We’re entering a new era of digital transformation: in order to scale automation, you must democratize it. With the advent of low code and no code tools, process automation no longer rests solely on the shoulders of IT. It’s time for non-technical employees to take part in the journey.

While spearheading change always presents a challenge, asking non-IT employees to take on new responsibilities and mindsets that may at first seem way beyond their current scope of experience requires a special level of care. 

As ING’s Head of Robotics & Intelligent Automation, Sudhanshu Sawlani has confronted the challenge of scaling cutting-edge technology numerous times. While he will be joining us at the upcoming 3rd Annual Scalable IA Live virtual event on February 15, 2022 to present on “Transformation Through Scaled IA,” we wanted to sit down with him to discuss how his team is democratizing innovation. 

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Seth Adler, Editor-In-Chief, Intelligent Automation Network:  To start, where are you in your intelligence automation journey and how is your team working with employees to take things to the next level?

Sudhanshu Sawlani: I would say we are in the transformation phase. We’ve set up our intelligent automation center of expertise and, at this point, we’re mostly working for our business units. They put in a request and our team does it for them.

However, in the future, we’re moving towards working with employees to complete projects. The key to doing this: democratization. 

That's what is happening with the advancement in this technology. With the proliferation of low-code and no-code tools, we are aiming to roll out this technology to more and more people across the organization so they can embrace automation at their fingertips. Automate processes and the like basically on their own desktop, in their own day-to-day work.

Of course this wouldn’t be all they do all day or their number one responsibility, but at least they would be equipped with this capability. They would be able to try and identify opportunities wherein they can automate and relieve themselves from those mundane activities that they have been doing without having to rely on a seperate team outside their control or influence for backlog and prioritization. 

For us it's really about empowering people, taking them along in this journey of democratization. At this point it’s really about gathering their input, asking what do you want and then prioritizing where we want to roll out these capabilities first. 

I must say we were proud to have full backlogs and complete pipelines. But with the advancement of this technology, with having the low-code and the no-code tools, I think we're encouraging and empowering more and more people to come aboard and deliver their own automation. So, that's happening to some extent now, it's not as fluent as it should be. But we hope that it will become better and better as we take more employees along.

Seth Adler: To put things in perspective, what were things like when you first implemented RPA? Was there immediate and visceral pushback? How has the conversation evolved since then?

Sudhanshu Sawlani: That’s an interesting one indeed because, in the beginning, when we first started implementing intelligent automation solutions, or even general IT solutions, there was some pushback.

I mean, think about it, it's changed. And any change usually brings resistance because people have this sense of insecurity, people feel a bit defensive about their positions or roles because a lot of them have been doing these kinds of jobs for ages. So, it could be because of job insecurity and it could also be lack of trust. They don’t think the technology will do better. 

For example, I’ve driven a Tesla for the past three years. Back when I first started using its autopilot feature, I was afraid. I said, "No, no, I don't trust this thing anymore." But nowadays, I enjoy it, even though by law i have to hold the steering wheel, but I enjoy the automation there.

So, it's natural to feel a little bit afraid about whether new technology will work. It's a matter of getting used to it and seeing the results over time to boost your confidence, your belief in the technology. And that's also another reason why we don't want people to be always on the other side, on the receiving side, we really want them to come along and tackle this challenge together. 

Now that we’ve upskilled them and given them the right tools, they join in and become a citizen scriptor or developer.  It’s possible now to not just be an ambassador, just be a champion, but come up with ideas and enact them. Be part of this journey because every business is a digital business now. I mean, you cannot just be a core banker without having digital affinity around your products. So, that's what we're trying to do, empower our people more and more.

Want to hear more from Sudhanshu? Register to attend his session on “Transformation Through Scaled IA.”

 3rd Annual Scalable IA Live 

FREE Virtual Event // February 15, 2022