Hyperautomation in Business Technology

In this special guest blog, Bill Mariani, SVP of Alliances & Channels at Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax) explains and explores hyperautomation and the effects it has on businesses today. What exactly is Hyperautomation? What are the benefits and challenges? Is it right for your company? All these questions are answered here!

Solving emergent business challenges and accelerating the pace of operations are core focus areas for many companies. It takes excellent planning, committed execution and the right tools to succeed today. The global, always-on economy, with its interconnected supply chains, multiple lines of communication and complex structure, demands new approaches.Automation technologies have developed to address those needs, but the future requires going further: hyperautomation is already transforming industries today.

What is Hyperautomation?

By the simplest explanation, hyperautomation is the intersection and unification of multiple automation technologies to achieve outcomes beyond what’s possible with the individual parts. In practice, there is more to the concept. Here, we’ll explore the conditions that created the possibilities present in hyperautomation and break down what it involves. First, we must consider how this concept stands apart from the usual ideas of business automation.

Defining Traditional Automation

Traditional automation in digital spaces often focuses on task-specific goals. Consider typical usages for robotic process automation (RPA) for a good example. RPA applications tend to cluster around the automation of highly repetitive tasks, especially those that follow the same rules or steps without variation. The scope of traditional automation narrows to focus on background tasks and support services.

Traditional automation doesn’t consist only of solutions such as Tungsten RPA but also includes other technologies. However, the central point is that these solutions operate largely independently from one another. Companies have often taken a piecemeal approach to automation, applying various technologies in different departments to improve low-level tasks.

However, business outcomes can only improve so much from incremental automation. That’s where the emergence of hyperautomation capabilities becomes a game-changer.

What Makes Hyperautomation Different?

Where traditional automation applies one tool to solve one problem, hyperautomation encompasses a broader approach that combines multiple technologies. Ultimately, the goal is to provide frameworks for upscaling automation to a point where it can impact entire business processes. Hyperautomation uses this intersection and intermingling of technologies to create opportunities for automating as much as possible across an entire company.

A hyperautomation strategy uses solutions that can replicate intelligent, human-like interactions. It combines fundamental tools such as RPA with superior capabilities based on advanced machine learning models and artificial intelligence tools. Continuing advances in AI mean new doors opening consistently, expanding the reach and impact of hyperautomation everywhere, from accounts payable operations to supply chain management and customer service.

Essential Elements for Successful Hyperautomation

If hyperautomation is the directed and strategic use of multiple tools to achieve broader process improvements, what tools factor into the equation? One must see how disparate automation technologies can unite to achieve better outcomes to understand holistically what this approach can achieve. Some of the core technologies and solutions that make up a hyperautomation environment include:

• Process Discovery: Intelligent solutions can understand business workflows and derive potential pathways for automation, revealing opportunities that may otherwise remain unseen.
• Robotic Process Automation: RPA facilitates background work and delivers meaningful connections or data resources for higher-level automation solutions.
• Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence: Both ML and AI are used for process automation, intelligent document processing, data extraction, classification, and more.
• Analytics: Evaluate processes and automation efficiency and accurately gather additional insights.

Within each of these categories are more variations and applications for every technology. Hyperautomation emerges from successfully orchestrating these tools into combined workflows that reduce the need for human intervention without increasing risk.

Advantages of Hyperautomation

The potential of hyperautomation is readily apparent. Traditional automation provides some convenience while reducing error rates and improving data quality. With a hyperautomation environment, you can expand those benefits by several magnitudes to effect positive change across a business.

What are some of the specific benefits for your organization?

• Expand the impact of automation investments to enhance ROIs while reducing manual work.
• Bring automation to bear on processes that require more intelligent workflows rather than strictly rules-based automation.
• Reduce operational costs by eliminating inefficiencies and accelerating processes. Stop errors that lead to repetitive work and expensive, time-consuming correction workflows.
• Identify areas for improvement through better data gathering, improved analytics, and AI copilots.
• Redirect valuable human workers to more useful tasks or equip teams with extended abilities to improve daily work output.
• Make your operations more agile and resilient with the capacity to respond to needs at scale.

Accessing the Challenges 

All automation projects come with some risk. Success is never guaranteed, but proper planning and setting expectations make all the difference. Hyperautomation has the potential to transform a business in many positive ways; it could even lead to changes that increase profitability. However, there are some challenges to navigate along the way.

Some difficulties may be:

• Low-quality access to data and poor process visibility necessitate deeper analysis and a longer turnaround time.
• Additional technical expertise or experience within the business itself is needed.
• Uncertainty over the correct approach for a given process or challenges in selecting software solutions and service providers.
• Highly complex processes that require cross-department coordination to engineer success.

While there are challenges, the right platforms and partnerships can make the difference as you pursue the positive outcomes of successful hyperautomation.

Stepping into the Future of Business Technology

Organizations across diverse industries have explored and invested in automation for years already. With the growing maturation of AI technologies and new capabilities, the emergence of hyperautomation has been a rapid process. With a market value predicted to proliferate over the next decade, it’s clear that many see the potential in this approach to automation technology.

Through Tungsten Automation and its network of dedicated professional partners, organizations interested in focusing on hyper-automation have a valuable asset. It’s possible to begin a new digital transformation today with platforms designed to unify workflows and connect AI and RPA. Find out more about what’s possible and connect with our team to discuss the potential for hyperautomation in your organization.

For all your Tungsten Automation questions and support, contact the experts at Genus!

About the Author
Genus guest blogger Bill Mariani is the Senior Vice President of Alliances & Channels at Tungsten Automation (formerly Kofax), where he leads his team, focusing on Strategic Alliances, Technology Partnerships, and e-commerce. With over 15 years of experience in cloud-based platforms, Bill previously played a pivotal role in developing the AppExchange ecosystem at Salesforce into a leading B2B SaaS marketplace. His expertise spans business development, partner program strategy, and ecosystem growth, with a commitment to empowering partners and customers to build innovative solutions that enhance the Tungsten platform and deliver industry-specific value. Connect with Bill on LinkedIn.

There's more to learn ~ Subscribe to Genus Blogs!