Change is occurring more rapidly than ever before. Futurist, Ray Kurzweil estimates that the rate of change accelerates every decade. He predicts that 20 years from now, the rate of change will be 4x what it is today. That vision is exciting but can also leave you reeling.
The most obvious example is how a global pandemic prompted the acceleration of technology adoption, escalating online orders, driving remote work and pushing the limits of contactless transactions.
Businesses in all segments are adopting automation technologies to streamline operations, optimize labor resources and enable a great customer experience that aligns with changing consumer expectations. Yet the journey to automation is complicated. Enterprises don’t have an extensive history of using these emerging technologies to draw from. Many of the use cases remain untested and modifications are required on the fly in response to ever-changing conditions. For these reasons, businesses are truly pioneering new frontiers in automation.
Fortunately, Telaid has had the privilege of partnering with many Fortune 500 customers as they devise new ways to leverage automation. To give you an idea of the complexity of automation projects, here are just three of dozens of considerations and common pitfalls companies face when diving into the automation journey.
- Failure to standardize – With so many emerging technologies and the rapid-fire deployment of multiple solutions, many enterprises find themselves with disparate systems, each with distinct components and modules. Consider challenges like accommodating different sized bins in different areas of a warehouse, or dissimilar chargers required to charge battery-operated equipment. Standardization of as many components as possible promotes usability, maintenance and uptime. Standardization requires forethought, but is critical to ensuring your automation system truly automates processes with effectiveness.
- Compliance issues – Companies may be unaware of regulations related to some of the new technologies they are implementing. From OSHA guidelines to ADA concerns, fire and safety hazards, and even environmental guidelines, the deployment of new devices is inevitably regulated by one or more agencies. As an example, think about how improperly installed machines may present a fire hazard, or how robots or drones could present safety hazards to employees working in the confines of the same building. It’s a good idea to understand the regulatory landscape upfront to avoid costly changes that must be made later in the process.
- Scalability –Many enterprises have particular use cases in mind for their automation technologies but quickly find that expansion is necessary. Scaling these solutions requires more hardware, better infrastructure and sometimes more physical space. For this reason, it’s best to design new solutions with the future in mind. If you’re undergoing some major infrastructure updates, consider what can be done now to support expansion later.
Our guide to Pioneering New Frontiers in Automation is designed to help you successfully reach new heights in enterprise automation. In the eBook, we outline a 5-phased approach to successful automation. It likely includes some questions you have not considered, highlights a helpful best practice, or proposes an area that merits additional investigation. As you take your next steps toward automation, Telaid is here to help. Happy pioneering!
