologies, such as RPA, DPA, integration (iPaaS), low-code software, machine learning, conversational artificial intelligence, analytics and process intelligence.

As these technologies overlap and intersect, today’s diverse automation options have begun to co-evolve and converge into a broad organization: an architecture that sits atop the application layer.

This architecture is an automation architecture that combines digital workers and artificial intelligence agents (such as chatbots) with process and data workflows, combined with event-based and integration-centric orchestration.

In the report, Forrester defines automation architecture as a holistic business automation system that integrates multiple adjacent and complementary automation technologies, process architectures, organizational behaviors, and partner co-innovation models to support Human-centered automation and the goal of autonomous enterprise.

Therefore, automation architecture refers to a systematic, enterprise-wide approach to automation in which multiple technologies are fully integrated into a cohesive system. It combines process automation with IT infrastructure automation to connect processes and coordinate work across the enterprise. The goal is not only to reduce the complexity of implementing automation, but also to provide a seamless user experience and therefore get one step closer to building an autonomous enterprise.

Automation architecture is very similar to hyper-automation. Both can provide organizations with more complete intelligent automation technology, but what is slightly different from hyper-automation is the impact on the organization.

Hyperautomation drives organizations to digitally transform based on business process optimization through end-to-end automation technology. The automation architecture can directly act on the organizational level of the enterprise. Through this automation architecture, it ensures that the enterprise can efficiently apply automation to drive digital transformation, and pay more attention to the organizational structure level of the enterprise.

At the same time, the automation architecture is not a finished product available on the market. The automation architecture includes more than 20 technologies, which cannot be solved by the current hyper-automation platform in one stop. Organizations can purchase the technology they need to form an automated fabric to flexibly achieve their digital transformation goals.

Behind the emergence of automation architecture

Automation is becoming the driving force for multi-level transformation of organizations, and this has now become a consensus in the industry. The reality of automation implementation is that automation technology implemented in a fragmented manner creates even more problems than it solves. Business processes in most organizations are disconnected from the actual scope of process automation implemented.

This also disconnects cost-focused tactical automation from digital transformation goals and further hinders organizations from achieving their broader digital vision through automation.

The Forrester report believes that many organizations will have at least the following problems when it comes to the application of automation technology.

First, automation silos lead to a myopia of possibilities.

Automated programs are criss-crossed, and each program exists in its own island. For example, finance teams might use RPA, while IT teams support low-code or AI, and contact centers dabble in chatbots. Automation silos between different technology initiatives hinder team synergy between these converging technologies.

Secondly, over-reliance on a single automation technology leads to poor results.

Overusing a given automation technique without considering whether it is the best way to achieve your goals. A single technology can leave an organization operating without a holistic approach to automation governance, and automation architects’ focus on technology only exacerbates this problem.

Third, a tactical automation approach creates technical debt.

Tactical automation can often temporarily plug inefficiencies, allowing CIOs and CFOs to defer modernization investments. A tactical approach will only keep inefficient legacy processes and applications broken.

If processes are allowed to proliferate without strong governance, automation may eventually become more fragile. This leads to unpredictability in the short term and creates long-term technical debt that hinders transformation later on.

Under the long-term contradiction between continuous investment in technology and unsatisfactory automation efficiency, the emergence of methodologies such as automated architecture is logical.

In the world of enterprise technology, applications are the core on which all processes are built. The paradigm shift has also occurred as technologies such as robotic process automation (RPA), low-code tools, native integration platforms (iPaaS), process intelligence, chatbots, and machine learning have flourished. And process development is no longer limited to specialized applications and delivery.

The co-evolution and convergence of diverse automation technologies has resulted in the formation of an extensive weave or “fabric” that sits above the application layer. This structure allows for event-based, integration-centric orchestration – combining digital workers or AI virtual agents with process and data workflows to evolve into an advanced playground for digital transformation.

In short, automation architecture forms the superstructure for companies to rethink their products, services, operations and business models, closing the gap between workers and their jobs and unlocking opportunities for digital differentiation.

What can automation architecture bring to organizations?

Forrester report believes that automation architecture is combining multiple technologies to reduce the complexity of the underlying application and process environment and facilitate work and empower employees.

At the same time, the automation architecture can also coordinate the interaction between humans and robots. AI capabilities are injected into the architecture, providing opportunities for new forms of participation, and the scalability of this architecture can also support future technology introduction and scenario applications.

In terms of data application, the gap between the availability and usefulness of data has narrowed, and enterprises and users can now obtain data that can be used for analysis and artificial intelligence. The interconnection of all data sources and types, creating a secure and legal data path across the entire business, is the basic structure of the automation architecture.

Thus, automated architecture helps organizations easily access, secure and implement data at a faster rate, thereby making business processes more efficient.

From a business process perspective, automation architecture can accelerate an organization's business processes from three aspects: data integration, system compliance and data security.

In terms of data integration, it ensures information is reliable by having a single point of access to all data, allowing individuals to access information beyond their departments.

In terms of compliance systems, it is able to span information channels across multiple jurisdictions with security requirements, automating the architecture to distribute policy enforcement so that data can be easily and securely accessed regardless of source.

In terms of data security, all data, whether in the cloud, hybrid systems or legacy systems, can be used under the umbrella of an automated architecture, improving efficiency and operations, and ultimately improving the entire customer experience.

The above three points can all be regarded as the business benefits of automated architecture.

Generally speaking, organizations that adopt automation architecture can adapt to automation both strategically and tactically, and ensure the maximum implementation of automation with more technologies and solutions.

Therefore, automation can be promoted more purely and deeply in such an organization. Automation genes are permeated in every unit of the organization's business process, and automation can participate more in business operations. Ultimately, when most organizations use automated architecture to build their own autonomous organizations, various benefits will naturally be higher.

With the in-depth application of automation architecture, it will help organizations further improve employee productivity, reduce operating costs, improve data insights, and bring a more excellent customer experience.

Postscript: How to create an automated architecture

Forrester reported five suggestions for organizations on how to build a successful automated architecture:

1. CEOs and leaders in the digital field must accept and promote automation as a "strategic initiative." Set an audacious goal to achieve automation-driven transformation. Companies that are good at automation will eliminate competitors who are not good at automation.

2. Integrate disparate automation initiatives rather than allowing these technologies to remain in their own silos. Integrate multiple automation skills such as RPA, low-code, API, data science, and machine learning into a common framework.

3. Use a balanced scorecard to manage automation and provide visibility into its true impact.

4. Let business users lead automation thinking and let them build and support automation.

5. Make user and customer experience the focus. Automation is often designed without UX or customer experience support, which can lead to inconsistent automation interactions for employees and customers, so organizations need to make customer experience tools like customer navigation maps a core part of their automation toolkit.

Seeing this, I believe everyone has a certain understanding of the automation architecture. It should be noted that no matter how an organization builds an automation architecture, the ultimate goal is the same as hyperautomation, which is to build a fully automated autonomous enterprise through certain technologies and solutions.

This means that the majority of organizations are no longer and will not be limited to simple process automation in building automation. Everyone will move towards a systematic approach that combines process automation with IT infrastructure automation. In turn, multiple technologies are integrated to form a completely cohesive system.

This is also the opportunity for automated architecture and hyper-automation.

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