All Tech Projects are Hyperautomation Initiatives
By Marni Carmichael on June 13, 2023
I recently attended an event for State Agency CIOs where top government technology executives shared their short and long-term priorities. Many are struggling with aging legacy systems (COBOL/mainframes), unstable staffing, and how to prioritize infrastructure spending in support of their agency’s mission. With buying cycles much slower than in the private sector, some CIOs acknowledged lagging almost 10 years behind current technology.
I initially thought about how to apply the historical expertise we have here at ImageSource: converting paper to usable data. After discussions with my co-workers, focusing on our past strengths feels like a short-sighted response to present requirements. Many foundational elements of content management and workflow are also the foundation of cutting-edge technology trends like Hyperautomation and Digital Experience Platforms (DXP). When we align with those big-picture strategies, we can help agencies not just catch up but also prepare for future process innovation.
Technology projects need a guiding strategy before leaders can decide what to do or what solutions to buy. Are you clear on why your agency should automate a process? What business problems are forcing a change in the way you currently do things? Are you confident your chosen solution will enable you to meet compliance standards? What are the measurable, required outcomes?
After defining the reasoning behind a project, connect with a tested-and-proven solution provider collaborator. Is there someone in your professional network who has successfully accomplished the strategy you’re considering? Do you have a trusted partner to start building a vision and a plan with?
Let’s use the content management process as an example. An agency leader has found an unaddressed paper problem. It’s relatively easy to scan and archive backlogged files, but moving paper documents into virtual storage doesn’t address the above questions. If you don’t change the source business process that generates the paper documents, a storage solution becomes just another form of procrastination. Meanwhile, the next best technology innovation is in the news or on your iPhone, and you’re likely being asked what your department’s ChatGPT policy is.
The essence of Hyperautomation is to automate everything, everywhere. At its core, DXP is all about enabling intuitive experiences. Together, these models are excellent guideposts for all technology projects – whether foundational or cutting-edge. To begin a technology initiative, start with inventorying your “everything” and identifying all the steps that fall under the scope of your problematic business processes.
This will involve rounds of observation-based research. Watch users and customers go through the processes that are creating manual work or literal paper trails. Document the steps, ask them to confirm, and watch others repeat the same tasks. Ask your newest employees to go through a customer-facing process and ask colleagues outside your organization to interact with your services as a customer. At the end of this process, we recommend ranking the steps according to their direct impact on funding, compliance, information security, and staffing. When the research feels accurate, a trusted partner can match you with fitting solution technology, implementation, and execution.
The good news is that even though many organizations find themselves several versions behind current technology, it has never been more painless to catch up. Simply put, Hyperautomation and DXP approaches advocate for composable tools. Instead of requiring an entirely new tech stack, these frameworks lean on modular solutions that easily integrate with each other and the line-of-business software or platforms you already have. RIP, rip-and-replace – hello, progressive evolution.
ImageSource offers tools like our Project Priority Checklist and trademarked ECMecosystem methodology to plot the course between your organization’s foundational needs and your hype-cycle technology goals. Our customer partnerships are built on sharing decades of experience innovating processes from document digitization to AI/ML solutions. Let’s collaborate.