Embracing the
Cognitive Era
Using automation to break
transformation barriers —
and make every employee an
innovator.
January 2016
kpmg.com
© 2016 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership and the U.S. member firm of the KPMG network of independent
member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
. Contents
The answer: cognitive automation
ï‚·
How we got here– and the next wave of business transformation
ï‚·
Augmenting human skills
ï‚·
Accelerating time to proficiency
ï‚·
4
Scaling expertise across the enterprise
How to get started with cognitive automation
ï‚·
Innovation discovery
ï‚·
Vendor landscape
ï‚·
Strategy and roadmap
ï‚·
10
Implementation
About the author
© 2016 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership and the U.S. member firm of the KPMG network of independent
member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
13
. Embracing the cognitive era | Using automation to break transformation barriers-and make every employee an innovator
Steve Jobs said innovation is the difference between leaders and followers.
Indeed, in today’s fast-moving environment, innovation drives economic growth
and competitive advantage. That is why most business leaders see it as one of
their top three priorities.
But the business of innovation is hard, and the biggest spenders are not always the
most successful. In fact, in a global innovation study, only 25 percent of enterprises
were effectively generating new ideas and turning them into market success,1 due
largely to a lack of time, capital, and talent.
Companies have tried various strategies to overcome these constraints. Google,
for example, encouraged employees to dedicate 20 percent of their time to
experimenting with their own ideas.2 IBM has flirted on and off with “Think
Fridays,” reserving a weekly afternoon for employees to literally just think.3 Other
firms are creating innovation labs with top-notch talent, an exclusive focus on
innovation, and guaranteed access to capital.
But why should such innovation be restricted only to a select group of employees
or a certain slot of time? What if every employee had all the time and resources
that he or she needs to be an innovator? What if you could transform your
enterprise into an engine of unconstrained innovation?
[1]
Booz & Company, The 2012 Global Innovation 1000
[2]
The Google Way: Give Engineers Room, New York Times, October 21, 2007
[3]
IBM Think Fridays: Time to become innovative, Big Think, 2007
© © 2016 KPMG LLP, Delaware limited liability partnership and the U.S.
member firm ofof the KPMG network of independent
2016 KPMG LLP, a a Delaware limited liability partnership and the U.S. member firm the KPMG network of independent
member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity.
All rights reserved.
4
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Embracing the cognitive era | Using automation to break transformation barriers-and make every employee an innovator
The answer:
cognitive automation
The cognitive systems era, which is the most exciting phase of enterprise transformation in
more than a century, is upon us. Cognitive software mimics human activities such as
perceiving, inferring, gathering evidence, hypothesizing, and reasoning. And when
combined with advanced automation, these systems can be trained to execute judgmentintensive tasks.
As such, cognitive automation is creating a new class of digital labor that can enhance
human skills and expertise, making every employee an innovator. And instead of innovating
just on Fridays or with 20 percent of their time, employees will innovate all the time,
transforming the enterprise into an engine of innovation.
© 2016 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership and the U.S.
member firm of the KPMG network of independent
member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
. Embracing the cognitive era | Using automation to break transformation barriers-and make every employee an innovator
How we got here—and the next wave of business transformation
The modern enterprise, born in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, operates at the
intersection of people and process. Historically, technology has been a consistent catalyst
for enterprise transformation .
15 Yrs
35 Yrs
100 Yrs
5 Yrs
Enterprise
Innovation
Smarter
Enterprise
Global Integrated
Enterprise
Process
Reengineering
Process
Production
Engineering
Industrial
Productivity
1
Process
Improvement
2
Cost
Arbitrage
3
Internet
Systems
4
5
New Leverage
Model
Big Data &
Analytics
Cognitive
Systems
Cloud & the
Internet of
Things
Information
Systems
Mechanical
Systems
People
The mechanical
systems era spawned
machines that could
augment human
labor by mimicking
human musculoskeletal functions.
The assembly line was
born, as business
leaders sought to
improve industrial
productivity.
