You wouldn't want to drive a car without a dashboard. You would be moving but wouldn't have insight into your speed, fuel levels, or looming engine troubles. Similarly, for businesses today that use multiple Intelligent Automation solutions built upon separate Intelligent Document Processing (IDP), Enterprise Content Management (ECM), RPA (robotic process automation) and Content Services Platform (CSP) components, a dashboard that consolidates data from all these applications and systems into a single view is critical to optimizing performance and avoiding dangers, such as security threats.
Since intelligent automation systems are virtually standard for organizations today — some companies use seven or more — unified observability of these systems and their oversight is critical for preventing problems that could arise when they become fragmented.
Fragmentation
For businesses, managing enterprise content effectively is a critical competitive differentiator. Organizations often choose to operate multiple intelligent automation systems to meet diverse departmental needs. However, this design usually leads to silos, inefficiencies and compliance risks. A recent Association for Intelligent Information Management (AIIM) study found that businesses today average five content services platforms. When fragmented, these systems create an environment called "content sprawl," which causes problems with security and workflow.
Inconsistent governance methodologies due to fragmented data make collaboration and organizational alignment difficult. Organizations often turn to RPA to address these challenges. However, RPA “bots” must address the fragmentation issue, a.k.a. the lack of centralized oversight to ensure a unified view necessary for compliance efforts and to identify insider threats and data breaches.
All these difficulties can be evidenced most clearly when operational inefficiencies begin to take their toll. Managing multiple intelligent automation systems requires significant implementation, support and maintenance resources. The result is that operational costs increase, and the user experience becomes frustrating — as productivity slows and informed process decisions seem elusive. All these issues point to a critical need for streamlined, unified intelligent automation systems that will reduce complexity and allow for more effective content management.
Unification
Unifying intelligent automation systems enables organizations to harness their content assets strategically. Forty-six percent of respondents to IDC research indicated that improving operational efficiencies is the top business objective for content services investments. When applying unification, the following aspects are critical: visibility, centralization, streamlining and analytics.
● A comprehensive dashboard that consolidates data from all intelligent automation systems into a single view is the visibility needed to avoid crippling issues. A dashboard gives IT teams real-time insight into performance, user activity and potential risks. The result is effective management of content across the enterprise.
● Centralized monitoring of intelligent automation systems enhances security and compliance by strengthening the necessary protocols, detecting potential threats and enforcing consistent compliance measures. Centralizing observability minimizes vulnerabilities and ensures adherence to industry regulations.
● Improved operational efficiency is attained as streamlining intelligent automation management results in a reduction of administrative overhead. This reduction allows teams to focus on higher-value tasks. Streamlining with centralized workflows improves collaboration and productivity.
● Robust analytics provide actionable insights into content usage, which allows data-driven decision-making. These insights can optimize intelligent automation performance, manage licensing efficiently and reduce costs through improved resource allocation.
Risks
Organizations need unified intelligent automation systems to avoid costly inefficiencies, missed compliance targets and potential security breaches. Insider threats, irregular document access and mismanagement of regulated content further compound these risks. Bringing these systems under a singular vantage point allows organizations to operate efficiently, meet business goals and safeguard against cybersecurity threats. By unifying the systems, organizations get streamlined content processes, reduced overhead and greatly enhanced end-user experiences.
Looking Ahead
The consolidated dashboard allows organizations to leverage all their content assets with a streamlined process and end users to access documents promptly — regardless of where the information is located.
Content volume will increase exponentially, and the need for timely access to this information will only increase. According to Statista, the total amount of data created, captured, copied and consumed globally is forecast to expand rapidly, reaching 64.2 zettabytes in 2020. Over the next few years, global data creation will grow to more than 180 zettabytes. More than 80% will be unstructured data.
If these documents are locked in silos, distributed across multiple locations, roadblocks will be created, end-user frustration will ensue and productivity will wane. Unification and full visibility will ensure efficient content management. Without that full consolidation, stress loads and security threats can increase, eventually leading to the dreaded crash.
Every organization wants and needs faster, more secure access to critical information. Unifying your intelligent automation systems will help avoid content frustrations, inefficiencies and security gaps. So, unlock the full potential of your intelligent automation systems to drive operational excellence and position yourself for long-term success.
Brian DeWyer is CTO and Co-Founder of Reveille Software. With more than 25 years of experience in technology, Brian DeWyer provides product strategy and technical leadership in his role as Reveille CTO and board member. Brian leverages his extensive knowledge from his tenure as a senior IT leader at a large FSI and previous role as a process consulting practice leader for IBM Services delivering on-premises and cloud-based solution implementations for Fortune 1000 commercial and government clients. He has led process change efforts within large organizations, building on content-driven solutions for high-volume transaction processing applications. He is a past board member of the Association of Image and Information Management (AIIM) industry association. Brian graduated from Virginia Tech with a BSME and holds an MBA from Wake Forest University.
