Powering up after the pandemic has hardly been easy, especially because of the disruption in the economy and consumer models. Last year when Heathrow airport was struggling to deliver adequate customer service, its hyperaugmented workforce proved to be a turning point. In eight months, the management was able to cut down data entry hours by more than 1,170 and saved nearly £1,980 in outsourcing costs. All of this was done by hyperaugmentation of its processes by training the staff to identify digitisation opportunities, prevent duplication and minimise manual work, shows a Gartner case study. The growth path of hyperautomation, which was estimated $481.6bn in 2020 has already reached $596.6 in the second half of 2022.

While extra hands to ease the process are always welcome, it is becoming a necessity to make to forge a partnership between human and technological resources. Researchers anticipate that by 2028 remote workers will make up more than 70% of all departments. With this new normal in mind, an augmented workforce backed by hyperautomation is an obvious step towards smart and efficient use of resources.

Why the need to transition?

A study shows that automation technologies can augment nearly 50% of productive tasks with astute business sense and faster tools. A step up from RPA, hyperautomation encompasses advanced technologies such as AI, machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and optical character recognition (OCR). Here are a few requirements that make companies opt for hyperautomation:

· Traditional processes that are unable to keep up with market needs and competition

· Lack of resources and lag in processing

· Need to cut costs by automating tasks that bog down human resources

· To ensure consistently higher production quality without any gaps due to human error

· Need to meet regulatory compliances

Benefits of hyperautomation

The talent of humans and the futuristic capabilities of AI bring to the table the best of both worlds, which companies need to scale up in the most efficient way. Hyperautomation gives business leaders the edge proving them with market insights at their fingertips and a more satisfied and efficient workforce.

1. Decisive management

It helps decipher nearly 80% of unstructured data or customer feedback in the form of images, pdfs and responses in a matter of minutes. The insights help in working out areas of improvement and how to enrich customer experience. In a Gartner survey, 61% respondents said businesses choose data with a certain outcome in mind. This practice can leave out crucial insights hidden in numbers. Through hyperautomation a company managed to get a comprehensive travel expense report in less than 4 hours helping its business leaders to take into account all the data sets before deciding on the next course of action.

2. More efficient collaboration

Breaks down silos and brings together different departments. Doing away with protocols and subsequent time lags, encouraging working in tandem to deliver the end product quickly. A Gartner study estimates that organisations will be able to cut costs by up to 30% by 2024 using hyperautomation.

3. Better employee engagement

As hyperautomation makes use of new-age technologies to smoothen manual work, it ensures greater employee satisfaction. Nearly 25% of employee time can be freed up using technology allowing resources to focus on core work areas that staff specialise in, shows a study by Bornet, Barkin and Wirtz.

4. Quicker processes

It increases flexibility and agility. With deeper insights and understanding of processes, the organisation can think faster and work on issues that slow processes. A McKinsey report showed that globally 31% of the time workers are engaged in manual tasks and that automatable activities make up more than $15 trillion in wages.

5. Higher return on investment

Efficient processes, productive employees, and happy customers are the perfect recipe to get higher ROI. Plugging loopholes in the system ensures a shift in approach that puts in place the disciplined system.

Preparing the ground

While technology holds no magic wand, a streamlining of data and processes has to be done, before getting onto the hyperautomation bandwagon. At the outset, it is important to identify the processes that can be hyperautomated. Unlike RPA which concentrates on one task, hyperautomation can take on multiple tasks and process even unstructured data, so the company must ensure that able leadership can supervise this end-to-end processing.

Getting onboard stakeholders, employees, and management for a new approach is mandatory and the door to feedback needs to be kept ajar as this technology is all about gaining flexibility and agility. There is nothing like having a realistic goal and taking baby steps towards it, digital transformation must be introduced into the system after detailed discussions and by setting small milestones as checks and balances.

Future forward

If companies want to thrive, the answer lies within it: A workforce that gets better with the seamless collaboration between various departments and with the aid of technology. A study shows that organisations have already introduced automation initiatives to ensure employees can be more productive with a focus on giving them a better work experience.

As 80% of organisations plan to adopt hyperautomation within the next two years, Gartner predicts that by 2025 more than 20% of products will be manufactured, packed, shipped, and delivered to consumers without being touched. This would define a shift in perspective in what labour entails, moving towards a more cerebral idea of work.