Row, row, row your BOAT

At the recent Gartner Application Summit in Las Vegas, Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (BOAT) was a highlight topic.

 

What is it, and why do BOAT Solutions Matter?

Imagine a competitor of yours. That seems to have turbocharged the company. With tasks and flow automated. People involved where this makes sense. Much of what used to be done sequentially is now done in parallel. Each case treated uniquely. Best-of-breed systems and data used for all its worth. All autonomously orchestrated. Delivering 10 times the previous output. With the same organization. Learning and improvement happening at a tremendous pace, supported by an AI process engine. Could you compete?

This illustrates what BOAT is about and why it's important—it represents a total redefinition of how humans have configured and operated companies for decades. Early adopters bring light to what's to come. The consequences of cost, speed, scale, and learning are transformative. 

BOAT is a new type of software that enables enterprises to automate and orchestrate end-to-end business processes while connecting multiple enterprise roles/functions and systems of records via any applicable integration method. 
"It is a "turbocharger" where you layer things on top to get more value from what you already have." 

It lets you modernize bits and pieces at your own pace. Use business rules and (Gen)AI to build, run, manage, and optimize business processes in real-time. A new layer between "back-end and front-end" where tasks, people, systems, and data are orchestrated autonomously. Event-based. Dynamic. In real time. Continuously learning and improving.

"In the past, you may have used RPA solutions here and there to close some gaps with band-aids on some broken processes to automate things with bots and maybe even went as far as to have a center of excellence to pull it all together. You might have used integration or iPaaS solutions to help with better, cleaner integration. You may have more recently started using low-code or no-code development tools to extend and automate different pieces of the puzzle. You may even have a BPA platform where you're doing business process automation and some level of process mining to find where the bottlenecks are. You may have one or many of these different automation tools. BOAT combines all these to provide a winning future-proof orchestration and automation solution.”

Patrick Connaughton, Gartner VP Analyst

Sounds great, but how? You have to be your company's Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, or Steve Jobs, applying First Principle thinking to your core business processes - decompose it to its most minor components, challenge each component, and reassemble it (assume you have all the necessary data and systems available):
 

1. Question every activity and requirement

2. Remove everything that does not make sense

3. Simplify and optimize as much as possible

4. Involve people where it's wise; otherwise, automate

5. Do as much in parallel as possible (challenge sequential processing)

6. Enrich the logic with business rules, roles, and integrations

7. Test and adjust by simulating as you go

8. Go live - monitor - learn and improve continiously

Working through 1-8 is when BOAT software shows its magic. This is where you decompose, redesign, connect, and execute your process logic. You can drag and drop, connect, fill in the business rules, and promt GenAI, as well as code; BOAT combines it into manageable and executable software in the background. 

In this process of fundamentally rethinking and redesigning your processes, you will, in addition to unlocking the potential for autonomous orchestration and automation, also discover how a new level of adaptive user experience, embedded intelligence, embedded compliance, and composable architecture opens up:

Adaptive User Experience
With BOAT in place, the correct tasks/information will flow to the proper roles/functions at the right time in the appropriate format. Multiple data and events from various roles and systems can be combined, transformed, and processed. This again opens up a new level of "intelligent" and individualized user experience, including prompt-based functionality for additional information needs. BOAT continuously learns and adjusts based on user behavior and needs. No 10, 20, or even 30 applications are needed to do your job.

Embedded Intelligence
 With end-to-end processes orchestrated and automated, information about each step in each case flow is continuously processed and analyzed, with intelligence driven by an AI engine underneath. 

Embedded Compliance
What to do, how to do it, by whom, and in what order is now orchestrated autonomously based on best practice and governance rule sets. Compliance is built into the process configuration. Live monitoring, Management of Change, and automated documentation are out of the box—next-generation process-based management systems embedded.

Composable Architecture
No system supplier will no longer define or limit how you run your core business. By regaining control over your core business processes, architectural components are replaced based on their fit-for-purpose and ability to support the company´s autonomous business orchestration and automation configuration - how you want to run your business.

One thing is sure: When you start challenging your business configuration by applying BOAT, you will be surprised by the value potential and the escalating effects that emerge. There is no free lunch, but BOAT will make the job and the journey worthwhile.
 
Key BOAT takeaways

• A "turbocharger": Layer things on top to get more value from what you already have

• Connect the silos: Streamline business processes, improving cost, speed, scale, and learning

• AI-Powered Control: BOAT uses AI to automatically control and adjust business processes in real-time for optimal performance

• Consequential consequences: Adaptive user experience, embedded intelligence, embedded compliance, and modernized architecture

• Integrated Approach: BOAT eliminates the need for isolated solutions like Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Business Process Management (BPM), and Low-Code/No-Code (LCNC) platforms