Imagine hiring a team that takes on repetitive, high-volume, low-value tasks that often overwhelm your staff. Imagine if this team could also reduce errors, eliminate delays and work 24/7, integrating seamlessly with your service model, saving time and streamlining operations. By adopting intelligent automation, this vision is within our reach.

Through automation, universities can lay a solid foundation for future AI-based solutions. Here we explore how automation – particularly robotic process automation (RPA) – can reshape university operations, streamline processes and improve the student and staff experience.

Why automation?

UK universities are under pressure to provide world-class services in an increasingly digital world. As resources become limited and student expectations increase, automation provides a valuable solution. By reducing administrative burdens, universities can streamline processes and allow staff to focus on more tasks. impactful student engagement and academic support.

At the University of Glasgow, we began our automation journey with these goals in mind. Although we encountered some challenges, the rewards were worth it. Our experiences can provide insights to other institutions considering automation as a tool for empowerment and future readiness.

Set clear objectives and involve stakeholders

To succeed with automation, start by setting clear goals that align with institutional strategy. Our mandate is focused on removing repetitive tasks from processes to improve efficiency and effectiveness. Establishing goals early helped us build consensus and create a shared vision for the role of automation..

Engaging stakeholders from the start is essential, as automation impacts many departments. We collaborated with teams across the university and maintained open communication with unions and key stakeholders such as those in IT, data protection and academic policy. We designed automation as a supporting tool rather than a replacement, and involved stakeholders in design and compliance discussions.

A human-centered approach helped us build trust and set a collaborative tone for the service. Humans at the center are embedded in everything we do, and we take our colleagues with us along the automation journey.

Key considerations for starting your automation journey

Why automation? Define a clear vision and goal for your automation project. Identify specific goals to ensure your efforts align with broader institutional goals.

What should be automated? Automation is not a comprehensive solution. Carefully select tasks suitable for automation while understanding which areas may require other solutions.

Value beyond savings: Saving time and money is just the beginning. Automation can also drive significant transformation within teams, improving efficiency and service quality.

Consider user experience: Plan for unintended consequences. Consider the impact of automation on the student and staff experience, using it to improve interactions rather than simply replacing tasks.

Addressing Data and Process Ownership Challenges

One of our main challenges was the lack of data and clear process ownership. With established benchmarks or limited data practices, it was difficult to measure the impact of automation. In some departments, process ownership was ambiguous, making it difficult to effectively standardize and automate processes.

To address this issue, we worked with departments to digitize records and established baselines using available data. This required a creative approach, drawing on sources such as email records and help desk data. Automation can drive mindset shifts by encouraging departments to identify process owners and invest in data collection practices. By doing so, universities can prepare for more advanced technologies and ensure efficient service delivery.

Critical questions about data preparation and process ownership

What are the baselines? Even limited data can provide a starting point. Establish baselines early on to track progress and evaluate impact.

Who owns each process? Assigning responsibility for processes up front is essential for accountability and continuous improvement.

Are the processes standardized? Look for variability in how different departments handle the same tasks. Automation offers the opportunity to standardize processes, maximizing efficiency and value.

Addressing security and business systems

Information security is crucial, especially when processing sensitive data. Early collaboration with IT and data protection teams ensured compliance and accessibility. Our reliance on enterprise systems presented another challenge, as these don’t always integrate with automation tools. By working closely with system owners and leveraging APIs where possible, we have closed some of these gaps with the goal of minimizing technical debt.

Key steps for enterprise security and systems

Prioritize safety: Involve specialists from the start to establish secure protocols for data processing.

Business Systems Plan: Assess system compatibility in advance and aim to design solutions that reduce technical debt

Building long-term support and resilience

Although automation projects can produce impressive results, the benefits can take time to realize and ongoing investment is required. We have gained long-term support by regularly reporting on impact and demonstrating our value. Showing how automation saved staff time and improved service quality helped us work with departments to demonstrate the value of automation.

Instead of relying on external support, we chose to build an internal team, which guarantees long-term resilience and flexibility. This approach reduces costs and ensures we retain the expertise needed to continue evolving with intelligent automation.

Provide ongoing support and develop internal expertise

Demonstrate value continuously: Regular updates with impact metrics and reporting help justify continued investments and ensure executive support.

Develop internal capabilities: Build a competent internal team to maintain flexibility, avoid reliance on costly external support, and improve institutional knowledge.

Transforming university operations through automation

Automation has already transformed many processes at the University of Glasgow. At the time of writing, we have delivered 25 virtual workers across 15 departments, saving the equivalent of over 20,000 hours of working time, while providing benefits such as cost reduction, risk prevention, improved compliance, reductions in waiting times and an improved experience.

The long term vision for automation is for it to become an integral part of what we do at the university, helping to eliminate manual and repetitive processes across the institution. The benefits are numerous: for our professional services staff, who have the time to focus on higher value-added activities and advance their work further up the value chain.

For our academic staff, this is yet another step back and an opportunity to focus more on core research and teaching activities. For those receiving services, automation can improve the experience by providing more consistent service, reducing wait times, and ultimately creating a smoother, more satisfying process.

Moving forward with automation

Automation is a continuous journey. Success in this area requires flexibility, collaboration and adaptability. With thoughtful planning and a willingness to adapt, other universities can leverage automation to improve operations and create a positive impact for students and staff.

Steps to success

• Have a clear vision, define objectives and involve stakeholders from the start
• Choose compatible tools, use drivers first and work in partnership with specialized teams
• Build a dedicated team and invest in their training and development
• Addressing Data and Process Ownership Challenges
• Ensure security and plan business systems
• Capture and share the benefits and value that automation enables

We hope that by sharing the lessons we’ve learned and offering practical steps, others can also navigate the complexities of automation.

Gregor Caldow is Executive Director of Finance and Executive Sponsor of Automation and Jennifer Robertson is Head of Automation, both at the University of Glasgow. They were preselected in the Technological or Digital Innovation of the Year 2024 category. THE Rewards. A full list of nominees can be found here. The awards will be presented at a ceremony in Birmingham on November 28, 2024.

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