Beginning in the late
1950s and early
1960s, companies
created information
systems to codify
critical business
processes and automate common tasks.
Through the late
1990s, leaders focused on improving
productivity by
reengineering
business processes
— with the help of
enterprise resource
planning, supply
chain management,
and customer
relationship
management.
By the early 2000s,
as enterprise
productivity
plateaued, business
leaders seized on
the opportunity for
labor cost arbitrage
in emerging markets. Organizations
became globally
integrated, using
shared services,
outsourcing, and
offshoring to shift
previously codified
business processes
to geographically
scattered, low-cost
labor pools — all
connected by the
internet.
In recent years,
enterprises have
leveraged the long
tail of the internet era
to become smarter
and more connected
— through social,
mobile, analytics,
and cloud.
Today, the advent of
cognitive automation
is the most exciting
phase of enterprise
transformation in
more than a century.
Cognitive systems
are poised to bring
new, unprecedented
levels of automation
and productivity to
functions throughout
the enterprise,
including those
traditionally driven
by human judgment
and experience.
© 2016 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership and the U.S. member firm of the KPMG network of independent
member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity.
All rights reserved.
5
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Embracing the cognitive era | Using automation to break transformation barriers-and make every employee an innovator
Cognitive automation is a new strategy for transformation. It puts unconstrained innovation
well within reach by:
ï‚·
Augmenting human skills, enabling employees to contribute new insights. With cognitive
software at their side, generalists can behave like specialists and less experienced
employees can perform like seasoned veterans. For example, a young tax accountant who
once may have struggled to interpret a general ledger can now use a cognitive system to
instantly analyze enterprise transactions and effortlessly translate GAAP accounts (prepared
with generally accepted accounting principles) into tax accounts.
Moreover, this accountant
can simultaneously learn why certain line items are treated the way they are.
A physician, meanwhile, can use a cognitive system to read a patient’s medical records and
uncover innovative treatment protocols by researching a vast, constantly evolving body of
knowledge.
Cognitive
Automation
A new class of digital labor
Cognitive automation is the
convergence of robotic process
automation and cognitive technologies.
These cognitive systems — including
natural language processing, machine
learning, data analytics, and
probabilistic reasoning — can perform
tasks that have historically required
human intelligence and situational
analysis.
© 2016 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership and the U.S. member firm of the KPMG network of independent
member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
.
Embracing the cognitive era | Using automation to break transformation barriers-and make every employee an innovator
Digital labor helps employees tackle unfamiliar
A different kind of leverage model
professional situations and contribute new
insights to the enterprise. For example, a
paralegal who traditionally used, say, LexisNexis
to identify legal precedent is no longer limited by
Cognitive automation is poised to
remove constraints on people, time,
and capital throughout the
enterprise:
the size of the knowledge base or the time
required to search, analyze, and synthesize the
findings into a compelling rationale. Instead, by
Casual expert
Skilled expert
using cognitive software to analyze massive
amounts of structured and unstructured data, he
or she can now research everything in a short
period—and suggest new ideas that the legal
team previously had not considered. In this way,
ACCELERATE
time to
employee
proficiency
Inexperienced employee
Seasoned veteran
Speed and
responsiveness
cognitive automation helps employees evolve
quickly from casual experts to professionals with
deep skills.
Similarly, an auditor can use a cognitive system to
Value through
new insights
AUGMENT
decisions in the
moment
Reduced risk
significantly improve his or her analysis of a
company’s books.
Instead of reviewing just the
Consistency of output
past 10 years, he or she can review the past 100
years—and potentially uncover new correlations
and historical anomalies that could point to
Pursuit of adjacencies
previously unknown risks. In short, cognitive
systems can significantly help professionals solve
routine and unfamiliar problems, so they can dis-
Revenue growth —
without the proportional
growth in headcount
cover new insights and innovative ways to do
their jobs. And this discovery will not be relegated
to one afternoon a week; it will potentially be in
every minute of their professional life.
