Hyperautomation is the combination of automation technologies to drive automation at speed and scale. It is an effective way to accelerate end-to-end automation across your enterprise.
The foundation of hyperautomation lies in technologies such as Digital Process Automation (DPA) platforms and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Hyperautomation expands their capabilities by combining them with intelligent technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, and natural language processing.
Hyperautomation was trend number one on Gartner’s list of Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2020. It is still proving prevalent as many organizations look to quickly apply automation to adapt and unlock efficiencies in the wake of the global pandemic.
Organizations are turning to hyperautomation to:
- Optimize operations and reduce costs - Enhance employee and customer experiences - Increase agility and competitiveness
- End-to-end orchestration
Hyperautomation enables organizations to integrate technologies and automate processes from end-to-end, increasing efficiency and eliminating the need for manual intervention.
- Data-driven decisions
Having visibility of the data generated by all the technologies supporting your business processes allows you to make better informed decisions regarding process performance.
- Optimal use of resources
The ability to manage technologies in a single interface reduces the time and costs associated with managing each individually, allowing the time and money saved to be better invested elsewhere.
The two terms have many similarities and are often used interchangeably when used in discussion around digital transformation. However, as Bizagi partner Automation Anywhere observes, “Intelligent automation is just one aspect of hyperautomation technology, amongst others like RPA, natural language processing, digital process automation, decision management structures, and intelligent business process management (iBPMS) infrastructures.”
So, think of hyperautomation as the application of intelligent automation at scale across an enterprise. Much discussion around hyperautomation is how to move beyond automating individual RPA bots to deliver end-to-end and enterprise-wide automation.
Rather than automating small processes or tasks in isolation by deploying RPA bots, hyperautomation can deliver end-to-end process automation.
RPA can be used to mimic human behavior, while AI can make intelligent decisions based on data, and DPA platforms act as an orchestration layer. This means that some processes can become entirely ‘hands-off’ with digital process automation platforms providing orchestration and automation in between tasks automated by RPA bots.
“There’s a lot of value in combining technologies like RPA and AI to provide cognitive bots – robotics that can think more intelligently”, said Rob Koplowitz, VP Principal Analyst at Forrester. “But the real value comes from that end-to-end process automation where you apply intelligence across the whole operation that you get the best return and the best value. Then you can start to look at data flows and intelligence across the entire operation and not just specific tasks related to robotics within that.”
Bancolombia used Bizagi to orchestrate their human, robotics, cognitive and analytic capabilities. The Colombian bank created over 1,700 processes resulting in a 59% increase in efficiency of service time and a 28% decrease in operational risk.
Deploying automation at scale is often the main objective of organizations once they have successfully automated one or a few processes. The success seen from one end-to-end process can then be replicated in other processes, using the combination of technologies and hyperautomation infrastructure to drive scale at speed.
Automation across the enterprise to improve efficiency and free up employees from repetitive, manual tasks to focus on activities that deliver more value to the business.
“Enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders lack a defined strategy to scale automation with tactical and strategic goals. They must deliver end-to-end automation beyond RPA by combining complementary technologies to augment business processes. Gartner calls this hyperautomation,” according to the leading IT research firm.
Everyone in the organization is involved in driving transformation by enabling hyperautomation. Historically, it would be up to the IT function to drive digital transformation and developments, but today it is vital for the business to drive change as well. The two departments must be aligned in order to achieve transformation across the enterprise.
Hyperautomation can help support business users who are enabled to drive transformation themselves by using low-code automation platforms, known as citizen developers. By enabling business users with platforms that boast intuitive features, such as drag and drop process modeling, ready-made APIs and widgets to connect to intelligent technologies, and click to automate, they can automate more knowledge work more quickly.
Including business users in the business transformation also aids change management as they can actively see and contribute to the project and its benefits through hyperautomation.
A center of excellence (COE) is a vital component of any organization that wants to realize digital transformation across its business. It can certainly aid hyperautomation as it provides a central point of reference and framework for users when it's time to scale up automation across your enterprise.
A COE can help to reduce turnaround time when automating processes and reduce production costs. It helps to ensure alignment around a common purpose by defining clear design principles and best practices as well as supporting continuous improvement once processes have been automated.
Find out more about how to build a center of excellence in our ebook.
Before any automation project, it’s important to map out your processes and create process models to help identify the current state of processes in your organization and identify any bottlenecks or areas of improvement. These process models can also help you to identify the best place to start with hyperautomation.
You can then automate these processes through digital process automation using a low-code automation platform, and orchestrate them with RPA bots, and other intelligent technologies in your stack to drive hyperautomation. Once you’ve seen initial success, you can scale automation across the enterprise, supported by a Center of Excellence.
Gartner found that 85% of participants will “either increase or sustain their organization’s hyperautomation investments over the next 12 months, and over 56% already have four or more concurrent hyperautomation initiatives.
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