For many years, enterprise innovation meant moving certain jobs offshore to produce work faster and at a lower cost.

Today, offshoring is no longer businesses’ best option; with the emergence of enterprise automation technologies, organisations are increasingly leaning toward digital tools to operate more efficiently and effectively – and ultimately beat out the competition.

But rather than taking the time needed to understand each digital tool’s applications and value to their individual business model, many companies leap toward the most buzzed-about “next big thing.”

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Nowhere is this phenomenon being played out more than in the automation industry.

To date, artificial intelligence (AI) has generated the most interest among consumers and businesses alike, dominating headlines and influencing the business strategies of the world’s renowned tech giants.

Some companies are even designing their entire business models around AI, without fully considering what they aim to achieve with this technology.

For instance, there are AI-powered tools that analyse images to come up with compelling captions. This is “cool,” maybe, but not a viable business.

It’s easy to develop a business model and brand it with artificial intelligence, but what happens when a new tool emerges with better capabilities?

It’s important to note that AI is not the only automation technology available on the market. In fact, by and large, it is far less market-ready than other digital tools capable of assisting companies in meeting their goals.

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Robotic process automation (RPA) software, for example, is already helping forward-thinking enterprises accelerate repeatable, administrative back-office tasks, such as data entry and payroll processing.

Not only does RPA streamline core processes, but it also frees employees to pursue more value-added activities requiring strategy, creativity and empathy – skills that are inherent to people.

Unfortunately, many companies are missing out on this and other opportunities to optimise resources, streamline processes and achieve their business goals.

This is indicative of executives’ struggle to map their business objectives to available and appropriate solutions.

With the continued development and progression of workflow technology, executives need to rethink their digital strategies.

The first step towards a more competitive, innovative strategy is to become re-familiar with the company’s business objectives.

What exactly is it that they want to achieve? Next, business leaders should evaluate the various tools in today’s digital toolkit to determine which one is best positioned to help them meet their goal.

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With so many tools available on the market – and with more being unveiled every day – this can be daunting, but it is a crucial step in figuring out which one is right for a given company.

Consider this a call to action for enterprises: fight the urge to adopt the “shiny” tool everyone is buzzing about just because it’s shiny. Take a step back and consider all of the options out there – from traditional desktop scripting to RPA to AI.

Be purposeful in a digital operations strategy. It’s the only way to prevent buying and implementing a tool that won’t perform the way it’s needed to.

Sourced by Ian Barkin, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Symphony Ventures