Transforming Processes Through Automation: Aiming for Purposeful Digital Transformation

Redefining Business Makeovers: Strategies for Purposeful Automation

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In the rapidly evolving business landscape, thriving organizations are deliberately designing, governing, and evolving their processes to drive operational agility, scalability, and sustainable value creation. Sanjoy Sarkar, the SVP and Director of Application Development & Support at First Citizens Bank, shares his approach to process transformation in high-performing enterprises.

Sarkar's strategy centres around leveraging no-code/low-code (LCNC) platforms and robotic process automation (RPA) to accelerate business transformation and performance. Key principles and strategies include strategic platform selection, strong governance frameworks, a robust ecosystem and ongoing support, and viewing the adoption of LCNC and RPA as essential for innovation and competitive advantage.

Strategic platform selection focuses on scalability and flexible integration capabilities, accommodating both simple and complex process cases. Strong governance frameworks prioritise security, compliance, and audit controls, especially critical in highly regulated industries like finance and healthcare. A robust ecosystem and ongoing support strengthen technology adoption and effectiveness.

Sarkar emphasises that the central question for companies is how to accelerate the deployment of these automation technologies to unleash their full potential in enhancing business transformation and performance. He stresses the importance of process design prioritising human experience over tech constraints and the need for process intelligence to be woven into daily operations.

Design processes across, not just down, focusing on cross-functional orchestration is another guiding principle. Impactful process transformation requires a combination of engineering and anthropology, thinking in flows, not functions, is a principle more organisations should embrace.

Sarkar also highlights the cultural shift towards ownership, where process excellence is a shared responsibility across teams, not just the domain of centers of excellence (CoEs). Business teams trust automation because it protects, not burdens them.

Processes affect customer experience, compliance risk, employee satisfaction, operating cost, and speed to market. Modularity in processes provides practical resilience during disruptions. Transparency involves real-time visibility into process health, bottlenecks, and deviations. Elasticity refers to the ability to reconfigure workflows dynamically based on business conditions.

Governance is crucial in process transformation, not as a hindrance but as a risk mitigation and acceleration tool. The shift is from "build once" to "build for change," with composable process components. The next era of process transformation will be defined by elasticity, transparency, and ownership.

Sarkar qualifies for Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives. Today's leaders are building process ecosystems, not just automating tasks. The goal is to reallocate human effort to judgment, empathy, and strategy.

In summary, Sanjoy Sarkar's approach to process transformation emphasises the strategic importance of process thinking, the need for a human-centric design approach, the integration of process intelligence into daily operations, and the adoption of a collaborative, ownership-driven culture. By leveraging LCNC platforms, RPA, and a focus on governance, businesses can accelerate their digital transformation journey and unlock sustainable value creation.