📢 Launching a pilot automation project is easy. Scaling it? That’s where most companies struggle.
What CIOs Are Getting Right (and Wrong) About Automation in 2025
2025 is a defining year for automation.
Enterprises are doubling down on digital transformation, but not all CIOs are navigating this shift effectively. While some are scaling RPA and intelligent automation to drive measurable business outcomes, others are stuck in pilot purgatory, fighting resistance, or drowning in complexity.
What separates leaders from laggards?
In this article, we break down what successful CIOs are doing differently—and the most common traps others fall into. If you’re shaping your organization’s automation future, this is your benchmark.
What Successful CIOs Are Doing Right
✅ 1. Aligning Automation with Business Goals
Winning CIOs aren’t just automating processes—they’re solving business problems. They ask:
- Will this automation improve customer experience?
- Can we measure ROI through saved hours, reduced errors, or improved SLAs?
- Does this tie into our growth strategy?
Automation without context is just noise.
✅ 2. Creating Cross-Functional Governance
Leaders establish clear structures for automation:
- Centers of Excellence (CoEs)
- Automation councils with IT, ops, and business units
- Standardized intake, prioritization, and KPI tracking
This creates accountability and avoids duplicated efforts or shadow automation.
✅ 3. Thinking Beyond RPA
RPA is a starting point—not the whole solution. Strategic CIOs are combining:
- RPA + AI for intelligent automation
- RPA + APIs for stronger integrations
- RPA + human-in-the-loop workflows for flexibility and scale
They focus on end-to-end process optimization, not just task automation.
✅ 4. Investing in Citizen Developers
Empowering business users with low-code tools creates scale. It also:
- Uncovers new automation opportunities
- Reduces IT bottlenecks
- Builds automation culture from the ground up
Of course, governance is key—but enablement drives velocity.
Common Mistakes That Stall CIO-Led Automation
❌ 1. Focusing Too Much on Tools
Some CIOs chase platforms instead of outcomes. Buying licenses doesn’t equal automation success. The real questions are:
- Is your team trained?
- Are processes well-documented?
- Is there a feedback loop to improve over time?
A Ferrari doesn’t help if there’s no one to drive it.
❌ 2. Ignoring Change Management
Automation changes roles, responsibilities, and workflows. CIOs who fail to manage expectations and involve stakeholders early face:
- Resistance from staff
- Low adoption
- Disconnected bots with no long-term value
Great automation leaders are also great communicators.
❌ 3. Measuring the Wrong Metrics
Tracking “number of bots deployed” or “hours saved” isn’t enough.
Top-performing CIOs look at:
- Impact on KPIs like cycle time, error rate, compliance
- Business unit satisfaction with automated workflows
- Time to value per automation
📊 Your automation strategy deserves smarter metrics and stronger traction.
Talk to AF Robotics about building a KPI-driven automation roadmap.
👉 Schedule a strategy session today
Checklist: Are You on the Right Path?
Ask yourself:
- Does automation live only in IT?
- Do your business units submit automation ideas regularly?
- Are your bots tied to business value metrics?
- Do you have a governance model in place?
- Are you leveraging orchestration and analytics?
If not, there’s room to strengthen your foundation.
How AF Robotics Supports Strategic CIOs
We partner with technology leaders to:
- Design automation programs aligned with business strategy
- Train teams on opportunity discovery and prioritization
- Build dashboards for real-time KPI tracking
- Orchestrate end-to-end automation across business units
- Ensure technology investment translates into results
