Everyone faces automation challenges, but you can surpass them

One of the most powerful engines of business success is operational maturity because of its ability to boost adaptability, resiliency, and agility through automation. That’s according to a Cisco-commissioned conducted study by Forrester Consulting. But no matter how mature your operations are, there will always be challenges.

The third installment of the study, Automation Is Not Without Challenges, But They Can Be Overcome, spotlights some of these challenges and how they differ for operationally mature organizations (what Forrester calls leaders) versus those with low-maturity operations (beginners). The message to both: Don’t be discouraged! The difficulties you face can be surpassed.

So what are some of these challenges?

It should be pointed out that many of them are common to organizations of all stripes, no matter the maturity level of their operations. For example, IT professionals across the board struggle with issues of tool integration, data siloes, and outdated technology.

Issues like these are symptoms of the complex technology landscape organizations face today. This landscape is a result of technology evolving, organizations growing, and workforces becoming more dispersed over many years. The COVID-19 pandemic has only magnified these long pre-existing issues.

Also noteworthy are the different ways in which leaders and beginners handle and are affected by these challenges.

For example:

• Leaders are focused on perfecting their automations. They’ve already automated plenty of business and technical processes, thereby creating a foundation for success. The difficulties they cite are around things like codifying processes, testing, and troubleshooting broken automations. They’ve moved beyond the low-hanging fruit of automating customer-facing applications and are focused on the more complicated back-end processes that power their front-end customer engagement.

• Beginners lack the people and culture to gain any traction. Organizations with less mature operations report both a lack of organizational will to use automation technologies and a lack of the in-house skills they require. As a result, beginners are more likely to get derailed by challenges before they even get started.

In other words, when it comes to automation, the challenges your organization faces will depend on its level of operational maturity. The good news: you can do something about it.

Find out how you can overcome your automation challenges:

Automation Is Not Without Challenges, But They Can Be Overcome.

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