© 2016 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership and the U.S.
member firm of the KPMG network of independent
member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
SCALE
expertise
within the
enterprise
7
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Embracing the cognitive era | Using automation to break transformation barriers-and make every employee an innovator
Overcoming the barriers to innovation
ï‚·
Accelerating time to proficiency.
With the help of digital labor, new
employees—both untrained and
professional—can quickly assimilate into the
enterprise culture and begin delivering on
key performance indicators. In a call center,
for example, a new agent may typically
spend considerable time training in
knowledge bases and other systems before
When it comes to innovation, most
organizations face hurdles related to talent,
capital, and time. Cognitive automation is a
way to surmount them.
Skills and talent gaps
Issue: Due to a lack of skills, training, and
knowledge, many workforces are not
capable of driving innovation effectively.
Solution: Digital labor augments human
intelligence to make employees more
knowledgeable and productive.
Example: A machine analyzes massive
amounts of cancer research in the time it
would take a human to analyze a single
study.
taking a call in a live customer support
environment. But by using cognitive software—in the form of a digital assistant—a
relatively inexperienced agent can become
proficient much more quickly, answering
questions that typically would be fielded by
more seasoned veterans.
As baby boomers
leave the workforce and millennials enter it,
companies can use cognitive assistants to
bridge the expertise gap.
Capital gaps
Issue: Amid competing priorities, valuable
resources are often devoted to immediate
needs and not to higher-level, innovative
pursuits.
Solution: Digital labor helps workers
complete mundane, routine, lower-level
tasks more efficiently, so they can add
value through innovation.
Example: A top U.S. bank used robotic
process automation to resolve more than
half of its information-technology-related
incidents without human intervention*,
freeing up IT staff to work on businessadvancing initiatives.
Time gaps
Issue: Many enterprises innovate too slowly
to seize emerging opportunities and
separate themselves from competitors.
Solution: Digital labor enables employees to
devote more of their time to creative, high
-value work that increases company
agility.
Example: A finance professional who
previously spent half his workday
processing transactions now has time to
evaluate new cost-saving opportunities for
the firm.
*How Digital Labor Is Transforming IT, CIO
Insight, 2014
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member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity.
All rights reserved.
. Embracing the cognitive era | Using automation to break transformation barriers-and make every employee an innovator
ï‚·
9
Scaling expertise across the enterprise.
An enterprise is a function of talent and expertise across the ranks. That is why companies
spend billions each year to acquire the right employees, identify the best performers,
codify their characteristics, and diffuse them throughout the organization—so all
employees can function like the best employees. With cognitive systems, this process of
scaling expertise becomes much easier. Cognitive systems can observe and learn from top
performers—and quickly transfer those learnings to other employees.
Cognitive systems
can be trained on the basis of the top performers and then used to assist and augment
other employees in a digital assistant mode.
So whether you are looking at the back office, middle office, or front office, cognitive
systems can help you overcome the traditional barriers of time, capital, and talent to scale
expertise across the enterprise. These systems can also improve the quality and
consistency of output.
One of the most profound examples is in the healthcare industry. Leading medical
institutions such as Memorial Sloan Kettering are using cognitive systems to quickly scale
medical expertise to distant markets such as the Middle East and Asia, where local doctors
may not have the same knowledge or training as their U.S.
counterparts. These local
doctors are being assisted by specialist trained cognitive systems when they diagnose and
treat patients, bringing advanced diagnosis and treatment assistance in the form of
cognitive assistants. Thanks to this innovation, these institutions are providing overseas
patients with high-quality healthcare, previously unavailable in these markets.
Ultimately, the cognitive era will likely unleash transformative enterprise growth through
unconstrained innovation, so you can reduce risk, respond more quickly to market
demands, and pursue adjacent opportunities.
© 2016 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership and the U.S.
member firm of the KPMG network of independent
member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
. 10
Embracing the cognitive era | Using automation to break transformation barriers-and make every employee an innovator
How to get started with
cognitive automation
Innovation leaders see cognitive automation not just as technology implementation—but
part of a holistic strategy that reaches across the enterprise, potentially improving the
performance of every employee. Want to harness digital labor for enterprise innovation?
