The future of Enterprise Automation: Workato Automate Sydney

What is Automate?

Automate is the Enterprise Automation conference hosted by Workato. It showcases Workato’s specific upcoming and recent product news, Workato’s customer testimonials and their partnerships. It sets the stage for the automation landscape, it provides insights about the future of integrations and it helps to define the ecosystem’s best practices.

In a software world that is constantly evolving, staying ahead is not just a choice, it is a necessity. Automate is the gateway to understanding why adapting and evolving the automation strategy is crucial for your business to stay competitive.

First impressions

The launch of the book “The New Automation Mindset: The Leadership Blueprint for the Era of AI-for-All” is a great way to build thought leadership, be ambassadors of a wholistic and strategic approach to automation versus a reactive and tactical approach, and a helpful tool to build momentum for change
We felt that Workato is going to be a more broad Process Automation and Workflow Management player, with the addition of their newest tools Workflow Apps and Table Storage, enhanced approval processes and workflow participants
LLM (Large Language Models) and Generative AI are front and center. Most conversations and most automation and integration discussions touch on the topic
Chatbots, chatbots everywhere

What we learned

Companies focus on cost savings, service improvement, and customer retention, with new logo acquisition taking a back seat
- Why? Possibly due to new customer’s acquisition getting harder and even more expensive than retaining existing customers, and possibly due to previous investments already completed in the field
Integrations are democratising, and embracing this change is vital for staying competitive
Generative AI, while powerful, needs manual checks. It is wise to use it just as a co-pilot, instead of an auto-pilot
McKinsey estimates that Gen AI will improve productivity with up to 4.4 trillion dollars yearly!

What was exciting

Gaining insights from industry experts, with great panel conversations about the future of automation
Hearing exciting customers success stories about transformed and future-proofed businesses through automation
Meeting in person with the renowned industry expert Massimo Pezzini, fellow Italian, Head of Research at Workato, previously Gartner’s Vice President, specialized in application architecture, integration and middleware software
Networking opportunities with likeminded individuals

Takeaways

Integrations and automation need to be a strategic and transformational ongoing program
- Businesses need to avoid executing faster suboptimal processes
- It is a shift from a task mindset which does not transform a business and provides scattered progress
Not everything has a tangible ROI dollar figure. Some improvements, increase in business velocity and future-proofing cannot easily be measured and are essential for the business
- Translate tangible problems to solutions with real use-cases
- Concentrate on an initial anchor use-case, and add other quick wins that maintain momentum
Dedication, hard work, a comprehensive business case with supporters and executive buy-in across the whole business, together with extensive POCs and with detailed metrics of the expected returns, can make an IT enterprise automation and integration project extremely successful as shown by Martin Rubens from The APP Group.
- Martin mentioned an important fact that resonated with me: you can gain ROI not only from automating a low number of high volume business processes (typical automation use-cases) but also from a high number of low volume business processes. Martin showcases that a strong business case must be built from within the organization and it must have continuous executive sponsorship across the board
Non-technical people can showcase value from an automation platform
- Skilled people that can help automate a business are scarce, and can be a bottleneck. There is a burning need to fill the gap to improve business velocity
- I particularly liked the panel session with Alex Milliner from the finance department at SafetyCulture where she showcased how she (admittedly not technical) personally drove her company forward through automation. It can be harder and daunting at first, it can take some time, through mistakes and learnings, but once you get going you see only potential. As different departments of the organization see the gained value, they will jump on board and be part of the automation movement
Thanks to today’s tools, the automation itself is the simplest aspect of this business transformation
Massimo Pezzini is a legend in the automation space, read his co-authored book (“The New Automation Mindset”) and follow his videos. He definitely knows a thing or two that we can all learn from

Business case slides

Martin Rubens from The App Group put together great slides that can be used as an example to help people create their own automation and integration business case.

Last words

Meeting industry experts and hearing success stories from businesses that embraced automation underscored the significance of a proactive automation mindset. As demonstrated by Martin Rubens from The APP Group, successful enterprise automation is not just about numbers; it is about dedication, hard work, and building a comprehensive business case that resonates across the organization. The automation component is just a small part of the process.

Automation is no longer just a technical endeavour; it is a movement that transcends departments and expertise levels. It empowers businesses to adapt, innovate, and future-proof themselves in an ever-changing digital landscape. When will your automation journey begin?

Reach out to Naonis

Feel free to connect with us if you want to talk about iPaaS, business automation and integrations!