Q: What's the hallmark of an excellent automation strategy? How does one go about formulating one?

Dowd: A good strategy, especially when it comes to automation, is somewhere between two points. That would be a very data-driven and data-centric approach. And a human-centric approach. We have found that the merger or marriage between the two is what has proven to be the most successful strategy.

Formulating a good strategy really starts with identifying your pain points. Identifying one pain point and using it as your North Star for the entire process is going to be really important. Once you've got that individual pain point, map out your process. Having a quantifiable metric is essential to demonstrate to your leadership team and the entire company that the process you invested in has led to improvement.

Q: What are some of the common mistakes or missteps that can occur when implementing an automation strategy?

Dowd: Trying to do everything at once is a really common one that we see. Again, find one thing and really hone in on it, then expand from there. Another issue would be skipping change management. For any new process, you need to make sure that you have a framework and a solid foundation in place.

Q: How is automation helping manufacturers?

Dowd: We're seeing this AI automation marriage really coming into almost every aspect of manufacturing here at this point. One of the things we're seeing very frequently now is that processes that used to take a long time, such as contract negotiation, are being merged with AI and RPA to solve them. Numerous sales-based tools utilize a combination of automation and AI. Often, this is more of a distributor-level issue, but it also applies to manufacturers that have their own sales force.

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