Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 20 | Page 18

TRENDING “Machines can take on the burden of busy work and free up employees to do the creative, innovative work they crave.” • “Employees feel they’re working a sixth day every week,” said Wright. “Machines can take on the burden of busy work and free up employees to do the creative, innovative work they crave.” Recommendations: Executives believe automation can create jobs despite employees’ fears of job losses To avoid hitting the breaking point, ServiceNow has these recommendations for executives. • 1) Identify business processes that need improving in HR, customer service, IT or other departments. • • More automation delivers financial growth and promises greater productivity Highly automated companies are 6x more likely to experience revenue growth of more than 15% versus companies with low automation. • For example, those companies with more than 20% revenue growth are 61% automated on average, whereas those with flat or negative growth are only 35% automated. “The financial payoff for automation is one companies can’t ignore,” said Wright. Specifically, only 37% of HR delivery of employee services are automated and 33% of resolving customer issues are, compared to IT services at 53% automated, leaving room for improvement across the board. 79% of execs believe automation could lead to job creation. 87% of execs say employees are worried that automation will eliminate jobs. The top three obstacles to automation adoption include: committing the resources (budget and personnel) required, employees’ resistance to change and concerns about eliminating jobs. 2) Map out the critical business services and automate the workloads with intelligent automation. 3) Work with teams to address concerns and provide reassurance for your roadmap. 4) Employ best practices around change management. • “Automation will bring new economic opportunities,” said Wright. “Companies need to develop and evolve their teams’ skills to help them thrive in an automated world.” Adding machines frees up employees to do the work they want to do – spurring creativity • • Less than half of business processes are automated; HR and Customer Service are the worst • • • 18 Overall only 42% of business processes are automated and business leaders suffer, spending two full days or 16 hours a week on manual administrative tasks. IT support is the best at business process efficiency, while Human Resources (HR) is the worst. HR was named the department ‘most in need of a reboot’. INTELLIGENTCIO 5) Develop and evolve the team’s skills to help them thrive in an automated world. ¡ • • Nearly half (48%) say that work levels have increased by 20% or more in the last year. 91% of executives say their skilled employees spend too much time on admin tasks. 93% believe that reducing mundane tasks unleashes employee creativity. 82% find it difficult to hire people with skills needed to grow their business. 94% say automation will increase demand for soft skills such as collaboration, creative problem solving and communication. Dave Wright, Chief Strategy Officer, ServiceNow www.intelligentcio.com