2021: A Year of Opportunities for Those Who Dare to Think Big and Drive Digital Transformation

2020 proved a year of reckoning for many transformation programs, as enterprise goals were brought into the spotlight by tightened budgets and new, urgent, imperatives. Automation was one of the clear winners of this refined, revised, or entirely rewritten set of priorities. As businesses raced to virtualize their operations, digitize workflows, shift to cloud or distributed computing models, automation was at the heart of this transformation.

So, what happens now as we look ahead to a post-pandemic business world?

First, enterprises are capitalizing on the groundwork that was done last year to break down the barriers to automation. Second, the wider business goals that seemed like luxury items in the midst of the pandemic will be revived, such as growth-focused programs aimed at breaking into new markets, delighting customers, or enhancing the employee experience.

Consequently, more businesses are expanding their automation programs and setting bigger, more strategic goals. IBM, a Blue Prism partner recently recognized as a gold service and delivery provider, has created a bold vision that emphasizes this move toward more strategic implementation, called Extreme Automation. This is used by enterprises that are deploying exponential technologies to transform the way work gets done, without constraining automation to the back-office, nor to rote tasks or structured data. Fueled by real-time data and empowered by AI, automation is creating new and differentiated customer experiences and enabling entirely new business models.

While a bold vision is vital, a pragmatic, phased approach will be key to successfully fulfilling that vision. For many clients, that means building on their automation programs. For example, IBM’s client, Veteran’s Affairs Benefits Administration, started with the use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to automate around 30% of mail intake. Having built on that initial success with the automation of around 60% of incoming mail, it is aiming to leverage data insight to automate even further. The direct impact this has had on veterans is hugely beneficial, as turnaround times have been slashed from over two weeks to just one day.

With add-ons available through resources like Blue Prism’s Digital Exchange, automations like these are not only becoming easier to implement, but more intelligent too. Other areas IBM has seen deliver great value for businesses are:

• The orchestration of RPA bots with predictive analytics.
• The integration of chatbots leveraging Natural Language Processing (NLP).
• An intelligent data capture capability to expand the scope of an automated process.

To complement this, last year, Blue Prism enlisted the support of IBM’s cloud services team to improve technical interoperability. As a result of this collaboration, Blue Prism’s digital workforce can now be accessed by IBM’s Cloud Pak for Automation via API connectors, making it easier to scale automation projects. This made Blue Prism available to IBM clients along with capabilities aiding business automation workflow, business decision automation and intelligent document processing.

2021 holds great opportunities for those who dare to think big and drive digital transformation.

Read more about IBM’s Extreme Automation vision.