Digital Process Automation (DPA) is the foundation goal for digital transformation initiatives.
Process automation refers to the use of digital technology to perform a process or processes in order to accomplish a workflow or function, and DPA provides an overall umbrella concept for expanding this to encompass Agile development and design thinking with existing enterprise BPM (Business Process Management) practices and systems.
Pegasystems, reported on by Forrester as the leader in the DPA field, define four factors critical to the success of DPA:
- Customer centricity / customer journey mapping.
- End-to-end automation.
- Business and IT agility.
- Low code / no code platform and citizen development.
Read more about Pegasystems DPA here, and download a free white paper guide here, which introduces and explains the fundamentals.
“Micro journeys”
Furthermore Pega defines that these automations should be formed through “microjourneys“, a break down of each overall customer journey into a series of interactions optimized for the channel through which they are experienced, such as web or mobile.
What are “microjourneys”? And why do you need to optimize them if you want to work smarter and build better customer relationships? Watch as Alan Trefler, Founder & CEO of Pegasystems, unpacks the term on the main stage at PegaWorld 2019. https://t.co/w5PdTCHW9e pic.twitter.com/Jd4WfNSq5j
— Pegasystems (@pega) December 23, 2019
As CEO Alan Trefler writes on Linkedin:
“In an enterprise system structure, a microjourney approach allows you to layer in the processes required from back-end systems and insulate those back-end systems from being siloed from bespoke design. A central decisioning tool unifies the data, systems, and channels, so that real-time intelligence is injected into every channel, guiding each microjourney along its path.
This architectural approach also uses robotics and case management to automate and connect data and processes from end-to-end, executing each step needed to complete the microjourney.”
Alan describes scenarios such as opening a new account or resolving a billing inquiry as examples of a microjourney, and that utilizing design thinking to plan the outcomes of each will enable the organization to clearly identify what data may be needed from backend systems and what staff roles may be needed to fulfill the step, and from that deliver the optimal customer experience.
Pega provide a framework for planning and modeling these interactions, their Journey Centric Delivery Methodology, explaining how to capture microjourneys in the case type backlog through defining them as User Stories.
