5 Ways a Chief Digital Officer Can Utilize Digital Automation

Chief Digital Officers (CDO) are focused on digital transformation, responsible for evangelizing and deploying new digital technologies across their organizations. Tasked with aligning technology with business goals, they must ensure that any new tools and technology implemented enhances and supports human talent. But they also need to be tech savvy so that the new platforms and systems they implement improve organizational efficiency, embrace innovation, and foster growth. 

It’s a complex role that requires a strategic vision, tech fluency, and the right tools. One of the most powerful weapons in the CDO’s digital arsenal is automation – a feature that spans multiple tools and applications. Digital automation can help every single department operate more efficiently. It can free up employees to focus on more meaningful task, checking the “fostering growth” directive. 

In this post, we’ll review the meaning of digital automation, provide an overview of how it works, and list five ways that CDOs can utilize digital automation to enhance workflows and facilitate long-term digital transformation.

What is Digital Automation and Digital Process Automation?

Digital automation uses advanced technologies like ML and AI to automate tasks typically performed by humans. Various tools and platforms can automate many aspects of an enterprise ecosystem including content management, business workflows, accounting and finance tasks, and training.

Automation tools work together across departments, helping the CDO streamline operations. They use advanced technology to enable the enterprise to be more customer-focused, creative, and competitive. 

Digital Process Automation (DPA) is a subset of digital automation. It’s focused on automating and optimizing end-to-end business processes. DPA tools enable organizations to design, execute, monitor, and continually improve processes. They bridge the gap between systems. This enhances an organization’s overall performance and agility.

Digital Automation Examples

Digital automation can be applied across virtually every business function within any industry. Whether you work in accounting, marketing, healthcare, or hospitality – there’s a way to automate (some of) the things you do. 

Reducing repetitive tasks and delegating complex processes to ML models let businesses get things done in a fraction of the time it takes to manually complete tasks. This is a pretty compelling benefit. Here are a few examples: 

• Updating product and pricing information on an ecommerce website
• Generating reports from different data sources and types
• Processing and routing customer service inquiries based on predefined rules and criteria
• Automating social media post scheduling and publication 
• Monitoring and optimizing digital ad campaigns in real-time 
• Conducting sentiment analysis on customer feedback and reviews to identify trends and opportunities for improvement
• Assigning and tracking tasks via a project management system
• Deploying personalized email campaigns based on customer segments and behavior

There are countless other examples and use cases for digital automation. The main thing to keep in mind is that automation enhances – versus replaces – human productivity. 

Automating processes and tasks allows you to be more efficient as a business. It can also help you lower costs in a variety of ways like reducing human error, onboarding new employees more quickly,  and allowing high-value employees to spend time doing high-value tasks. 

How Does Digital Automation Work?

There are several moving parts that make digital automation work effectively. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are at the foundation of automation tools. They allow the systems to learn from data, identify patterns, and make intelligent decisions. They may automatically generate insights based on data or connect users to relevant information. They’re constantly improving and adapting as new information is fed into the system. 

Another important digital automation technology is robotic process automation, or RPA. These tools automate repetitive, rules-based tasks by mimicking human actions. They can interact with applications, enter data, and perform tasks across multiple systems – all without taking a coffee break.

Digital automation systems also employ user-defined rules and workflows which act as a roadmap, telling the system how to process data, make decisions, and interact with other applications. They have advanced analytics capabilities and can process and analyze huge amounts of structured and unstructured data. 

The last piece of the puzzle is integration. Automation platforms need to play nicely with your existing systems and applications, allowing for seamless data exchange and process orchestration across your entire organization. The CDO makes sure these various components and technologies work together in harmony, creating a  powerful digital automation system that serves as the foundation for digital transformation. 

5 Ways a CDO Can Utilize Digital Automation

A CDO’s top priorities include optimizing processes, enhancing customer experiences, and driving innovation. Digital automation helps with all three. Here are five ways that CDOs can use digital automation in an organization.

1. Streamline Customer Onboarding

Many of the tasks involved in customer onboarding can be automated. No one likes filling out endless forms or waiting days for account approval. Automation makes it easy for new customers to start using your products or services with less friction and frustration. Automation can also help customers solve problems on their own during onboarding. 

For example, AI-powered chatbots can guide customers through the onboarding journey, automatically collect and verify information, and trigger account setup workflows. 

2. Personalize Customer Experiences

Thanks to companies like Google, Amazon, and Netflix, the bar is set very high for good digital experiences. Customers expect personalization to be baked into every interaction. Digital automation tools like Monetate enable you to automate many aspects of personalization. 

Monetate’s personalization engine tailors digital experiences to meet each individual customers’ preferences and needs. The process uses ML, which delivers individualized content like product recommendations and promotions across all customer touchpoints. Personalization engines achieve this type of customization at scale by analyzing customer data and behavior in real-time. This creates experiences that resonate with each unique visitor regardless of how they interact with you or at what stage of the buying journey they’re on.

3. Automate Back-Office Tasks

Few people enjoy performing tedious, manual tasks like data entry, HR onboarding, reporting, or document processing. Automating these types of repetitive back-office processes, allows your team to focus on more valuable – and rewarding – tasks. That improves employee satisfaction while benefiting the company. Strategic initiatives, new product launches, new business events – all of these high-value projects drive business value. 

4. Button Up Cybersecurity

As digital transactions continue to rise, so too does the risk of fraudulent activity. Advanced fraud detection, powered by ML, monitor transactions in real-time. They can identify suspicious patterns and proactively prevent fraud before it occurs. By automating your fraud detection processes, you can protect your customers and your bottom line while minimizing manual intervention.

5. Create a Culture of Innovation

Digital automation is empowering. It goes way beyond improving efficiency – it unlocks new possibilities for innovation by freeing up resources and letting people spend time on things they love. Encourage your employees to identify automation opportunities within their own workflows and provide them with the tools and resources they need to bring their ideas to life. Think of it this way – automation gives you time for innovation.