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5 myths associated with the automation of business processes

If you want to automate your organisation’s business processes, you will have to deal with a lot of advice from many different sources.

Your automated process must repeat your manual process

If something has worked in some way over the years, this does not mean that it still works in the same way. Once you have decided to automate your business processes, you have a great opportunity to analyse it.

Most of your time should be spent on developing automation

In fact, automation is the shortest phase of the entire project, while planning and requirements gathering can and should take the longest time. This includes defining the purpose of the project, finding out who is involved in each phase of the process and what actions each person is taking.

It is very important to know exactly what the business process should look like and who is involved in it before starting the automation process. Most of the time it takes to collect the requirements together with the other steps – process mapping, work breakdown, database design and end-user testing – starting with this important first step.

Process automation is something that IT staff can handle on their own

The automation of business processes must be the joint work of IT and each department involved in the business process. IT departments can help use existing technologies and new applications to improve efficiency, while meeting the needs of departments.

It is enough to talk to one person involved in the process!

Collaboration should extend to more than one person involved in a real business process. Each person has a different perspective on the process and a different role in it.

Once you have built automation, you will never have to change it again

The needs of departments change over time.

For example: there may be new legislative mandates to which a department must adhere. The business process of the department may change or the current process may become outdated.

New technological advances open up opportunities for efficiency improvements. It is important that the automated process is re-evaluated periodically to take into account any changes.