Gartner projected that “Global spending on robotic process automation (RPA) software is estimated to reach $680 million in 2018, an increase of 57 per cent year over year”.

Currently the biggest adopters of RPA include banks, insurance companies, utilities and telecommunications companies. With these industries being some of the most prevalent users of Opmantek Software to automate their network administration and orchestration, we decided to talk to our partners and customers about their experience in implementing robotic process automation and operational process automation in their businesses.

Here are the top 4 tips they gave for gaining team buy-in for an operations project.

Keep the team focused on their job outputs, not tasks

“We hired you for your communication and problem-solving skills, not for your typing speed”.  When implementing an automation project it is really important that staff who will have their routines impacted understand that the automation will serve them to do the job they were hired to do better.  The reports you used to spend an hour running are now ready to review when you arrive at your desk, giving you an extra hour to do what you do best.

 

Focus on small, regular, time-consuming tasks

When choosing the first tasks to be automated, keep it simple and measurable, so that staff and management can see tangible results from the exercise.  Daily or weekly reports or tasks that have dedicated maintenance windows such as system upgrades or audits are great places to start.

 

Get your team to workshop the best practice process steps

By giving the team exposure and input into the work that will be automated it allows them to feel some control over the project.  Running a best practice workshop both benefits the project, in ensuring that the most efficient and effective paths to resolution are implemented for the project and helps the staff to understand exactly what the ‘bots’ will be doing for them.

 

Let the team have some fun with it

One IT manager shared that within his team, each of the bots that completes a specific process was given a name and soon became part of the work team.  If a process failed the team would laugh and say ‘R2D2 is sleeping on the job again”.  This seemed to help with human-computer interaction quite significantly.

 

Here at Opmantek, we have seen many IT departments transformed through the implementation of our suite of tools to automate regular tasks like software and hardware audits, configuration changes, maintenance routines and IP address allocation and management.  To speak to one of our engineers about your Network automation project contact us here.

Opmantek have been at the forefront of Network Automation for many years and with each implementation, we continue to see big changes to the way that people work.   As people move from being reactive to proactive, the work that they perform becomes more specialised and analytical.  This got me thinking about the new ways that IT teams are working alongside automated processes and the new job opportunities that are emerging as more and more businesses combine intelligent automation and human interaction to provide smarter and more efficient services to their customers.

Here are a few roles that I anticipate we will see new demand for over the next few years:

Automation Analyst

Alongside data analysts and business analysts, I anticipate a rise in demand for Automation Analysts.  These analysts will specialise in identifying processes that are ripe for automation.  They will undertake ‘process mining’ exercises to identify the approaches and techniques that humans currently undertake to produce outcomes.  They would then analyse these processes to determine best practice and map out the steps to be automated.

 

Integration Architect

As more tasks are automated and data-driven, IT managers are more likely to start looking at ways they can combine multiple technologies to solve problems and take advantage of business opportunities.  An integration architect would look to solve increasingly complex problems using technologies that are architected together to produce more powerful and efficient outcomes.

 

Data Quality Analyst

A Data Quality Analyst is responsible for making sure the data generated and moving between devices and applications is fit for purpose, correct and stays that way. The Data Quality Analyst would be responsible for monitoring the chain-of-custody of data as it makes its way between remote locations and cloud-based platforms to ensure that it maintains its integrity for consumption by machine learning and AI applications to make accurate decisions.

 

These creative and analytical roles will form part of the workforce shift that automation and the 4^th Industrial revolution is likely to drive, as we shift from task driven jobs to results-driven jobs and companies change their business models to provide better, faster, augmented services.

If you are an IT Manager looking at implementing a Network Process Automation Project in the near future, we will be releasing a white paper later this month that provides a step by step guide to getting your first project underway.  Contact us to receive early access to the white paper.