What is Centre of Excellence in Automation? Why Your Business Needs It

With precision and speed emerging as core competitive advantages, businesses are increasingly eager to automate their operations. While there is early enthusiasm for automation projects, many miss establishing a Center of Excellence (CoE) for long term guidance.  This oversight often comes from not recognizing its necessity and benefits. So, let’s explore these two basic questions: ‘What is Centre of Excellence in Automation’ and ‘Why is a CoE so crucial for your automation efforts and driving value?’ 

You’ll also find some key terms and concepts to familiarize yourself with if you aren’t already! Whether you’re planning to introduce process automation or are already using it without a CoE, consider this your go-to guide for grasping the basics.

What is an Automation Centre of Excellence

An Automation Centre of Excellence is a dedicated hub, team or group that leads and standardizes automation development for a business or organization.

As a strategic unit, it brings together skilled specialists, well-planned procedures, and advanced technologies to seamlessly conceive, launch, and manage automations, driving them towards predefined goals across departments and throughout the business. 

An Automation Excellence Centre, therefore, serves as:

• A hub of expertise in automation technologies, methodologies, and best practices 
• A resource for providing direction and support to other teams or departments in their automation efforts 
• A beacon of innovation and continuous improvement in automation—driving improved productivity 
• An integral part of an organization’s digital transformation journey

Know Key CoE Automation Terminology and Concepts 

Understanding some vocabulary associated with automation and CoE will equip you to engage more effectively in discussions and strategies. Here is a brief overview of common terms, jargon, and concepts, compiled into three broad categories to get you started: 

Foundational Automation Concepts

1. Automation: Is the use of technology to execute processes and tasks more efficiently, often taking over manual labor. This streamlines workflows, minimizes errors, and boosts overall productivity. 
2. Business Process Automation (BPA): Involves leveraging technology to automate intricate workflows and business operations by integrating various software systems for managing repetitive tasks and data handling.
3. Software Bots/Digital Workers: Automated tools designed to replicate human actions, carrying out repetitive tasks and processes to enhance efficiency and maintain consistency in business operations. 
4. Center of Excellence (CoE): In the context of automation, a CoE is a centralized unit dedicated to guiding and supporting the organization’s automation initiatives. 
5. Digital Transformation: A significant organizational shift, utilizing technology to enhance business models, efficiency, and the customer experience. 

CoE-led Automation Process & Workflow

1. Automation Strategy: A detailed plan outlining the organization’s objectives, priorities, and resource allocation for automation. 
2. Automation Governance: A structure to ensure standardization, control, and compliance within automation projects. 
3. Center of Excellence (CoE) Charter: A formal document that outlines the automation CoE’s purpose, scope, and roles within the organization. 
4. Process Mining: A method for analyzing and optimizing business processes by visualizing their execution and identifying areas of inefficiency.
5. Task Mining: Just like process mining but focused on capturing and analyzing the specific tasks performed by both bots and humans. 

Process Automation Tools and Technology

1. RPA (Robotic Process Automation): Technology that employs software robots to emulate human actions, automating repetitive and rule-based tasks. 
2. NLP (Natural Language Processing): The capability of computers to comprehend and interpret human language. 
3. OCR (Optical Character Recognition): A technology used to extract text from images, facilitating data capture. 
4. AI (Artificial Intelligence): A broad term encompassing technologies like machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision to enable smart automation. 
5. ML (Machine Learning): A subset of AI that enables computers to learn from data and enhance their performance over time.
6. IA (Intelligent Automation): A comprehensive term that includes RPA, AI, and machine learning to automate complex processes and tasks. 
7. API (Application Programming Interface): A set of protocols that allow different software applications to communicate and interact with each other. 

Why Build a CoE for Business Process Automation  

Establishing a CoE while transitioning to automated business operations can be the biggest differentiator because it facilitates: 

• Centralized Expertise and Governance: A CoE ensures a unified approach to prevent fragmentation, ensuring cohesive and effective automation efforts across the organization. 
• Process Discovery and Optimization: Identify and refine processes suitable for automation. By analyzing workflows, they streamline operations and enhance efficiency, leading to significant cost savings. 
• Talent Development and Training: By implementing structured training programs, CoEs help cultivate the necessary skills within the organization. This empowers employees to effectively implement, manage, and sustain automation solutions. 
• Technology Evaluation and Selection: CoEs assess and choose the most suitable automation tools, aligning with the organization’s specific needs. This strategic selection avoids costly mistakes and ensures a robust automation framework. 
• Risk Management and Compliance: An automation CoE establishes governance frameworks to mitigate risks and ensures compliance with regulations. This proactive approach safeguards the organization from potential legal and security issues. 
• Innovation and Continuous Improvement: CoEs foster a culture of innovation, continuously exploring and integrating new automation technologies. This keeps the organization competitive and adaptable to evolving business requirements. 

Overlooking the strategic value of a CoE can lead to missed opportunities and suboptimal outcomes. Whether you’re starting fresh or looking to refine your existing automated processes, building a value-driven CoE could be your key to unlocking optimal results and faster ROI. Check out this page to find out how Centelli can help build your CoE and connect with our experts.    

Value in Center of Excellence in Automation Strategy 

CoEs provide a foundational blueprint for scaling automation initiatives smoothly. Here are the eight building blocks that offer repeatable value for maximized ROI: 

End Note on Automation Centre of Excellence and Its Role

A CoE serves as the guiding force behind your automation initiatives, ensuring they are executed with precision, expertise, and a strategic vision. So, remember, incorporating a Center of Excellence into your automation strategy isn’t just about streamlining processes; it’s about building a robust foundation for sustained business innovation, efficiency, and growth.  

If you’re unsure where to begin, you can talk to our automation experts to guide and help set up your Centre of Excellence in Automation tailored to your business needs. Book your free-no-strings attached consultation here.