BPM Analytics

The Rise of Hyper Automation: Revolutionizing Business Process Management

The quest for greater efficiency and productivity and the need to deliver superior customer experiences led to a game-changing concept called hyper automation. It was Gartner who first coined this term in 2019. Since then, it has found its place among the top strategic technology trends yearly. Gartner had predicted that “By 2024, organisations will lower operational costs by 30 per cent by combining hyper automation technologies with redesigned operational processes.” Some early adopters are reaping the fruits of reduced costs, improved employee utilisation, better customer experiences, improved product safety and more.

Enterprises have always looked towards BPM to implement process automation efficiently. However, hyper automation takes BPM a few notches beyond the conventional approach of streamlining specific tasks. Advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) have made it possible to orchestrate and automate complex processes with unprecedented precision. This more holistic approach works on a framework comprising technologies, tools and platforms, making it possible to reimagine entire process workflows to make them more agile, accurate and cost-effective.

What is hyper automation?

Hyper automation is a strategic approach to automation that creates a framework for enterprise automation that helps quickly identify and automate tasks and processes beyond what was previously possible. It is a continuous and comprehensive approach that constantly works towards creating a cost-effective system to achieve high levels of operational efficiency. It helps scale automation. It helps businesses achieve accuracy, agility and competitiveness. Through the digital twin model defined by Gartner, enterprises can create virtual models of their organisational processes to analyse, identify, design, automate, measure and monitor tasks and processes for continuous improvement.

BPM and the hyper automation impact

If you examine hyper automation benefits, it is evident why it can be a game changer for BPM. BPM, as a discipline, aids organisations in refining their internal processes through techniques such as modelling, automation and optimisation. It provides visibility into inefficiencies and facilitates continuous improvement. However, traditional BPM sometimes struggles to address complex inefficiencies. Integrating RPA, BPM and AI/ML technologies enables hyper automation. AI-enabled bots analyse unstructured data, continuously learn from human interactions and make intelligent real-time decisions. Thus, BPM becomes a complementary technology to hyper automation, enhancing efficiency, accuracy and agility.

Hyper automation optimises workflows to boost employee productivity and minimise errors. Over time, this results in more consistent and robust processes. It leads to optimised staffing and reduced automation costs. For example, using RPA for automated data entry can significantly improve accuracy and lower costs, allowing employees to focus on more strategic tasks.

Additionally, hyper automation enhances agility and fosters innovation in two key ways.

• Firstly, employees whose routine tasks are automated can utilise that time to innovate better.
• Secondly, it enables organisations to scale and accelerate the adoption of new technologies and processes, enhancing their agility and competitiveness. Concepts like digital twins and automated testing can reduce time to market and improve product quality and safety. This impact is highly noticeable in sectors like manufacturing, healthcare and aviation.

These intelligent systems also provide data-driven insights that offer a comprehensive view of enterprise operations, facilitating informed decision-making. For instance, consumer behaviour analytics deliver deep insights to help make better decisions about products and services, driving revenue growth. Collectively, these advancements lead to improved employee and customer satisfaction. It is evident that hyper automation significantly elevates BPM and its effectiveness in achieving its goals.

Hyper automation use cases across industries

Here are a few sample use cases across industries that drive home the impact of hyper automation.

Financial services

The financial industry has already made significant strides in customer experience through the entirely automated opening of accounts or insurance purchase options given to customers. A huge plus point for banks is that this upgrade helps them meet compliance needs and elevate their security. It helps them obtain crucial insights into suspicious behaviours and patterns to flag potential fraud.

But beyond all these, hyper automation helps financial institutions to predict stock movements and offer more accurate investment advice to their customers. It can also help them streamline their lending business by studying customer marketing analytics in real-time for improved accuracy and efficiency. In the insurance industry, hyper automation can speed up claims processing minus the lags and errors caused by humans and reduce fraud too. Intelligent bots can help them with customer service for faster turnarounds. In the long run, it helps enhance customer satisfaction and retention.

Healthcare

Hyper automation in healthcare translates to improved patient experiences, better outcomes, streamlined supply chains, more efficient diagnosis and hyper-personalised treatments. Making patient data available in real-time can revolutionise care, ensure compliance and lower costs by making healthcare accessible.

Retail

Hyper automation enables reimagining online shopping experiences by leveraging customer marketing analytics. From the operations perspective, it can elevate efficiency across functions such as inventory, supply chain, payment processing, order fulfilment, etc. It can also help stakeholders with pricing strategies by making complex price comparison analytics to stay ahead of the competition. Implementing hyper automation bots in customer service can help retailers filter calls to resolve simple queries faster and reduce escalations to human agents.

How can Infosys BPM help?

Infosys BPM’scustomer and marketing analytics services can help you harness insights from your customers’ digital journeys and social media interactions to devise astute marketing programs. We deliver cutting-edge Smart Analytics solutions that leverage AI/ML and hyper automation to transform your end-to-end marketing cycle.