Automation is the shiny bullet for inefficiency in South Africa’s rapidly evolving, fast-paced business environment. But for many organisations, they are running in place after already spending months and sometimes millions on automated solutions that do provide much value. The real issue? They’re solving the wrong problems.
The consulting and technology firm Kodah, which specialises in intelligent automation, has become a leader in guiding companies past pieces on the chessboard of what to automate and why. Their approach, grounded in systems thinking and practical innovation, provides a blueprint for South African companies that want to do more strategic and thoughtful automation.
A closely related phenomenon is pointed out by London and Mather in their excellent book “The New Science of Retailing” [13]:
From the white-collar financial world of Sandton to the blue-collar logistics centres in Durban, companies across industries embrace automation tools with good intentions. Robotic Process Automation (RPA), AI-driven bots and workflow platforms all offer the hope of efficiency. Yet when they are deployed without understanding the root issues, they can exacerbate inefficiencies rather than fix them.
Many automation projects blow up, Kodah’s team wrote, because leaders focus on the technology, not the pain. The question is not “How can we automate this?”, but rather, “Should we even be automating this?”
Kodah’s Framework: The Right Problem, the Right Solution
Kodah’s model breaks down the process of automation planning into four interconnected stages, designed to make sure businesses are automating with purpose and power:
1. Diagnose
This is a stage of stepping back and looking at friction in the round. Kodah challenges teams to move beyond surface-level complaints — slow processing times, for example — and investigate root causes in workflows, communication or policy.
This includes value-stream mapping, worker shadowing, and data-driven pain point analysis. The aim is to find problems worth solving.
2. Prioritise
After diagnosing problems, Kodah’s experts work to evaluate which of those problems really matter. They evaluate potential automation initiatives against three important considerations:
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Actions Taken: what is happening, results
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Impacts to Business: measured value to operations or customers
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Feasibility: technical readiness, availability of data and buy-in from stakeholders
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Sustainability: ability to support and extend the automation
Now activities align themselves with company strategy, not just to ‘quick wins’.
3. Automate
At this point, automation is aimed at addressing the pain points you recognised above. Kodah employs a tech-agnostic approach, so it can tie in whatever works best — low-code solutions to AI-driven decision systems or process orchestration platforms.
Their philosophy: Make technology the enabler, not the end.
4. Evolve
Successful automation isn’t static. Kodah leverages feedback loops to find real-world performance and new windows of opportunity. This iterative process allows businesses to shift from point solutions to continuous improvement — what Kodah refers to as the “automation flywheel.”
Why It Matters for South African Companies
With South African businesses operating in an environment of power instability, cost pressures and increased competition, “automation done right can be a game changer.”
Kodah’s framework is particularly useful in industries where inefficiency saps margins — finance, telecoms, healthcare and retail — and helps leaders:
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Re-concentrate in-house talent on important, strategic engagements
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Reduce rework and compliance risks
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Enhance the customer experience with faster, more accurate replies
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Create flexible operations that are prepared for what’s next
Rather than just pursue trends like AI for the innovation theatre of it all, Kodah assists firms in making automation legible: as reduced costs, higher reliability and real agility.
The Takeaway
Driven of a need for automation, automating itself is bottom-up. Kodah’s model is an important reminder to South African businesses to stop, ask questions and design smartly before rolling out new technology. The companies that win in the coming decade will be those that automate the right things, not simply those that automate most.