Accenture experts provide structured approaches to weave automation and artificial intelligence across the enterprise

As organizations continue to execute compressed transformation strategies and increase their investments in automation technology, a new book authored by three top automation experts at Accenture (NYSE: ACN) provides an in-depth look at how intelligent automation has become one of the most powerful means of driving performance and value across organizations.

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Authors, Left to Right: Rajendra Prasad, Bhaskar Ghosh and Gayathri Pallail (Photo: Business Wire)

“The Automation Advantage: Embrace the Future of Productivity and Improve Speed, Quality, and Customer Experience Through AI” is a strategic, practical guide to using intelligent automation to reinvent business processes, jumpstart innovation, enhance customer experiences and free up capacity for employees to focus on more complex, value-added work. While automation has been used by organizations for centuries, intelligent automation brings in cognitive technology such as artificial intelligence to guide better business decisions and bring new opportunities to light. IDC Research found that up to 40% of companies worldwide increased their use of software bots and other forms of automation in response to the pandemic¹, and spending on automation software is expected to reach $42.6 billion by 2025².

In the book, Accenture Chief Strategy Officer Dr. Bhaskar Ghosh and his co-authors, Rajendra Prasad and Gayathri Pallail, draw on their collective 75+ years of expertise to explain how intelligent automation works — and how it works best — providing business leaders with a proven roadmap for optimally deploying intelligent automation at scale to drive business excellence and growth. They cut through myths and misunderstandings to blaze a clear trail for any business leader looking to develop an intelligent automation strategy, create new value and realize growth — all with a human-centric approach.

“The Automation Advantage" can help any business leader better understand how to scale automation across the enterprise and use artificial intelligence to empower people and transform business,” said Julie Sweet, Chair and CEO of Accenture.

In addition to providing real-world examples of how organizations across multiple industries and geographies are using intelligent automation to launch new services and spur business growth, the authors dispel many common myths regarding automation. The book lists clear steps to overcome barriers and build a customized framework and approach that identifies opportunities for automation across the organization, and how to design specific automation solutions that align technology transformation with business goals.

“We’re seeing a dramatic evolution from the era of industrialized automation to a new era of intelligent automation, with the focus shifting from costs savings to new goals around customer experience, business excellence, service improvements, innovations, and smarter strategic decisions,” said Dr. Ghosh. “Infusing automation with intelligent technologies has become one of the most powerful ways companies can boost their top-line performance by using new tools to operate more efficiently, upskill and enhance the performance and productivity of their people, and drive significant bottom-line savings.”

Recent research from Accenture underscores just how important automation has become to business success and sustained growth. While the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted companies’ technology strategies and performance, many companies stepped up investments in intelligent automation and other technology in order to leap beyond their peers and grow their businesses 5X faster. These leading companies listed automation as the most important technology to enable digital transformation for the majority (77%) of key business processes.

Accenture Global Lead for Automation Rajendra Prasad adds: “We offer frameworks and approaches based on years of helping enterprises move from strategy to successful execution on their automation journeys. Our book walks readers through the ‘how’ to go from vision to creating value with intelligent automation, including identifying the right technology, communicating benefits to and inspiring stakeholders, modernizing processes and managing organizational and cultural changes for better collaboration between automation technology and people.”

“The Automation Advantage: Embrace the Future of Productivity and Improve Speed, Quality, and Customer Experience Through AI,” is published by McGraw-Hill and available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Porchlight and BAM! Books-A-Million.

Praise for The Automation Advantage:

“A brilliant field manual for the coming Automation Age.”

- Richard D’Aveni, author of The Pan-Industrial Revolution and Bakala Professor of Strategy, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

“The book is spot on in laying out a practical guide for how to make an impact and realize value from automation. There is a strong focus on the real-world execution of an automation strategy that makes it an accessible, must-read for both a business management and technology audience.”

- Mike Crisafulli, senior vice president, Software Engineering, Comcast

“Successful intelligent automation requires you to get more than just the technology right. The Automation Advantage addresses this – clearly and effectively – by providing the guiding principles and steps for changing your organization’s technology, governance, culture, and even leadership style.”

- Charlene Li, entrepreneur, speaker and New York Times bestselling author of The Disruption Mindset

"Consistently creating value with technology is hard. The Automation Advantage makes it simple. The authors lay out a comprehensive path to value using modern techniques that will be appreciated by both the thinker and the practitioner."

- Mark Spykerman, Chief Information Officer, AmerisourceBergen

About the Authors

Accenture Chief Strategy Officer Dr. Bhaskar Ghosh, Accenture’s Global Lead for Automation Rajendra Prasad, and Managing Director for Automation Deployment Gayathri Pallail are all experts in automation. Together, they hold 30 automation-related patents, with more than 60 additional patents filed related to automation, and have more than 75 years of combined experience in planning, designing and implementing automation and enterprise technology solutions for hundreds of organizations worldwide.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations services — all powered by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 674,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change to create value and shared success for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at accenture.com.

¹ IDC, “Worldwide Artificial Intelligence Spending Guide,” August 2021

² IDC, “Worldwide Intelligent Process Automation Software Forecast, 2021–2025,” July 2021

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