Process automation has undergone a significant evolution in the past decade, but the next step is perhaps the largest of all: hyperautomation. Described as the convergence of RPA, AI, BPM and almost any other technological building brick of the digital age, Gartner sees hyperautomation as one of the top 10 most important strategic tech trends of 2020.
As no single tool can replace humans, hyperautomation today involves a combination of tools, including robotic process automation (RPA), intelligent business management software (iBPMS) and AI, with a goal of increasingly AI-driven decision making.
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What is Hyperautomation?
In an interactive discussion between Camunda CEO Jakob Freund and Gartner Research Director Saikat Ray, at CamundaCon LIVE 2020.2, the pair explained that it’s important to understand hyperautomation as a holistic concept, rather than a specific technological solution.
Hyperautomation deals with the application of advanced technologies to increasingly automate processes and augment humans. It encapsulates a wide array of tools that can be automated, but also considers the growing sophistication of automation – such as analytics and measurement. Hyperautomation, therefore, is a new point of view and not a new framework or a single new technology.
Where to start?
Ultimately, the starting point for hyperautomation is defined by the desired outcomes and the fundamental demand for value, such as revenue, cost savings or risk management. It depends on the type of ecosystem a company operates and the types of processes involved. This is not just a simple question of technology, but also of the existing organizational models and the present skills of the workforce.
Most companies – like banks, insurance companies and utilities, run large enterprise applications and legacy systems managing individual processes that also need to be taken into account before starting any process automation projects. And as the Covid-19 pandemic showed us, there are always external shocks that might lead to unforeseen circumstances with little or no time to prepare.
Consider the business as a whole: individual processes should be viewed as part of a wider end-to-end process. For example: An RPA chat bot enables fast and effective customer service. But the data collected from customers could also be used for a machine learning platform, to continuously analyze, iterate and improve the overall customer experience.
Which technologies to use?
The second big question is which technologies should be used for hyperautomation efforts?
Different processes require different types of automation tools. Repetitive tasks can be covered by RPA. Whereas other tools are required for more dynamic and complex processes.
However, most business processes span different systems or services and are not executed in just one system from start to finish (end-to-end). As a consequence, a core business process is typically chopped up in parts that are executed in isolation. This leads to a lack of visibility, integration and control of the end-to-end process, eventually impairing the digital operational excellence of an organization.
Camunda solves this visibility problem because it is a universal automation layer that can orchestrate the work of any human or system participant of a business process. The key to automating a process end-to-end, across all people or systems, is orchestration. Camunda is able to orchestrate anything, let it be humans, (micro-)services, IoT devices, AI/ML components, or RPA bots.
Want to know more?
Hooked on to hyperautomation? Watch the on-demand session with Saikat and Jacob and enjoy a real-world example of hyperautomation in an insurance company, plus an extensive Q&A-session on how the automation tools market has evolved to date, and what’s in store in the coming years.
