This revised edition is a comprehensive guide to the components of automation planning for libraries. Updated with step-by-step techniques for assessing, acquiring, using and maintaining new technology, the guide is suitable for libraries installing a system for the first time.

This book presents the most recent and advanced techniques for creating autonomous AI systems capable of planning and acting effectively.

Publisher Description

From the global automation leaders at Accenture—the first-ever comprehensive blueprint for how to use and scale AI-powered intelligent automation in the enterprise to gain competitive advantage through faster speed to market, improved product quality, higher efficiency, and an elevated customer experience. Many companies were already implementing limited levels of automation when the pandemic hit. But the need to rapidly change business processes and how organizations work resulted in the compression of a decade’s worth of digital transformation into a matter of months. Technology suddenly became the essential element for rapid organizational change and the creation of 360-degree value benefiting all stakeholders. Businesses are faced with the imperative to embrace that change or risk being left behind. In The Automation Advantage, global enterprise technology and automation veterans Bhaskar Ghosh, Rajendra Prasad, and Gayathri Pallail give business leaders and managers the action plan they need to execute a strategic agenda that enables them to quickly and confidently scale their automation and AI initiatives. This practical and highly accessible implementation guide answers leaders’ burning questions, such as: How do I identify and prioritize automation opportunities? How do I assess my legacy systems and data issues? How do I derive full value out of my technology investments and automation efforts? How can I inspire my employees to embrace change and the new opportunities presented by automation? The Automation Advantage goes beyond optimizing process to using AI to transform almost any business activity in any industry to make it faster, more streamlined, cost efficient, and customer-focused—vastly improving overall productivity and performance. Featuring case studies of successful automation solutions, this indispensable road map includes guiding principles for technology, governance, culture, and leadership change. It offers a human-centric approach to AI and automation that leads to sustainable transformation and measurable business results.

A proven decision management methodology for increased profits and lowered risks Knowledge Automation: How to Implement Decision Management in Business Processes describes a simple but comprehensive methodology for decision management projects, which use business rules and predictive analytics to optimize and automate small, high-volume business decisions. It includes Decision Requirements Analysis (DRA), a new method for taking the crucial first step in any IT project to implement decision management: defining a set of business decisions and identifying all the information—business knowledge and data—required to make those decisions. Describes all the stages in automating business processes, from business process modeling down to the implementation of decision services Addresses how to use business rules and predictive analytics to optimize and automate small, high-volume business decisions Proposes a simple "top-down" method for defining decision requirements and representing them in a single diagram Shows how clear requirements can allow decision management projects to be run with reduced risk and increased profit Nontechnical and accessible, Knowledge Automation reveals how DRA is destined to become a standard technique in the business analysis and project management toolbox.

Why automate? A formal needs assessment or a common-sense analysis may indicate that one or more of the library's functions should be computerised. This manual provides a basic guide to the essential steps and components of automation planning in medium-sized and smaller libraries. Emphasising current modular (often microcomputer-based) options, the authors lead the librarians through the entire process, from defining basic concepts and terms to establishing priorities, designing specifications, preparing RFPs and negotiating contracts.

This work is a basic, comprehensive guide to the essential components of automation planning in medium-sized and smaller libraries. Revised and anglicized for the non-American market, the book is supported with sample forms and charts and covers the following areas: creating a basic technology plan; assessing needs and setting priorities; a model two-day process for developing a basic strategic plan; selecting and implementing systems; identifying technological options for automation; translating needs and priorities into system specifications; turning your specifications into a request for vendor proposals; evaluating proposals, putting your system into place and training; planning system databases; retrospective conversion; maintaining the bibliographic database; bar coding, machine-readable cataloguing standards; and planning for the future.