The 3 Step Guide To Workflow Automation

In today’s technologically advanced environment, both small-scale and large-scale organizations across varying sectors and industries are looking to embrace automation. With increased efficiency and enhanced productivity high on the list of success factors, many organizations are prioritizing workflow automation as a strategic initiative to drive success.

Technologies like robotic process automation, natural language processing, digital twins, artificial intelligence, and machine learning have the potential to transform operations and deliver increased value in a multitude of business functions. Process mining tools from companies like Microsoft and IBM use data from enterprise systems to analyze how things are configured, enabling data-driven discovery to change the way businesses approach automation. While the opportunities to start and scale are plentiful, the biggest challenge organizations face is finding the right opportunity from an ROI perspective.

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As artificial intelligence and machine learning components expand, intelligent automation will be able to handle more complex decision-making processes that currently rely on rule-based tasks, offering bigger and broader opportunities. Moreover, the combination of cognitive automation and process mining will reduce the need of multiple analysts by leveraging large language models like ChatGPT to provide analysis and insights with simple prompts, explains Biju Misra, Director, Corporate Business Services/Automation Centre of Excellence at Enbridge.

At the recent ‘Workflow Automation in Oil & Gas’ event hosted by Oil & Gas IQ, Biju Misra shared in-depth insights on implementing and delivering transformation programs across an organization. With over 20 years of hands-on experience in Digital Transformation and Operational Excellence, Biju shares a simple yet effective guide to driving successful workflow automation within a business.

Step 1: Identify

The biggest question when it comes to automating workflow processes is, ‘where do you start’? And the answer, as Biju so simply puts is, ‘you start somewhere’.

Examine your organization’s workflow and identify a repetitive, rule-based activity prone to human errors. Typical workflow candidates can be found within finance, supply chain or HR functions (to name a few!), and with the abundance of organizations and manual process, identifying that one candidate can eventually lead to progressive automation across the value chain.

“Find something small and then progressively move up the value chain versus picking the biggest process in the company as that will require more time and effort to execute.”

Step 2: Initiate

Once you’ve successfully identified a process, the next step would be to initiate by finding that ‘one’ leader within the organization willing to support and champion the process. The influence and decision-making power of that one leader can be crucial in driving value and gaining support from other stakeholders within the organization.

A common challenge, Biju shares, when initiating workflow automation is ‘leadership disbelief’. Part of that disbelief often stems from how technology and technological failures are perceived, hindering the appreciation of more successful consumer-driven technologies available today.

However, initiation doesn’t need to be a complicated process as all it requires is communication and a focus on showing tangible results.

“While there is a place for large-scale initiatives, I have found that showing tangible results is often the best way to gain leadership support. Instead of relying on flashy PowerPoint presentations about what could be, focus on what you have accomplished and the data-backed results you can present.”

Step 3: Implement

When it comes to implementing workflow automation within an organization, Biju believes it can be beneficial to ‘start small and scale fast’.

Many argue that optimization should come before automation. However, automating the process and capitalizing on the immediate benefits works better for many organizations as optimization takes more time and stakeholder involvement. Often, before a transformation project, leaders get caught up in creating a Centre of Excellence. Biju shares that this is a discussion that can be deprioritized, and instead, organizations can focus on gathering a group of people interested in driving standardization, innovations, and efficiency agendas. Get those people to start working on delivering results across the different functions instead of getting distracted with the task of setting up a Centre of Excellence.

“By starting small, delivering results, and scaling fast, organizations can build confidence in automation and unlock its transformative potential.”

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Resistance to change is a natural part of the process but having strong leadership support is vital, Biju explains. As employees worry about how automation will take over their jobs and future careers, it is up to leadership teams to place the emphasis on productivity gains rather than seeing automation solely through the lens on saving money. By automating certain tasks, you can redeploy your employees’ time into more strategic and value-added initiatives, allowing them to see  the difference automation brings to their work first-hand.

Organizations more successful in driving transformation projects focus on employees as much as technology, which is conducive to the success of any kind of automation. When leaders are as much invested in employee success as they are in technology, engaging them at both executive and front-line levels, and valuing their expertise and involvement, they find their employees eager to adapt to new ways of working.

With the demand for automation growing and the shift in skills required to adapt to the changes quickly accelerating, many organizations still struggle with the ‘what’ and ‘how’. It is imperative companies harness automation and AI transformation benefits from both a performance and workforce perspective. Because at the end of the day, it is up to leadership teams to champion the upskilling of their workforce to ensure a smooth, business-driven transformation.

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Interested in learning more about this topic? Biju Misra will be speaking at our Operational Excellence in Oil & Gas Summit to talk about implementing automated process control solutions for optimized operations. Join us in Houston, Texas from November 7-10 to hear Biju and some of the most influential thought-leaders in the oil and gas industry on improving process efficiency to achieve true operational excellence. Download the agenda to learn more about the event.