Automation of processes

Automation of processes

Volumes of information have substantially increased over the past years and the speed of processing data which is required to successfully operate of the business has increased even more. Many corporations are searching for the efficient ways of increasing productivity through speeding up processes. With rapid advancement in technology, many processes have been standardized and automized, for example, internet banking, accounting, supply chain. Artificial intelligence has also been rapidly developing, however the level of AI today is not very high yet. Experts predict that AI will continue developing for the next 50 years.

Many processes in organizations remain unchanged in their function, but globalization has made those processes more complex as many of them had to be performed at different locations and thus have to be adopted to local conditions. All this led to involvement of computers and automation of standardized tasks to speed up the process, to make it more precise and to cut overall costs.

With further development of technologies, standardization and automation of processes are going to be further implemented into various spheres of our life and consulting, in particular.

Having said that, many of the consulting projects are unique and customized and thus require human thinking as well as close interaction with the customer in order to add substantial value. Nevertheless, projects that are technical and straight forward enough to be standardized, such as audit, contract verification, project management are expected to become automated in future.

Enablers:

1. Development of ICT, web 2.0
2. Globalization of companies
3. Advancement in Technology
4. Development of Artificial Intelligence

Inhibitors:

1. Growing complexity of issues
2. Long-term customer relationships
3. Customized solutions needed for distinctive problems - difficult to standardize

Paradigms:

Parading "Consulting as a unique service provided by humans" can be challenged by sophisticated computer machines and smart software developed, which can handle many tasks and process large volume of information.
In general terms, automation has been decreasing the need for human work in the last years. Many of the professions have been eroded due to development of automation.

Timeline:

1972: Forms
1980: AL3
1990: EDI Implementation
1995: ObjX
1996: OLifE
1999: XML

Experts:

Development of Artificial Intelligence: Michou Kaku [[1]]
CBPA [[2]]
ISA (International Society of Automation)

Web Resources:

1. Standardization [[3]]
2. Worldwide Audit Automation [[4]]
3. Business Process Automation[[5]]
4. What is automation [[6]]
5. Short history of Automation growth [[7]]