CrowdStrike outage redefines business resilience, process mining a “missing link” in public sector – PEX Research & Reports News

PEX Network’s weekly news bulletin rounds up the latest research, reports and publications in operational excellence (OPEX), digital transformation, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, business process management (BPM), process mining and process intelligence and more.

This week includes:

• Global IT outage calls for redefinition of business resilience
• Process mining the missing link between public sector digitalization and digital transformation
• Intelligence augmentation key to safety process operations
• Science-backed approach to change enhances success of business transformation

Global IT outage calls for redefinition of business resilience

The recent global IT outage caused by an update issue at cyber security firm CrowdStrike calls for a redefinition of business resilience, according to a new Forrester report. On July 19, a mass computer issue took much of the world’s infrastructure offline, impacting global airlines, banks, healthcare and retail organizations. The issue caused what is commonly referred to as a “Blue Screen of Death” (BSOD) loop on Windows. This is a system crash, where the Windows operating system can no longer operate.

“Crises like these shine a bright light on many aspects of business and tech, from strategic vendor relationships to your IT workers laboring in the trenches,” wrote Charles Betz, research director at Forrester. “As the dust settles on the immediate crisis, technology leaders face the unfolding long-term repercussions. With the significant impact of the event, it’s crucial for tech leaders to brace for probing inquiries from executives, board members, customers and employees alike.”

To prevent a recurrence and to rebuild trust with these key stakeholders, a thorough reassessment of concentration risk, third-party risk and auto-update strategies is imperative, he added. “This necessitates a critical review of IT management, monitoring of vital infrastructure and the robustness of incident response.”

READ: How BPM builds business resilience

Process mining the missing link between public sector digitalization and digital transformation

A new survey-based study assessed perceptions surrounding process mining in the digital transformation of the Italian public sector. The researchers administered a questionnaire to a sample of Italian civil servants working in different public organizations, discovering a “positive attitude” towards the introduction process mining along with opportunities and challenges related to both technical and social systems. “The triangulation between close-ended and open-ended questions suggests that process mining could be the missing link between public sector digitalization and digital transformation. These findings can be used by policymakers to develop the best strategies to introduce process mining into public organizations and support its adoption, and by researchers to further explore process mining role in public sector digital transformation.”

READ: A summary of Gartner’s 2024 Magic Quadrant™ for Process Mining Solutions

Intelligence augmentation key to safety process operations

Researchers assessed the challenges and benefits of using intelligence augmentation (IA) – where AI collaborates with human intelligence (HI) – in process safety systems. The article, published in the AIChE Journal, explored an AI approach to process safety alongside humans rather than replacing them in operational decision-making. “This research aims to develop a comprehensive framework based on IA that integrates AI and HI into process safety systems, ensuring enhanced safety and efficiency,” said Dr. Rajeevan Arunthavanathan, one of the researchers. “We aim to provide a clear understanding of the potential and limitations of AI, propose IA strategies for their effective implementation to minimize risks and improve safety outcomes.”

The paper concluded that, in process plant operations, collaboration between HI and AI and developing an IA-based system results in a better solution in terms of process safety. However, when utilizing IA in process plant operation, the crucial challenge is addressing the conflict between AI and HI, it added. Therefore, it is essential to develop suitable risk assessment methods to evaluate the risk of AI and AI-human collaboration.

Tariq Munir, APAC financial planning transformation lead at PepsiCo, discusses how to measure the impact of AI and intelligent automation as part of PEX Network's All Access: Intelligent Automation 2024

Science-backed approach to change enhances success of business transformation

Leveraging behavioral science and AI to drive change initiatives is key to higher, better and faster returns on business transformations. That’s according to a new report from Accenture which found that 96 percent of global organizations are planning to invest more than 5 percent of their total revenues in change initiatives over the next three years. That’s despite only 30 percent of surveyed C-suite leaders being confident in their change capabilities. Accenture’s report underscores the value of building continuous change capabilities for achieving more predictable, positive impact across the business.

“The business context continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace and the need for a more systematic and evidence-based approach to change is clear,” commented Karalee Close, global lead of talent and organization at Accenture. “All leaders need to be successful at leading change in order to develop culture and activate strategy – it’s fundamental to growth, resilience and innovation.” What’s interesting about the latest research is that it demonstrates the link between change capabilities and successful outcomes, Close added. “It’s not just about keeping up – it’s about creating positive change to get ahead. Only by approaching change less as an art driven by intuition and more as a science backed by data and evidence, can organizations navigate the complexities of modern reinvention.”

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