Hyper automation in 2022 will combine technologies like RPA, AI and ML

Meet hyper automation 

Gartner defines hyper automation as a “business-driven, disciplined approach that organizations use to identify rapidly, vet, and automate as many business and IT processes as possible. Hyper automation involves the orchestrated use of multiple technologies, tools, or platforms, including: 

• Artificial intelligence (AI)
• Machine learning (ML)
• Event-driven software architecture
• Robotic process automation (RPA)
• Business process management (BPM) and intelligent business process management suites (iBPMS)
• Integration platform as a service (iPaaS)
• Low-code/no-code tools
• Packaged software
• Other types of decision, process, and task automation tools

In essence, hyper automation is the concept of automating everything that can be automated in an organization. Organizations implement hyper automation to streamline and automate business-wide processes using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), robotic process automation (RPA), and other technologies that operate without human intervention. The idea is to automate more and more knowledge work and engage everyone in an organization to be part of the transformation. 

How is hyper automation different from automation?

The distinction between automation and hyper automation is often unclear. Automation is the execution of repetitive tasks without human involvement. It usually occurs on a smaller scale and focuses on developing solutions for specific challenges. Hyper automation refers to using various automation tools that enable intelligent automation, such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and robotic process automation (RPA), to scale the automation initiatives. Where automation takes an individual process-specific view, Hyper automation takes a step back to look at how organizational processes can connect and interact. Hyper automation aims to melt the automation silos and create an integrated, seamless, and highly responsive automation structure. 

Why is hyper automation essential?

A Mckinsey article discussing how to avoid pitfalls in automation programs mentions, “In our experience, about half of current programs are delivering value on some fronts, but only a handful are generating the impact at scale that their business cases promised”.

While robotic process automation (RPA) is primarily agreed upon as the ‘begin-with’ automation tool, many RPA initiatives have struggled with scaling up. While most firms decide to automate the low-hanging fruits first, doing so can create obstacles to the organizational capacity for implementing RPA at scale. In truth, integrating RPA into an organization’s structure fundamentally differs from solely undertaking process automation.  

Hyper automation provides organizations with a framework for expanding, integrating, and optimizing enterprise automation. It asks enterprises to think about the types and maturity of the technologies and processes required to scale automation initiatives. The focus is on how enterprises can build a process for automating the automations. By identifying opportunities and then automatically generating the appropriate automation tools such as bots, scripts, or workflows, Hyper automation builds on the success of RPA tools and addresses its limitations. 

Benefits of hyper automation 

Hyper automation unlocks the maximum potential for an automated enterprise with key benefits such as:   

• Holistic automation: Hyper automation adds a greater degree of intelligence to RPA, enabling you to reduce manual effort. You can automate many processes, whether they are repetitive or require knowledge and logical thinking for performance. This allows your workforce to focus on more critical and innovative tasks, leaving the rest to hyper automation. 
• Advanced analytics and insights: With data and resources segregated across siloed systems, businesses fail to comprehend where the inefficiencies lie, what must be improved, and how to optimize processes for greater returns continuously. Through hyper automation, businesses develop end-to-end integrated processes and functions. This means unlocking the potential of data and insights into the existing business trends and predicting future outcomes to help make sound decisions and appropriate course corrections. 
• Improved productivity: Hyper automation eliminates bottlenecks across the chain, optimizing processes and eliminating the human effort spent on manual tasks. Enabling your workforce with a comprehensive set of automation tools helps them to do more with less, leading to improved productivity and employee morale. 
• Increased business agility: An enterprise can experience limitless scalability with hyper automation. Layered together or interdependently, intelligent automation tools make it easier for businesses to rapidly adapt to shifting dynamics, identify new opportunities, and deploy resources judiciously to leverage them. 
• Better data accessibility and storage: Hyper automation is built on the premise of integrating software and processes, allowing seamless interaction between data storage and on-premise infrastructure. As multi-cloud/hybrid cloud becomes the new norm, system integration becomes essential to the transformation. This allows seamless communication between all systems, ensuring all core systems can access the same centralized storage. In addition, the inclusion of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) into hyper automation enables the creation of ‘digital twins’, essentially digital representations of physical assets or processes. 
• Augmented ROI: With hyper automation driving enterprise-wide change, it is possible to generate a positive ROI. Consider, for instance, the automation of invoice processing. Instead of just using a bot to read and extract information, hyper automation automates the end-to-end, multi-layered processes involved in invoice processing, which results in improved outcomes and successful returns.  

With the right choice of tools and technology, hyper automation can augment work, advance sustainability, and generate greater returns. The challenge lies in selecting tools, combining them, and successfully deploying them for a specific business environment. If you want to start your automation journey, get in touch with us. At Carvewing, we leverage our expertise in automation technologies to design low-code automation that drives robust enterprise-wide transformation.