--- title: We’re about to see an automation rush - but first there is groundwork to be laid description: Automation adoption is about to accelerate, but success is far from guaranteed. With economic recovery at stake, businesses risk making the same short-termist mistakes that have seen automation invest image: https://blog.cognitionhq.com/hubfs/pexels-kindel-media-8566472.jpg --- [![Cognition_logo_white_RGB-1](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Cognition_logo_white_RGB-1.png?width=225&height=76&name=Cognition_logo_white_RGB-1.png)](https://www.cognitionhq.com/) [Get in touch](https://www.cognitionhq.com/get-in-touch) ▼ ENG ESP POR - [Services](https://www.cognitionhq.com/#How%20we%20do%20it) - [Clients](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/case-studies) - [News](http://www.cognitionhq.com/content-hub) - [Careers](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/we-are-hiring/we-are-hiring) - [Who we are](http://www.cognitionhq.com/about-us) [Get in touch](https://www.cognitionhq.com/get-in-touch) ▼ ENG ESP POR # We’re about to see an automation rush - but first there is groundwork to be laid [Back to Blog](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/blog) by James Hall | 1 mins read Automation adoption is about to accelerate, but success is far from guaranteed. With economic recovery at stake, businesses risk making the same short-termist mistakes that have seen automation investments fail to succeed at scale over the past decade. Before rushing into quick fixes, business leaders should remember the old adage: **haste makes waste.**  Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said last week the company had seen [“two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months”](https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/microsoft-sees-yearlong-digital-transformation-happen-in-2-months-nadella-120043000184_1.html) thanks to coronavirus shifting everything online. [41% of respondents](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/30/bosses-speed-up-automation-as-virus-keeps-workers-home) to an EY survey said they were investing in accelerating automation as businesses prepared for a post-crisis world. But unless businesses can lay the foundation for successful projects - a vision for strategic growth, human augmentation and cleared process debt - then this could all backfire.  **Avoid repeating quick-fix mistakes of the past decade** Is this automation’s gold rush equivalent? If so, businesses should slow down and remind themselves that automation alone is rarely the answer, and jumping in at the deep end often leads to aimlessness and confusion. No singular tool can deliver profound transformation. The pitfalls of adoption are laid out bare in joint research from KPMG and HFS Research (below), which demonstrates that for all of the past decade’s investment in slick emerging technologies, the majority of businesses have failed to scale-up and industrialise for a truly transformative impact.  ## Further Reading [Intelligent Automation](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/blog/tag/intelligent-automation) | [Intelligent Automation Collective](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/blog/tag/intelligent-automation-collective) ### [Intelligent Automation Collective launches IA Guide Book](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/blog/intelligent-automation-collective-launches-ia-guide-book) [Read](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/blog/intelligent-automation-collective-launches-ia-guide-book) Press Releases | 1 mins read The potential of smart automation has soared as the result of advances in core AI technologies and the availability of vast, affordable computing power on demand via the cloud. It is transforming the way all kinds of organisations capture information, manage processes and deliver services. ### [Scalable learning vs Scalable efficiency](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/blog/scalable-learning-vs-scalable-efficiency) [Read](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/blog/scalable-learning-vs-scalable-efficiency) David Poole | 3 mins read Automation is shaping virtually every institution on the planet, from small and medium sized enterprises right through to government organizations. But its success or failure will in large part be driven by the mindsets adopted by business leaders. [AI](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/blog/tag/ai) | [Pharma](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/blog/tag/pharma) ### [How automation and AI are revolutionising Pharma](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/blog/how-automation-and-ai-are-revolutionising-pharma) [Read](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/blog/how-automation-and-ai-are-revolutionising-pharma) David Poole | 3 mins read Cognition Exec Chairman David Poole says that technology is transforming the pharmaceutical industry ### [The five pitfalls of Automation in the service-desk sector](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/blog/the-five-pitfalls-of-automation-in-the-service-desk-sector) [Read](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/blog/the-five-pitfalls-of-automation-in-the-service-desk-sector) David Poole | 3 mins read First mistake: Starting with the Technology Transformation and change is hardly ever about the technology. In fact I would say that the choice of technology should be somewhere towards the end of strategic decision making. Perhaps that makes me a fox in the hen-house talking to service desk professionals? [![Cognition](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Cognition_Final%20logosRGBPNGCognition_logo_white_RGB.png?width=250&name=Cognition_Final%20logosRGBPNGCognition_logo_white_RGB.png)](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/) - [About Us](http://www.cognitionhq.com/about-us) - [Services](https://www.cognitionhq.com/#How%20we%20do%20it) - [Clients](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/case-studies) - [News](http://www.cognitionhq.com/content-hub) - [Careers](https://blog.cognitionhq.com/we-are-hiring/we-are-hiring) - [Privacy Policy](http://www.cognitionhq.com/privacy-policy) UK 1 Old Queen Street, London, England --- USA 429 Lenox Ave., Miami Beach, Florida --- Argentina Av. del Libertador 6680, Buenos Aires --- Brasil Av. Brg. Faria Lima, 1811 -Jardim Paulistano, São Paulo - SP,01452-001