Becoming Autonomous: Lessons from The Washington Post

In the fast-moving landscape of technology, business leaders are challenging their organizations to do more with less. More and more, that gap is being bridged with automation. But those pushing for change recognize the limitations of simple task automations and seek more impactful and transformative solutions that optimize and automate complex, end-to-end enterprise processes that cross teams, systems, and functions.

This is where agentic process automation (APA) enters the scene, combining cognitive capabilities with actionable automation to pave the way for the autonomous enterprise.

Expecting more from automation

As organizations strive for greater efficiency, teams face the daunting task of managing increasing workloads without the luxury of expanding staff.

For the past few decades, robotic process automation (RPA) has been the go-to solution for taking tasks off human workers' plates by automating repetitive tasks. For a call center agent taking a customer's call, RPA automatically searches across systems to bring all of a customer’s information to a single screen. That shortens call time and allows agents to focus more on customer engagement than administrative tasks.

RPA tools have helped but often fall short in scalability and adaptability. More recently, AI-powered automations combine AI and RPA to automate repetitive tasks, gather data, and make decisions, extending automation to more complex processes. As enterprises realize the potential, they seek complete platforms to holistically connect, secure, and orchestrate AI and automation. That's APA.

Automation's evolution is APA

APA represents a significant evolution in automation, moving beyond rule-based tasks and adding cognitive capabilities to take on complex processes. What elevates APA is how it orchestrates AI agents as they handle subprocesses, uses machine learning and generative AI to interpret data and guide agents, and adjusts plans to complete processes without human intervention.

APA advances the concept of enterprise automation, making the autonomous enterprise possible by enabling teams to focus on higher-value tasks that drive innovation and growth. And it allows this today.

What organizations need, then, is scalability, speed, and control in an APA platform. Quickly finding the right processes to automate and using low-code tools so every worker can build AI agents drives scalability. AI that designs automations and extracts and injects data from documents and workflows brings speed. Tight orchestration and security add control.

Real-world applications: Transforming operations at The Washington Post

A recent webinar featuring representatives from The Washington Post illustrates how APA is transforming the future of automation. Patrick Burton, Head of IT and Infrastructure Engineering, and Linda Bodkin, Director of Enterprise Systems, shared insights into their journey of integrating AI agents into their operations. They recognized this challenge and sought a more advanced solution with APA.

During the webinar, Patrick emphasized that The Washington Post is leveraging Automation Anywhere's Agentic Process Automation System to enhance its operations across various departments. With its recent shift to AI-powered automation, the company aims to automate up to 80% of tasks, unlocking substantial ROI in a fraction of the time previously required.

The company's initial focus on APA has yielded promising use cases across different business units. For instance, they are implementing APA for customer care by using AI to categorize support tickets, significantly reducing manual effort. Similarly, they are automating invoice processing, allowing the team to evaluate 100% of invoices rather than being limited by manual capacity.

Linda shared that their approach involves establishing a center of excellence (CoE) to ensure alignment and support across all stakeholders. By engaging teams from different departments, the company has identified key use cases demonstrating APA's power while providing a strong ROI from time savings, efficiency gains, and overall impact on employee productivity.

Using Automation Anywhere, The Washington Post expects to break even on their investments within 18 to 24 months and unlock new opportunities for automation that will further enhance their operational efficiency.

What makes APA compelling here is that the company is doing this today. It’s automating processes across disconnected systems, using a single solution to build, orchestrate, and control AI and automations, and empowering developers and non-technical workers to build AI agents at scale.

The future is autonomous

The autonomous enterprise is here, but success requires the right approach and solutions. By embracing APA with Automation Anywhere's Agentic Process Automation System, companies like The Washington Post are creating a future where routine processes are handled by AI, allowing teams to focus on innovation and strategic growth.

Looking ahead, the potential of APA is vast, and its ability to integrate seamlessly with existing systems enhances its appeal. For enterprises striving to do more with less, the time to explore APA is now.