The automation imperative

As many organizations move to build their automation capabilities, recent survey results suggest that certain best practices will differentiate successful efforts from others. Organizations in every region and industry are automating at least some business processes, yet only a slight majority have succeeded at meeting their targets, according to a new McKinsey Global Survey on the topic.1 1.The online survey was in the field from January 16 to January 26, 2018, and garnered responses from 1,303 participants representing a full range of regions, industries, company sizes, functional specialties, and tenures. Of these respondents, 764 work at organizations that have piloted the automation of, or that have fully automated, business processes in at least one function or business unit. To adjust for differences in response rates, the data are weighted by the contribution of each respondent's nation to global GDP. As advances in artificial intelligence, software robotics, machine learning, and innovative technology platforms enable businesses to redefine processes, workplace automation is expected to provide a significant opportunity for improvements in performance and efficiency.2