New report reveals massive benefits of enterprise automation

A new report from ServiceNow has indicated that adding machines to everyday work drives revenue growth, creates new job opportunities and connects employees back to the work they want to do.

The majority of organisations have already introduced advanced automation in their workplace, with more than half of executives surveyed saying they'll require it more broadly by 2018 to cope with rising work volumes.

The company surveyed more than 1,850 corporate leaders from seven countries to delve into in the workload of organizational leaders, the impact and use of automation in common business services and executives' opinions on the future of work, in addition to the relationship between organizational automation levels and financial performance.

ServiceNow vice president and general manager of Asia Pacific and Japan, Jimmy Fitzgerald says the results are enlightening as there is no doubt we are entering a new era of automation.

In a world of smarter homes, cars and commerce, the workplace is set to experience the shift to greater automation," says Fitzgerald.

"The future of intelligent automation is an opportunity to free employees from mundane and repetitive activities – allowing employees to unleash their creativity, letting them build stronger and more productive working relationships.

Fitzgerald asserts there are a number of benefits when companies embrace automation (including economic) and this is something they can't ignore. Furthermore, despite popular belief, automation will actually create more meaning jobs, which means companies will then need to develop and evolve their teams' skills to help them thrive in an automated world.

"Employees we have surveyed feel like they are working an extra day a week," says Fitzgerald.

"By introducing intelligent automation into the workplace, employees will be freed up to focus on their passions and deliver creative and innovative work.

Some of the highlights of the report (focusing on Singapore to be more specific to Asia Pacific) include:

• By 2018, nearly half of companies say they will need greater automation to handle the volume of tasks being generated and nearly 9 out of 10 companies will hit that breaking point by 2020
• 97 percent agree intelligent automation can increase productivity
• More than half have begun using intelligent automation and 90 percent plan to investigate or use it moving forward
• Highly automated companies are 6x more likely to experience revenue growth of more than 15 percent versus companies with low automation
• Overall only 39 percent of business processes are automated, and business leaders suffer, spending two full days or 16 hours a week on manual administrative tasks
• Purchase order requisitions is the best (51%) at business process efficiency, while Human Resources (HR) Requesting contract review and approval from legal is the worst (15%) is the worst - while IT was named the department "most in need of a reboot
• 84 percent of execs believe automation could lead to job creation
• 90 percent of executives say their skilled employees spend too much time on admin tasks
• 95 percent believe that reducing mundane tasks unleashes employee creativity
• The top three obstacles to automation include committing the resources (budget and personnel) required, too much time required to implement automation, concerns about eliminating jobs