The future of Enterprise Automation: Workato Automate Sydney

What is Automate?

Automate is the Enterprise Automation conference hosted by Workato. It showcases Workato’s specific upcoming and recent product news, Workato’s customer testimonials and their partnerships. It sets the stage for the automation landscape, it provides insights about the future of integrations and it helps to define the ecosystem’s best practices.

In a software world that is constantly evolving, staying ahead is not just a choice, it is a necessity. Automate is the gateway to understanding why adapting and evolving the automation strategy is crucial for your business to stay competitive.

First impressions

• The launch of the book “The New Automation Mindset: The Leadership Blueprint for the Era of AI-for-All” is a great way to build thought leadership, be ambassadors of a wholistic and strategic approach to automation versus a reactive and tactical approach, and a helpful tool to build momentum for change
• We felt that Workato is going to be a more broad Business Process Automation and Workflow Management player, with the addition of their newest tools Workflow Apps and Table Storage, enhanced approval processes and workflow participants
• LLM (Large Language Models) and Generative AI are front and center. Most conversations and most automation and integration discussions touch on the topic
• Chatbots, chatbots everywhere

Workato Workflow Apps

What we learned

• Companies focus on cost savings, service improvement, and customer retention, with new logo acquisition taking a back seat

  • Why? Possibly due to new customer’s acquisition getting harder and even more expensive than retaining existing customers, and possibly due to previous investments already completed in the field
• Integrations are democratising, and embracing this change is vital for staying competitive
• Generative AI, while powerful, needs manual checks. It is wise to use it just as a co-pilot, instead of an auto-pilot
• McKinsey estimates that Gen AI will improve productivity with up to 4.4 trillion dollars yearly!

Gartner - CEO Strategic Business Priorities 2023-2024

What was exciting

• Gaining insights from industry experts, with great panel conversations about the future of automation
• Hearing exciting customers success stories about transformed and future-proofed businesses through automation
• Meeting in person with the renowned industry expert Massimo Pezzini, fellow Italian, Head of Research at Workato, previously Gartner’s Vice President, specialized in application architecture, integration and middleware software
• Networking opportunities with likeminded individuals

Panel: The New Automation Mindset
Massimo Pezzini, Peter Witt, Alex Milliner, Navdeep Kundra, Brad Howarth

Takeaways

• Integrations and automation need to be a strategic and transformational ongoing program

  • Businesses need to avoid executing faster suboptimal processes
  • It is a shift from a task mindset which does not transform a business and provides scattered progress

• Not everything has a tangible ROI dollar figure. Some improvements, increase in business velocity and future-proofing cannot easily be measured and are essential for the business

  • Translate tangible problems to solutions with real use-cases
  • Concentrate on an initial anchor use-case, and add other quick wins that maintain momentum

• Dedication, hard work, a comprehensive business case with supporters and executive buy-in across the whole business, together with extensive POCs and with detailed metrics of the expected returns, can make an IT enterprise automation and integration project extremely successful as shown by Martin Rubens from The APP Group.

  • Martin mentioned an important fact that resonated with me: you can gain ROI not only from automating a low number of high volume business processes (typical automation use-cases) but also from a high number of low volume business processes. Martin showcases that a strong business case must be built from within the organization and it must have continuous executive sponsorship across the board

• Non-technical people can showcase value from an automation platform

  • Skilled people that can help automate a business are scarce, and can be a bottleneck. There is a burning need to fill the gap to improve business velocity
  • I particularly liked the panel session with Alex Milliner from the finance department at SafetyCulture where she showcased how she (admittedly not technical) personally drove her company forward through automation. It can be harder and daunting at first, it can take some time, through mistakes and learnings, but once you get going you see only potential. As different departments of the organization see the gained value, they will jump on board and be part of the automation movement

• Thanks to today’s tools, the automation itself is the simplest aspect of this business transformation

• Massimo Pezzini is a legend in the automation space, read his co-authored book (“The New Automation Mindset”) and follow his videos. He definitely knows a thing or two that we can all learn from

Business case slides

Martin Rubens from The App Group put together great slides that can be used as an example to help people create their own automation and integration business case.

Building An Automation Business Case - What Worked for The App Group

Identifying The Right Use Cases - What Worked for The App Group

The Anchor Use Case - What Worked for The App Group

Scenario Before Automation and Integrations - The App Group

Last words

Meeting industry experts and hearing success stories from businesses that embraced automation underscored the significance of a proactive automation mindset. As demonstrated by Martin Rubens from The APP Group, successful enterprise automation is not just about numbers; it is about dedication, hard work, and building a comprehensive business case that resonates across the organization. The automation component is just a small part of the process.

Automation is no longer just a technical endeavour; it is a movement that transcends departments and expertise levels. It empowers businesses to adapt, innovate, and future-proof themselves in an ever-changing digital landscape. When will your automation journey begin?

Reach out to Naonis

Feel free to connect with us if you want to talk about iPaaS, business process automation and integrations!