From back-end developers to mission-critical workplace automation: The low-code advantage

Process mining, process discovery

The advantages of workplace automation are predicated on improving enterprise efficiency, which typically takes two forms: perfecting the automated steps in workflows and uncovering new processes to automate. The click-mining capabilities Gilfix referenced are critical for the process mining. By observing sequences of activities, organizations can gain suggestions on where they can save time, Gilfix said. Process discovery extends this concept at a macro level so users can discover processes across the organization, Mahbub added.

Although there are various approaches for discovering new automation processes, those involving RPA are particularly strong due to their demonstrable business value. Certain digital agents can identify new processes and prioritize them for automation, Mahbub said. When discovering processes for telecommunications customers to set up internet or phone service, for example, bots can analyze how many people are performing this work across the organization. Therefore, if a specific process is automated and 15 people are repeating that process, the business might save 5,000 hours in a month multiplied by X amount of dollars, Mahbub said. “Now, your CFO has a very clear picture of automating a certain process.”

Integration and orchestration

The most compelling workplace automation solutions are holistic. They don’t just include RPA, BPM, process mining, and layers of AI; they integrate them within a cohesive framework for automating core business processes. In some instances, that involves a single solution with these capabilities. “If the ultimate objective of automation is to get software-like scale, you need to digitize as many levers of your operations as possible,” Gilfix explained. “So it makes sense that these different things are brought together in a single solution.” Organizations can also integrate these aspects of low-code applications with formal measures, such as iPaaS (integration platform as a service), which are especially valuable given the prominence of cloud computing. “You need to pull data both from your existing systems on-premise and a lot of these new data sources that are running in the cloud,” Gilfix said.

Although bots are a reliable means of facilitating API calls to initiate cloud integrations, BPM has traditionally specialized in the runtime orchestration that is needed for the action for which automation is prized. Today, such orchestration involves containers and microservices, particularly for cloud deployments. “The BPM part of the story of orchestration is really to make different systems talk to one another,” Winqwist said. “Integration and accessibility of the BPM platform is critical, because companies don’t have simple IT infrastructure.” For example, most banks have data in legacy systems, cloud services, containers, ERP systems, vertical applications, and databases. Integrating them for low-code workplace automation is dependent on orchestrating their runtimes.

Visual automation

Low-code processes unify business user and IT efforts in an accessible way to automate the fundamental processes for
achieving business objectives. According to Schuerman, “By using a visual approach, I can have IT and the business collaborating together on the same application, as opposed to this kind of back and forth that is the constant traditional motion of software development.”

Low code’s utility will almost surely pervade every area of the enterprise relevant to competitive advantage. Ultimately, it may result in “a digital twin of an organization,” Mahbub speculated. “You’ll have an organization of humans working, and then you’ll create an entire organization of digital workers, the twins of those humans.”