The process to your automation journey involves research, preparation, and most of all, communication. With all of these elements in place, the rewards you reap are immense (higher velocity, reduction in human error, and repeatable processes).
How you get started, determines your success. This is where we can assist you with this journey. Let our automation architects help guide you to success.
Step 1: Identify The Goal
The first step of your automation journey is to identify the processes in which you would like to automate. These processes will help define the goal we are trying to achieve. Whether that is starting with processes that are mundane and time consuming, or processes which are continually repeated. Whichever processes are chosen, they must align to business cases which have immediate returns.
Step 2: Evaluate Processes
The next step is to evaluate your current processes and find any gaps in the workflows. Gaps would include any issues or broken processes. The key here to remember is that automation cannot fix issues, or any broken processes. More so, automation will uncover them.
Risk mitigation will also fall within this process. The key is to identify any risks and understand how to mitigate them. Two key things to keep in mind here would be any security risks and service disruption.
Step 3: Preparation
Once all processes have been evaluated and any broken processes or risks have been identified. You are now ready to begin preparation to achieve your automation goals.
During this phase you will identify the following:
- Gaps in skillsets
- Staffing requirements
- Training requirements
- etc.
Step 4: Choose Solution(s)
Once the preparation phase has been completed. You are now ready to explore the options of tooling required to meet your goal(s). The tooling choices should meet the needs of the team(s) and the business. We have expertise in numerous types of tooling, but that does not mean that you need to use them. As a team, we will ensure that we explore the tooling options to make the best fit.
Additional training may be required to ensure that the team has the proper skills to get the job done.
Step 5: Execution
This last phase is where the plan put into place gets executed. Remember, we will not be automating everything in this phase. We will be starting with the small things that bring immediate return to the business. This phase will be where validation is put into place to ensure that our tooling and processes are sound and without issues. This phase allows us to fine tune any processes that may need attention.
Rinse and Repeat
Now that your first round of this whole process has been exercised. You will begin the process all over again with additional processes to automate. Each time getting more defined in your automation journey.