As a species, we are natural diggers. From our pre-history to now, we have gone digging for raw materials, combustibles, and precious metals.
Today, we call it mining. And we have been doing it for decades with something we cannot touch or burn but which has great value, nonetheless. We mine data. Cryptocurrencies are mined digital nuggets where the digging equipment and manual labour are replaced by computational muscle.
Data mining is a term that has been around since the 80s and describes the extraction of non-trivial, previously unknown, actionable information from large datasets. Any business leader will recognise the term’s appropriateness in the information age since actionable information is pure gold to an ambitious business.
What has changed is the kind of data for which we are looking. In the beginning, patterns in customer behaviour were an acceptable product. Then we wanted to build a view of the individual rather than the marketplace. And now, we turn to the employee. Business efficiency is critical to meeting quotas and deadlines and beating the competition to market, but people — talented professionals and dedicated frontline workers — make those things happen. Across the GCC, the Great Resignation is being felt. Record numbers of employees are switching jobs while companies try to cater to ever more demanding customers. The employee experience is now as important as the customer experience ever was.
Looking inward
Digital transformation takes many forms. One of them is the development of capabilities that allow organisations to look inward and eliminate inefficiencies in processes. While process improvement has been around since commerce began, its digital version is process mining — the data mining of business processes, helped by artificial intelligence (AI). Each step in a workflow is examined, as is the overall map that explains how organisations move from one step to another. This auditing allows improved processes and hence, an enhanced employee experience.
If one imagines a stroll through Safa Park in Dubai, many routes can be taken, from a perimeter stroll to a circuitous path through the picnic areas. Business processes are similar in that it is difficult to predict exactly what path a human will take and when. Workers in pursuit of efficiency will be unlikely to stick to a designated path. Instead, we can expect a lot of variation in and around the rules and guidelines of business operations. Despite the intentions of efficiency, this can be a very haphazard way of working and may be detrimental to the employee experience.
This is where process mining can help. It gives organisations a faithful view of how a process is being executed on the ground, detailing the experiences and contributions of all stakeholders — employees, partners, and customers. From this image comes clarity on any pain points and bottlenecks, which decision-makers can use to introduce improvements, whether in the form of digitisation, automation, or just a redesign of roles, responsibilities, and manual actions.
Step by step
In process mining, first, we perform the discovery — the audit of procedures from the real-time views of those performing them. Such discoveries can involve the demand for a product or service outweighing its supply or the demand for labour exceeding the pool of on-hand resources. Upon discovering the inefficiency, organisations must devise a way to remove it that will optimise the process, such as greater allocation of resources or more automation.
Data mining has always been about actionable information. Wait to see what the data tells you and take a targeted approach to the response. Whether to increase staffing levels, source more equipment, or automate something that was previously manual must be driven by data, so that decision-makers know the impacts involved.
Process mining has a proven track record, much as many AI-driven technologies now do. It has been shown time and again to be capable of fixing real-world problems efficiently and cost-effectively and driving value for organisations. Almost all of these improvements produce a better work environment for employees because they are empowered every day to produce more, keep customers happier, and innovate at a greater rate.
Bypassing human judgement
All across the company, process mining can benefit employees. HR may come upon a means to streamline requests, disputes, and other cases. When HR departments become more efficient, it significantly impacts the work environment. Resolution times improve and employees, including those in the HR function itself, are generally happier.
IT helpdesks can use process mining to identify the bottlenecks that frustrate users and admins alike. This could include an improvement in the efficiency of fulfilling requests such as new software or new machines and equipment for a starting employee. There is real value to be gleaned here. Enterprises rise or fall on the efficiency of their people. Businesses must be capable of identifying the weak link and making iterative improvements. Rather than basing change on the experience — or worse, the gut feeling — of a decision maker, corrective actions will reflect the everyday experiences and genuine pain points of those involved in the operations under review. AI has the power to bypass human judgement and formulate action that takes a weighted account of the employee experience, customer experience, business costs, and other factors. Few humans can do such analysis, and none can hope to deliver value in time.
Once business processes are aligned with the way real people work, employees will be more likely to commit to official guidelines and abandon the shortcuts that led to chaos in the first place. The resultant environment is one where most people will be happy and proud to work.
