NOVEMBER 2017CIOAPPLICATIONS.COM40cXoinsightsDELIVERING INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION WITH BPMNATHANIEL PALMER, DIRECTOR, SOLUTION ARCHITECTURE, SERCOoday automation has become a priority for every industry, arguably as much as it once was for the manufacturing sector. Cost-cutters love it. Workers fear it. Yet, for most in the business process arena it has long been anathema—something which runs counter to the notion of continuous process improvement and improving knowledge workers’ work. For years the BPM sector has said, “We’re designed for high-value work, not straight-through processing” and other sentiments dismissive of the notation that automation TNathaniel Palmercould offer any lasting value. Indeed it is true that business automation systems (including both mechanical and software-based) for decades were designed and built in the same manner. Industrial engineers designed the ideal routes to move packages in the most efficient way possible, and indeed these pathways are fixed. The challenge with that model of automation is that rigidly following fixed pathways are not consistent with the way we work. Since it is not possible to fully script out in advance the sequence of steps and end-to-end processes without knowing the exact context of any given task we will be performing, we conclude this work is “un-automatable.” For this reason process automation to date has largely been limited to repetitive and relatively simplistic process areas. In contrast, process management, delivered via BPM platforms, has been applied to very nuanced and complex work. BPM involves more than system-to-systems, such as facilitating the sequencing of activities, managing the passing of state and control from one entity to another. Yet by leveraging complimentary capabilities, we can expand the range of what can be automated, driving both continuous improvement and efficiency gains. Delivering “intelligent” automation with BPM reflects not necessarily a category of software, but rather a design pattern for leveraging best of breed COTS components. At the foundation is a data layer. Not necessarily part of a BPM Suite, but where you would find the operational data store (ODS) and one or more systems of record (SoR). Above the data services layer are three logical layers, components which deliver the “brains” of intelligent automation. These might be part of pre-integrated suite, however, in the current state of the market there is great opportunity for assembling best-of-breed component (either commercially licensed of open source) consisting of BPM suite (BPMS) plus decision automation as well as robotic process automation (RPA.)
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