An automatic decision

Thomas S. Senger guides us through the advantages and pitfalls of implementing process automation technology.

Before making any decision to purchase a modern business process automation technology, customers should consider a number of key questions in order to avoid problems, which often lead to the unnecessary failure of projects. Even the most advanced technology can deliver disappointing results if its investment isn't based on clearly defined goals, doesn't fit into a company's given infrastructure or fails to sustain employee commitment. From a technical perspective, the management should consider the following factors:

Deployability: Is the new system easy to deploy, even to remote locations?
Does the new hardware and software follow industry standards to easily integrate into an existing system? Is the system flexible with regard to operational platforms, and can run on hardware and operating systems already familiar to the IT staff? If desired, can a development or test system be implemented to allow procedural validation prior to full implementation? In a geographically distributed system, is central administration available?

Compatibility and Stability: Is the system compatible with existing infrastructure and industry standards? It's important to consider, that any non-standard components would require additional IT resources for operation or maintenance. The potential capture system should adhere to industry standards to maximise reliability, ensure security, and simplify integration. If you are looking to expand or improve existing business processes, any new infrastructure must be resilient so as to ensure high availability for business users.

'Customisability': Can the new system be customised to meet specialised or changing business requirements? Business requirements are not static. Though a potential new system may offer a large variety of customisation aids, often individual requirements demand for a level of customisation beyond this offer. In this case, the new capture solution should comprise an extensive set of programming interfaces.

Scalability: Can the new system be easily scaled to meet business demands? When expanding a business, a scalable system that can meet future business needs is essential. The new system should easily allow one to expand hardware as well as any licensing requirements that impact production.

Maintainability: Is maintenance easy to perform using existing IT staff knowledge? It is not enough to deploy a compatible, stable, and scalable system. Any new solution must also be easy to maintain. The new solution should allow one to easily implement updates and upgrades while keeping the system at a high level of availability as well as easy troubleshooting and data backup options.

Security and user account management: Can IT staff members easily perform system security and control user accounts? Once deployed, system access control and user account management become important. Maintaining user accessibility and security must be simple and should follow standards. By following industry standards, IT staff can use known procedures to manage user accounts. Centralised user management should be considered.

Affordability: Is the new system affordable and can it provide a good return on investment? IT manager should look at implementation costs with regard to the benefits provided to the business. Often, elements such as excellent customer service, reduction in labour costs with regard to content capture and management, and IT staff effectiveness in dealing with industry standard systems must be considered.

The Human Factor: Remember to consider the human factor amongst these technical points. Without a full commitment (right from the start at the design stage) from the employees who have to deal with the new system on a daily base, the investment will fail. Besides spending on the technology itself, thought should be given to spending on training and education in order to unfold the full potential of the new solution.

Thomas S. Senger, SVP of Applications Software Sales EMEA at Kofax, oversees all customer-facing sales and services functions in alignment with the company's newly-introduced hybrid go-to-market model, which supports both direct customer engagements and indirect sales through channel and with alliances partners. He manages a team of 150 sales and service employees.