Choose an automation partnership, not an automation platform

Looking for a new automation platform is difficult and switching from one platform to another is daunting. But it shouldn’t be. And, with the right automation vendor, it isn’t.

The technological landscape is changing the way the world does business. Automation drastically increases efficiency while reducing labor costs and human error. It is transforming business as we know it.

But the automation landscape is changing rapidly as well. Major players in the industry are being acquired by large technology and investment firms. These moves threaten to upend or adversely impact the IT ecosystem of businesses that need or currently use automation.

While the automation industry gets rocked by these major moves, it’s time to search for stability and surety.

Why major acquisitions matter

Two automation giants were recently purchased by larger companies. Broadcom bought CA Technologies as part of an as-yet unclear strategic move. KKR acquired BMC to expand their technology portfolio. Both acquisitions will impact their clients going forward.

Being subsumed by larger companies means a shift in focus from services to profit. When a company gets bought, they must quickly show their value. That value can come from increased prices and less-friendly licenses. In short, being part of a corporation means paying attention to numbers first.

Unfortunately, the numbers are only half the story. The other half is the treatment that smaller and mid-sized businesses get from larger corporations. To maximize profits, larger automation companies cater to companies featured in or aiming toward the Fortune 500. Other clients and prospects can expect a generic touch—one that doesn’t have the time or flexibility to provide unparalleled service or support.

Automation partners vs automation platforms

There are two ways to think about automation and automation vendors. Both schools of thought are valid approaches to automation, but they have subtle, extensive implications.

The first way is to think of automation as a product or service. Vendors can offer automation to clients as part of a service agreement and as a platform. In this model, the vendor builds a set of practices that allow them to automate a good deal of most IT ecosystems. They offer this set of practices—this package—to their clients, who pay them for a loose set of powerful capabilities.

The second way to think of automation is as a series of collaborative processes. Vendors can partner with businesses and work together to achieve the desired level of automation. Instead of offering a product, they offer a mutually-beneficial partnership. The thought behind this approach is that automation needs are different for every company, and so each partner requires its own bespoke, customized touch.

For organizations whose needs are basic, choosing between a platform and a partner might not make a large difference. For those whose needs can’t be met by a one-size-fits-all solution, an automation partnership makes far more sense.

Where partnerships shine in the automation landscape

Vendors who push automation partnerships over automation platforms do business differently. Their priorities are in seeing the success of their partners rather than the wallets of their shareholders.

SMA Technologies is a private company, so our priority is to service, not profit. We’re client-focused rather than numbers-focused. Perhaps unsurprisingly, that has been one of our greatest strengths—it has allowed us to take more time and care to get things right every time. We’re not satisfied until our clients are.

Any good partnership thrives on complementary roles. Your organization has its area of expertise, and SMA has ours. Our role is to help you do yours better through our workload automation platform, OpCon. To that end, we focus exclusively on automation. SMA’s technical staff is dedicated to and passionate about automation. We don’t hire random tech staff—we hire automation experts, all of whom specialize in various aspects of automation.

SMA’s history of automation partnerships

SMA has approached automation as a partnership since its start. Our aim is to help our clients achieve their goals, and we measure our success by our clients’ success.

We take pride in what we’ve helped our clients build. If their feedback is any indication, our clients are very happy as well:

• We have 4.8 of 5 stars from Gartner Peer Insights
• Our Net Promoter Score is 69 (A measure of client loyalty; 50+ is deemed “excellent”)
• Nearly all SMA clients remain on our OpCon platform

Our commitment to ensuring our partners find the solution they need is unwavering. One need only look at how we helped TruWest Credit Union.

How OpCon automation helped TruWest Credit Union

TruWest was running almost all their processes manually; their seven-page run sheet had to be managed by three employees on staggered shifts.

With OpCon we automated most of those daily tasks within six weeks, resulting in a two-page run sheet. But we didn’t stop there. We continued working with TruWest, finding new tasks to automate. Today, TruWest’s run sheet is only half a page.

The credit union now saves about 6,500 work-hours per year. Plus, because automation reduces human error, TruWest estimates that OpCon saves them around $2,000 per month in error correction.

TruWest is highly satisfied with the OpCon platform as well as our world-class client service and support. Of all the vendors they’ve ever dealt with, SMA Technologies and OpCon are one of two they’ve dealt with who delivered success.