Industrial Automation Asia: Cognizant’s Executive Vice President for Business Process Services Says Organizations That Master Smart Robots Tethered to Smart Data will Outpace Rivals

“The interplay between smart hands, brains, robots, and data has begun. New research from Cognizant shows that many organizations are reaping the rewards of investments in enterprise ‘robots’, which automate knowledge processes and save money, while also improving accuracy and reliability,” says Gajen Kandiah. “Senior executives across industries agree that new software ‘robots’, leveraging attributes such as machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and effective use of big data, will unlock significant value within the next three to five years.” Excerpts from the interview:

“Respondents [to a Cognizant study] emphasized the ability of these advances to provide ‘money’ and ‘meaning’ for their businesses—faster processing with fewer errors, unlimited scalability, and lower cost of ownership, along with the ability to make more timely business decisions through automation-enabled analytics.

An ‘automation-for-automation’s-sake’ strategy fails to focus on the real prize—an explosion of rich process-level data. And the resulting impact on business operating models will be humans who work smarter, thanks to software that automates repetitive tasks and in turn, empowers smart people, who are still essential to the process. 

We call this ‘intelligent process automation’, and it drives new insights, value and outcomes for businesses. It is a new, complementary symbiosis for repetitive and rote process work. Organizations that can master smart robots tethered to smart data will outpace rivals who do not (or cannot).

The importance of process-level data and analytics for business insight and meaning-making is immense. It is a new era in business, one in which growth will be driven as much by insight and foresight as by physical products and assets. 

Digital value chains can reform processes that are smart and data-rich. Prompted by innovative competitors, a full digital re-think may be crucial to transforming core processes. By using next-generation Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) technologies, companies are completely re-imagining customer, supplier and partner interactions throughout the entire supply chain. 

By igniting the digital information surrounding these entities—also known as Code Halos—organizations can realize business process insights in far greater fidelity than has ever been possible before. By making processes digital from the outset, businesses can capture information about the movements of people, goods, information and services through space and time, shrinking customer decision times.

When it comes to safety and productivity in the manufacturing sector, leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT) data and network provide interconnectivity between the shop floor and top floor, which enables the automation of specific processes and reduces the human intervention required to address issues or deviations. 

Businesses need a fresh approach to their organization models and processes—and they need to digitize to analyze. Automation is a crucial new delivery model to make that happen.

Confronting the challenges of automation of knowledge tasks is all about finding the right balance between smart hands and smart robots.

Organizations that master smart robots tethered to smart data will race to the top. Capabilities that are uniquely human cannot be replicated today by automated software. Such activities include collaboration and teamwork with a highly diverse workforce including robots, creativity, curiosity, constructive problem-solving, inventiveness, empathy and physical touch, particularly in medical management.”

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