Everyone has that one colleague that they can turn to in their time of need – the person that makes their life that little bit easier, shares workloads and helps elevate the pressures of the 9-5. However, while most people’s work spouse is usually their desk buddy or team member, CIOs have found a different kind of support – robotics.

From smart homes to autonomous vehicles, we have already seen how technology has grown to influence and shape every aspect of our lives, with our employment being no exception. As technology continues on its path of innovation, organisations will be looking for advice and guidance on exactly what they should be deploying and how, in order to best drive success. To find the answers, people, at every level of the business, will be turning to CIOs.

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That’s where robotics comes in, solving a number of issues and delivering results across the enterprise, when deployed and managed correctly.

Change is hard

For many of us, change is not always welcome, especially for an IT department that often has a number of legacy systems in place, along with complex data-handling and storing processes that underpin the whole organisation as well as a need to be seen to be more adaptive and responsive to a dynamic business environment.

Modifying existing processes and technology understandably takes up a lot of time and requires a number of resources. Not only this but if it is not done correctly, things can get complicated very quickly and have serious consequences for a business. It is only natural, therefore, that the IT department are reluctant to say goodbye to the existing systems that have served them well up until now, and risk implementing new technologies.

>See also: 5 steps to successful RPA implementation

It is essential, however that automation is driven by the IT department. Automating without IT involvement will lead to silos and a disconnect between business units – which will cause more harm than good. If the benefits of robotics are to be realised, then the first step is to ensure that CIOs and their department are fully behind the technology. Once this buy-in has been achieved, the next stage is choosing the right robotic tools for your organisation.

Finding the perfect match

Choosing the right robotic process automation (RPA) tool is not an easy decision, especially given the variety of offerings out there. Traditional RPA tools do not scale well as they are based solely on integration at the user interface level. Deploying these can become incredibly complex and very costly very quickly. If deploying RPA across a business will be complicated and create more problems than solutions, then it is easy to see why IT might resist.

Luckily, there are robotic solutions which take a holistic and process-based approach. These don’t rely on user interface integration and so are much simpler to install and manage.

By choosing a solution with pre-built robotic services that are designed to deliver fully unattended operations and which don’t require the typical development and maintenance resources of the classic desktop RPA tools, the IT team won’t be the only employees that can use the tools, meaning other members of staff without technical skills will be able to configure and create robotic processes.

>See also: A strategy for success: How CIOs can plan for the robotic revolution

Whichever tool is opted for, the most important element to consider is its scalability. What might look like an optimum solution in a small pilot does not expose the real costs and complexity as these pilots go into full scale production or expand beyond their initial remit. The business landscape is growing to be increasingly cutthroat and those businesses that are able to scale at ease, are those that will survive and strive.

A friend for all

The head of any organisation ultimately wants their employees to be happy, especially the indispensable CIO and IT department. By deploying robotics to automate the repetitive, low-level business processes, employees can focus on the tasks that bring real value to a business, giving them a much more fulfilled working life.

Robots hold the ability to truly become the best friend of any CIO and their IT department. By fully embracing digital transformation, CIOs can also highlight the benefits this technology can bring to the wider organisation, helping the workforce with their day-to-day roles and truly becoming a friend for all.

Sourced by Neil Kinson, chief of staff, Redwood Software