No doubt about it, technology exists to make our lives easier.
New advancements in increasingly Cloud-native platforms, data architectures, and the still-nascent world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are changing the way we work. With so much intelligent IT automation now being brought to bear upon business workflow systems, we are now able to remove the human element from time-consuming, complex, and often repetitive tasks. In addition, modern tools and systems can improve the efficiency and accuracy of data-driven business decisions freeing up even more manpower to improve and grow other business areas.
The global economic shake-up that has occurred since the pandemic, has provided a valuable opportunity to step back and see where we have advanced. In an analysis of the recent technological advancements in business, intelligent acceleration and automation tools shine in how they have shaped new ways of working.
For example, automation can provide us with new ways to perform software root cause analysis, help tune systems for improved performance, and lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), among infinite other uses. This array of RPA-based efficiencies goes way beyond mere data entry that was so often found in the ‘pre-intelligent Cloud services’ era.
The human side of digital
Any tool is as useful as you make it, rather than being innately, equally beneficial to all in every situation. Digital automation is no exception – it is the customized applications of the tool that make the difference. Companies utilize the same tool for a wide range of data and situations, and all derive different results.
On the leading edge of automation, we concentrate on making every tool agile, scalable, and usable. Regardless of skill level, we aim to ensure that the tool is ‘fit for purpose’ for every user. This is where AI comes in.
In practical, real-world terms, automation efficiency in an ERP system like SAP can drive fairly complex orchestration. Traditionally, every iota of that functionality will have been built by a developer, naturally limiting it somewhat. Today’s technology has fewer limitations thanks to AI. Developers are still very much in the driver’s seat, but now AI provides intuitive acceleration created from patterns observed over time, broadening the functionality.
Nowhere does this hold truer than in SAP business processes that bring data correlation and data analysis to the forefront.
Different strokes for different folks
In the digital transition currently in motion, there are endless applications for automation.
If a business has a heavy transaction workload, it may be prudent to reduce the size of the system being engineered. Or, to best make use of time and functionality, the business may move batch jobs to the evening so that higher priority, intensive jobs can be performed during the workday. Even with services like those delivered on SAP Cloud Platform, freeing up transacting CPU time when demand is highest makes sense.
In parallel to the human body, automation can function in an autonomic way, self-healing and dealing with daily processes without direct, conscious intervention.
An SAP systems administrator can now spin up boxes and start-up systems in an automated way to perform auto-healing actions related to a variety of ERP system events. These could be security provisioning issues, maintenance tasks, data deduplication processes, or some form of standardized system patch.
A non-disruptive, seamless source
The new breadth of the Cloud, and the tools we now use to interconnect systems and services, make this the right time to automate. Automation accelerators that tap into Cloud-based resource capacity to perform actions in a manner that is non-disruptive, seamless, and effective are part of the innovative intelligent automation movement.
The leap to intelligent automation allows us to handle the orchestration of many entities (data sources, application functions, analytics calls, storage processes, and more) that are performed concurrently inside an SAP system installation. This intelligently engineered parallelism enables us to accelerate our level of IT performance and thus, our business performance.
Problems that don’t happen
At this point on the IT automation innovation chart, organizations start to accelerate as they fix problems before they occur. A modern ERP system has a universe of data points all traversing internally and externally connected systems. Intelligent automation will detect and prevent problems even in complex systems.
Innovative technology shouldering the work reduces human error and man-hours spent on the same task while increasing the accuracy and consistency of the end product. Additionally, we can now also track user experience to guarantee longer-term satisfaction. After incorporating this technology, the business can start to experiment with systems to seek out accelerated automated innovations that invigorate users to do more and lead to growth in the automation field.
Intelligent automation can be applied from the base operational substrate of an enterprise IT stack and grown outward to new incremental services as the business develops.
Along the path of this new venture toward the future of the smart business, there will be some organizational and cultural shifts. In this regard, a truly forward-looking organization can streamline its adoption processes and think about how it handles change management and digital adoption as a formalized practice. Working with a partner who knows the steps on this journey is the best option for a seamless transition.
Shifting mindsets to welcome change
A traditional ERP team operating a traditional ERP shop is going to go through a paradigm shift on its way to becoming an innovative, automated shop with full-blown digital transformation initiatives.
To a business set in its ways, the incorporation of innovative, intelligent automation technology may seem like an insurmountable obstacle. The landscape of Cloud business services has changed drastically, even over a short timeline.
The first step towards any major change is planning. The help of a trusted partner can lend stability to the rocky transitional period and move you from planning to execution quickly, preventing disruption.
Developing a culture that embraces change and taking every step to smooth a continual process of transition and ongoing development are the best ways to maximize future success and longevity. Stakeholders and employees alike can feel assured as they start to gain a deep and clear understanding of the growth potential of the new innovations we can build with modern, accelerated, automated platform intelligence.
The Cloud is here but the skies are clear, it’s time to look upwards and head higher.
