Control Tower and Automation Foundry
Situation
The bank aims to establish a Command Control Tower for its Automation Center of Excellence (CoE) to centralize and streamline automation initiatives across different geographies and processes. The bank recognizes the need for a structured approach to automation and wants to create an organization and platform structure to support automation efforts effectively.
Challenge
The bank faces the challenge of creating a robust Control Tower and Automation Foundry to govern and manage automation initiatives efficiently. The bank needs to establish a centralized governance model, define automation standards and best practices, and provide a platform for collaboration and knowledge sharing among automation teams.
Action
The bank takes the following actions to build the Control Tower and Automation Foundry:
- Governance Structure: Define a governance structure with clear roles and responsibilities for managing automation initiatives and ensuring alignment with strategic objectives.
- Centralized Automation Platform: Establish a centralized automation platform that serves as the foundation for managing automation projects, storing automation assets, and facilitating collaboration.
- Automation Standards and Best Practices: Develop standardized guidelines, frameworks, and best practices for automation development, deployment, and maintenance across different geographies and processes.
- Automation Pipeline Management: Implement a pipeline management process to prioritize and track automation projects, ensuring efficient resource allocation and timely project delivery.
- Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: Create a collaborative environment where automation teams can share ideas, lessons learned, and reusable automation components, fostering innovation and accelerating automation adoption.
- Performance Monitoring and Reporting: Set up mechanisms to monitor the performance and impact of automation initiatives, tracking key metrics and providing regular reports to stakeholders.
- Training and Skill Development: Provide training programs and skill development opportunities for automation teams to enhance their technical expertise and keep up with the latest automation technologies and practices.
- Continuous Improvement: Establish a feedback loop to capture lessons learned and identify areas for continuous improvement in automation processes, tools, and governance.
Results
The establishment of the Control Tower and Automation Foundry brings several benefits to the bank:
- Centralized Governance: The Control Tower enables centralized governance and oversight of automation initiatives, ensuring consistency, compliance, and strategic alignment.
- Standardization and Efficiency: Automation standards and best practices promote consistency, efficiency, and reusability across automation projects, reducing duplication of efforts and accelerating automation delivery.
- Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: The Automation Foundry fosters collaboration and knowledge sharing among automation teams, enabling the exchange of ideas, expertise, and automation assets.
- Scalability and Scalable Automation Delivery: The centralized automation platform and pipeline management process support scalability, allowing the bank to scale up automation initiatives across different geographies and processes.
- Performance Visibility: Performance monitoring and reporting provide insights into the impact of automation initiatives, helping track the return on investment, identify areas for improvement, and showcase the value of automation to stakeholders.
- Continuous Improvement: The feedback loop and continuous improvement efforts drive ongoing enhancements in automation processes, tools, and governance, ensuring the bank remains at the forefront of automation excellence.
Overall, the establishment of the Control Tower and Automation Foundry enables the bank to govern, manage, and scale automation initiatives effectively, fostering collaboration, standardization, and continuous improvement in automation practices.