Many organizations are plotting or executing their respective automation and digital transformation journeys, aiming for automation that will save time and cut long-term costs.

But there’s a raft of roadblocks as organizations set out on the path to automating their processes and operations, according to Purna Doddapaneni (pictured), associate partner at Bain & Co.

“There are three critical groups that are involved in being successful with automation — the organization (or BU leaders), the IT and employees,” he said. “So each one of the groups has different perceptions or misconceptions on the benefits of automation and how to go about it.”

Doddapaneni spoke with Dave Vellante and Lisa Martin, co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during the recent UiPath Forward IV conference. They discussed how organizations can combat the many challenges of digital transformation and automation implementation. (* Disclosure below.)

Employees are actually eager to adopt automation tech

A recent study shows that of the U.S. workforce aware of automation, 86% have seen the benefits and want to use it, but only 30% of them get their manager’s authorization to proceed.

Yet roadblocks to automation implementation persist, including companies facing a lack of knowledge about the technology. “The first [challenge] is cognitive, where employees are unaware of automation or the benefits of automation,” Doddapaneni explained.

Employees and tech professionals aren’t the only sources of this reticence. Employers and those in corporate leadership roles also share misconceptions about automation, according to Doddapaneni.

“The second [challenge] is more organizational, where leaders and how they feel about automation or how they think about employees when we introduce automation to them,” he added. “A part of that is there’s a misconception with … leaders that employees are fearful of job loss when you introduce automation. What we have seen in our research is it’s completely the opposite. Employees are eager to adopt automation if given an opportunity.”

In Doddapaneni’s experience, the typical entry points toward automation for most organizations include the IT and finance departments, which tend to be the quickest to accept RPA’s long-term benefits.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of during UiPath’s Forward IV conference. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the UiPath’s Forward IV conference. Neither UiPath, the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE