According to How AI and Automation are Shaping the Enterprise Roadmap survey report, 82% of respondents agreed that automation has improved employee productivity, and 74% said it has improved employee satisfaction. Therefore, it is no wonder that 90% of IT leaders plan to deploy more AI and automation in 2025 (Digitate, 2024). Automation has a long history, evolving over centuries when its early forms can be traced all the way to Ancient Times, with water wheels and windmills used to grind grain, and truly taking off in the 17th and 18th centuries during the Industrial Revolution with the utilisation of engines and mechanised looms.
The NHS has embarked on several initiatives to integrate intelligent automation into its operations, significantly enhancing patient care and operational efficiency. One notable example is the use of robotic process automation (RPA) to streamline administrative tasks such as patient scheduling, billing, and record-keeping. This has reduced the workload on healthcare staff and minimised errors, leading to more accurate and timely patient information management.
In addition, the NHS has implemented artificial intelligence (AI) in diagnostic procedures, particularly in radiology and pathology. AI algorithms can now analyse medical images with high precision, enabling early detection of conditions like cancer and cardiovascular diseases. This early intervention capability has saved countless lives and improved patient outcomes.
Furthermore, natural language processing (NLP) tools have been deployed to assist clinicians in synthesising vast amounts of medical literature and patient data, providing them with relevant information to make informed decisions swiftly. This has been particularly beneficial during critical care situations, where time is of the essence.
The integration of intelligent automation has also had a profound impact on the operational side of the NHS. Automation of supply chain management processes ensures that medical supplies are replenished efficiently, reducing delays and ensuring that healthcare professionals always have access to necessary resources. Additionally, intelligent automation has enhanced the management of hospital beds and patient flow, leading to reduced waiting times and optimised use of facilities.
Overall, these initiatives have led to notable improvements in patient care and operational efficiency, demonstrating the transformative potential of intelligent automation within the healthcare sector.
In 2025, you will likely encounter the term “Intelligent Automation” (IA), leaving you wondering—what makes it “intelligent”? In its simplest form, IA is the use of automation technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI—yes, these abbreviations can get easily mixed up!), business process automation (BPM), robotic process automation (RPA), natural language processing (NLP), or integration platforms offered as a service (PaaS). Each warrants its own article; however, let’s explore why they are so important this year.
Why does Intelligent Automation matter?
As Calum Chace predicted, “Change has never been this fast. And it will never be this slow again.” (Forbes, 2020) We are, therefore, finding ourselves in turbulent times of constant shift where automation is at the core of business survival, fulfilling key objectives:
- Do more with less
- Use automation to reduce the number of mundane, repetitive tasks, enabling humans to focus on more complex tasks, utilising the power of our cerebrum
- After all, “the more we allow machines to do the kinds of things they’re good at, the less humans will have to behave like machines.” (Chris Ellison, the Future Economy, 2023)
- Be profitable
- Automation unlocks a route to profitability as, when well programmed, supported, and continually reviewed and improved, automation can work 24/7, 365 days a year, it does not need to sleep, eat, drink, or take days off.
- NLP can help the business query IT Operations performance data, without having to rely on a reporting coming from technology leaders. This brings a Shift Left into the way business and technology teams interact.
- Increase market share
- It is not the Automation and AI that will take your job but the people who use it well will. The same applies to organisations as those who adopt it well and early enough will get an edge in the market, as they will increase their speed to market and reduce their technical debt. iPaaS technology enables enterprises to connect their platforms, their workflows, and even chatbots, leading to streamlining of their operations.
- Retain and attract talent
- Organisations that are not using automation to enable their employees to be onboarded quickly, successfully, and with as little burden as possible on the employee, will lose their talent to their more automation-mature competitors. BPM enables cross-departmental workflow automation, with the largest return on investment (ROI) often experienced in optimising Joiners-Movers-Leavers (JML) processes.
- The overall employee sentiment is also not helped by the gap between the experience with technology in their personal lives and how technologies (do not) work in their professional lives, leading to frustration and a sense of disillusionment.
- Each generation of workers seems to bring in a different set of values, be more emotionally aware, and less patient, making them look for another job faster than the generations before. Half of Gen Z employees don't feel connected to their jobs, and 40% plan to leave within two years (Korn Ferry, 2024).
- Minimise risk
- Every business has ten main risk areas – strategic, operational, financial, compliance, legal, reputational, security, environmental, economic, and health and safety – and automation plays a key role in ensuring the risk of human error is minimised, that there is an auditable trail should incidents occur. And we know that whether it’s cyber security or another pandemic, it’s not a question of “if” but “when”.
- RPA is helping by reducing errors, enhancing compliance, improving data security, and achieving operational consistency. Cost efficiency that comes as a “by-product” is often the key to demonstrating the ROI.
- Enable resilience
- We live in a vulnerable, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world that tests the organisational ability to adapt to change daily. Automation helps in crisis management (especially in crisis response and audit), driving long-term sustainability and boosting employee morale to drive productivity and innovation and gain a competitive advantage.
- A combination of all IA technologies helps businesses to become better prepared to tackle any unexpected challenges coming their way.
Intelligent Automation in Healthcare
This VUCA world has also been inevitably affecting public healthcare organisations, forcing them to think similarly to corporates (excluding increasing market share) but with an added layer of complexities stemming from accessing public funding, performing their civic duty, navigating the political landscape, and adopting new technologies and approaches.
The NHS was majorly affected by last year’s elections, which brought temporary uncertainty about funding, resource allocation, and strategy for 2025 onwards. This was on top of its ongoing challenges with workforce shortages, healthcare access inequality, public (dis)satisfaction with patient access and waiting times, and care integration.
Despite the challenges, the outlook is bright, especially considering some amazing successes experienced in organisations such as Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust or Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
According to Phillipa Winter, CDW UK’s Chief Technologist for Healthcare and a former NHS CIO, “Automation is the key to bridging the workforce gap with technology and enabling healthcare organisations to take a breath from the constant firefighting and focus on executing their strategy to make the NHS world-leading public healthcare system again.”
With circa 120 NHS Automation Accelerators Live Re-usable assets that can be integrated into new NHS Trusts, realising significant value, we want to ensure that healthcare leaders are aware of the tangible benefits that automation can bring to their organisations, helping them do more with less, whilst not compromising quality of care or employee experience.
Therefore, CDW UK, in partnership with Shiny Blue Box, invites you to an exclusive virtual event showcasing how NHS Trusts are transforming service delivery through Intelligent Automation and AI.
Event Details:
📅 Date: 25th February 2025
🕒 Time: 11-11.45AM GMT
📍 Location: Virtual (Link provided upon registration)
This is a unique opportunity to explore how automation assets deliver real value across NHS Trusts, drive efficiencies, and improve patient care. During the session, you’ll hear:
- Introduction to Intelligent Automation – Understand the power and potential of automation within the NHS.
- The NHS Technology Landscape – Digital Transformation insights from CDW's Chief Technologist (Health & Social Care).
- Automation in Action – A detailed overview of proven NHS automation assets and their transformative impact on NHS Trusts.
- Learn how these reusable solutions can be integrated into your Trust, replicating success and unlocking significant value.
Please join via the link below:
Contributors
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Jaro TomikChief Technologist - Digital Enablement
