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Pace the AI & Automation Race

When it comes to AI & Automation, the winner of the race isn’t winning what you think they are.

Two runners competing on a track near the marathon finish line with spectators in the background

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t rush boiling the chicken.

Why Do AI & Automation Projects Fail?

By now you’ve likely seen the statistic that 80% of Automations implemented fail to deliver expected value.  But the 20% of automations that ARE seeing value today are considered to be “operationally transformative” – they move faster, makes fewer mistakes, serve clients better, and free their people to do the work only humans should be doing.  This is the good stuff, and these results are undeniably worth pursuing.

A consistent pattern appears across these wins, and you may be surprised to learn that flashy, experimental, people replacing solutions AREN’T the key to success.  Removing the invisible administrative weight that slows the organization down every single day, IS.

So why are 80% of attempts failing to succeed?  It boils down to three recurring problems: the wrong problem gets automated, the solution doesn’t make sense, or the end user doesn’t use what was created.  Here are some concise, actionable insights into the root causes of these recurring automation failures, along with what organizations should do differently to ensure their automation efforts deliver real value:

Wrong Problem Automated

Common Automation Mistakes

  • Selecting an easy win. Easy often doesn’t lead to impactful, and lack of impact leads to lack of adoption.
  • Position Elimination or Cost Savings as Driving Goal. Setting goals that are more around tangible savings than business value can lead to short-sighted solutions with short-term impact.

Try this Instead

  • Automate non-differentiating tedious work. What’s right for your peers is not automatically what’s right for you. Hold dear to your uniquely human processes that set you apart from your competition. Where Automation could assist you in performing those processes better, faster, or with a more competitive edge, consider adopting proven AI capabilities first (think chatbots and agents with human-in-the-loop, before fully automated digital co-workers). Letting others try experimental tech first allows you to learn from the 80% failure rate they experience while avoiding a lot of that risk internally.
  • Don’t trust your gut. Continuously challenge your assumptions. Time-consuming work does not automatically make it valuable to automate. Invite others to the table to consider and challenge the value and risks from end-to-end: how would the automation benefit your customers, your employees, your bottom line? Well-rounded goals help generate broad excitement for change.

Confusing Technical Solution

Common Automation Mistakes

  • Automate existing manual workflows… exactly. Focusing on the current state “how” over the “why” often leads to a solution that saves minutes, but doesn’t scale.
  • Disregarding user workflow. Great tech with a poor user experience or illogical workflow will lose every time.

Try this Instead

  • Outcome, outcome, outcome. Frame solution ideation sessions around how the desired outcome is reached.  By asking users to speak in terms of “why” they do each part of their process before asking “how,” you’ll more easily be able to identify which parts of the current process are essential and which may just be an interim step that can be bypassed with automation. 
  • Build excitement amongst end users.  Ensure future end users and other impacted groups are aware of the “what” and “why” for the change, and create space for discussion of any process changes.  Hosting Q&A sessions and current vs. future state workflow mapping exercises can be great ways to calm fears and build trust, combatting future adoption resistance.  End users will feel included and empowered, and the solution team is enabled with critical early feedback while they design and build – giving the solution and user adoption the best chances to succeed.  

Lack of User Adoption

Common Automation Mistakes

  • Underestimation of end user fears.  Don’t assume end users will be as excited as you are about this – the human unease about being replaced by technology is very real.
  • Treating Availability in Production as “Done.”  Expect full adoption and value out of the automation on Day 1…especially if that’s the first time end users are experiencing the automation.

Try this Instead

  • Rapidly fill freed capacity with meaningful work. Not only does this tangibly show impacted users that they continue to be essential, but it also results in realizing the intended impact to your strategic company objectives.  Reallocation of meaningful work often does not occur quickly enough, and without a plan, freed capacity will generally be consumed by low‑value activities.
  • Maintain forward momentum.  Use the insights end users provided in prior phases, and the excitement you’ve worked to generate to naturally transition users to adoption of the solution.  Be ready to support users with your availability, documented procedures, and detailed rollout and communication plans (and have your own plan to ensure timely and meaningful solution scaling and refinement).

These aren’t just tips for slightly better odds at success, it’s a recipe.  And just as if we were cooking, my advice to those implementing strategic Automation for the first time is to follow the recipe.  Sure, you could choose to shortcut the prep by automating whatever your peers are doing; you can increase the heat to reduce the cooking time by focusing more on short-sighted objectives than the targeted outcome;  you can start eating while the cheese is still molten by implementing the solution broadly without ensuring readiness for user adoption…but you might just end up with a dish of bland undercooked chicken, and a shelved Automation solution.   

The decisions you make pre, during, and post-deployment all impact outcomes.  It’s always worth the time it takes to make sure that the selected problem is right for YOUR organization, YOUR workflows, and YOUR users.   

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Rise & Refine exists to help small and mid-size enterprises and non-profits learn and apply these best practices rapidly.  I’ve been in the trenches learning what Automation can do well, how to ensure end users adopt a solution, and provide quantifiable ROI to leadership.  Rise & Refine is here to help, whether it’s implementing a solution or enabling your employees to build their own automations.  We won’t offer a blanket approach of “what works for your peers,” but rather a methodical process ensuring we start with the right problem and end with an adopted solution that is right and works for YOU.

Let’s Chat!  Contact me at: mvick@rise-refine.com

Refine with Precision.  Rise with Confidence.