Consider these four phases:
4
3
2
1
Implementation
Strategy & roadmap
Vendor landscape
Innovation discovery
Change Management
Governance Model
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member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
.
Embracing the cognitive era | Using automation to break transformation barriers-and make every employee an innovator
1
11
Innovation discovery:
With your industry leadership at stake, it is critical to navigate the complexities of cognitive
automation and evaluate its potential in your enterprise—and do so quickly. To start and
sustain the cognitive automation journey, determine what the disruptive trend will mean for
your business processes, people, and culture. What are the benefits of digital labor? What are
the cognitive opportunities across functions? How will employees do their jobs differently?
Your innovation discovery should culminate in a clear understanding of these factors, so you
can prepare the organization for significant transformation.
2
Vendor landscape:
Cognitive automation vendors have varying levels of maturity and capability, so it is
important to separate hype from reality and choose the right solution for your needs. Do
you need a niche software provider with narrow applications, such as digital assistants for
retail customer service? Do you need a vendor for configurable process robotics software?
Or is it best to seek a provider of more comprehensive platforms in artificial intelligence
and machine learning?
Ultimately, vendor selection should align with your strategy for creating enterprise value,
balancing short-term quick wins with long-term game changers.
Also consider how
vendors will complement your internal capabilities.
© 2016 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership and the U.S. member firm of the KPMG network of independent
member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
.
12
3
Embracing the cognitive era | Using automation to break transformation barriers-and make every employee an innovator
Strategy and roadmap:
To help ensure success in the cognitive automation journey, determine where to start and
how to progress. Your strategy and roadmap should include prioritized use cases, along with
“cognitive moments” that represent transformative opportunities, plus quantified benefits, a
high-level solution architecture, and user personas to show how employees will be impacted
by digital labor. This kind of approach will serve as a blueprint for execution.
4
Implementation:
Use a portfolio approach to reduce the risk of your cognitive transformation, while ensuring
that the enterprise can extract value from implementations both simple and complex. For
example, you might want to start with simple robotic process automation for quick value,
which in turn can support more complex cognitive projects.
Cognitive projects take longer to
implement but, accordingly, have a higher business impact. Finally, ensure that technology
teams use modern design thinking and agile methodologies to drive user adoption at every
stage of the implementation roadmap.
Just as critical to sustained success is a model for change management and governance,
which should have the full commitment of leadership and underpin all four phases of the
transformation journey. This model helps ensure that the cognitive automation vision—to
transform the enterprise into an engine of unconstrained innovation—becomes a reality, with
buy-in from all parts of the organization.
© 2016 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership and the U.S.
member firm of the KPMG network of independent
member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
. Embracing the cognitive era | Using automation to break transformation barriers-and make every employee an innovator
13
About KPMG
Working collaboratively and pragmatically alongside our clients, KPMG helps
organizations improve service delivery models, reduce support costs, and drive
specific business outcomes in order to achieve sustainable, continuous
improvements and competitive advantage.
Our Numbers
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Providing services to 76 percent of FOTUNE
Global 500 companies
Supporting thousands of transformations
Beginning-to-end-experience
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Functional breadth
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Industry-specific experience
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Technology and governance services
Extensive data and analytics
Proprietary research, tools, and intellectual
property
Industry relationships
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Hundreds of advisory professionals globally
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Objectivity as advisors
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Serving clients in 155 countries
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Our Differentiators
Integrated competencies and services
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Embracing the cognitive era | Using automation to break transformation barriers-and make every employee an innovator
Meet the author
Vinodh Swaminathan
Managing Director
Innovation and Enterprise Solutions
T: 203-940-1284
E: vswaminathan@kpmg.com
Vinodh Swaminathan is a leader of KPMG’s initiatives in cognitive
innovation, helping clients use cognitive computing, artificial intelligence,
robotics, and other technologies to enable digital labor. With more than 20
years of experience in strategy, operations, and business transformation,
Vinodh is a leading authority on market development, innovation, and growth
management.
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member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
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