The Silent Resolution - How Smart Process Automation is Reshaping Customer Experience and Driving Value

Process automation is not just about eliminating manual tasks and cutting costs. It is the "silent resolution" happening behind the scenes that delivers a standout customer experience while balancing operational efficiency. In this article we explore how process automation is driving value within businesses today.

What customers expect in 2025-2026

Regardless of the industry you are working in, the pressures remain the same: do more, keep your customers happy, and spend less; this is no longer just a goal but a necessary survival strategy.

As the digital experience becomes increasingly seamless and AI tools continue to transform how businesses operate, customer expectations are evolving at a faster pace than ever.

Customers have channels across all industries through apps, websites, phone and email, and they all need to provide a seamless experience.

But what have customers come to expect?

• Speed and Convenience - ‘I want it now’ mentality. Instant service and resolution, not a call back in two days.

• Consistency – Unified experience across all channels in business, teams and processes.

• Personalisation – Not just a name but more customisation on preferences and tailored interactions that go beyond ‘Hello, [First Name]’.

• Transparency – Proactive updates, status tracking and self-service capabilities

  
  

How to keep up with customer expectations whilst building business value

How do we respond? A quick way to get started is to think in terms of value. ITIL 4’s core definition of value, which focuses on IT and the customer co-creating value together, is a great way to guide your automation journey. By focusing your energy on what matters to the customer, you can prioritise, improve and bring in the right people to assist in achieving their goals. Crucially, as customer needs change, regular evaluations are necessary to ensure that the services continue to deliver value. Let's look at some benefits and calls to action to get you started.

Benefits	Value Translation	Action
Reduced Manual Work	Your staff are freed up to handle human-centric and higher-value tasks	Implement consistent service practices and governance models that cut across silos Automate triage, approvals, and data entry
Improved Customer Experience (CX)	Quicker and more accurate, boosting your customers' trust and loyalty	Self-Service portals or chatbots Automate service requests, updates and notifications
Better Insights	Automation platforms generate usable, real-time data	Use service analytics to identify bottlenecks Integrate the reporting dashboard into workflows
Scalability	Systems that will grow with your business, without increasing overhead	Build modular automation (start small, scale fast) Use cloud-based platforms
Cost Savings	Less rework, reduction in errors and faster resolutions all equal operational savings	Identify high-error processes (manual invoicing, onboarding) Introduce validation steps and AI-powered error detection

Service automation delivered by Lida Solutions

The case study below demonstrates how Lida Solutions were able to help a major resources company meet customer expectations while building business value.

The challenge  

A large enterprise was struggling to keep up with growing service demand. Staffing levels were down, yet the volume of onboarding and offboarding requests was surging alongside hundreds of other IT service requests each month.  As a result, teams were unable to maintain compliance with agreed-upon service levels, leading to delays, user frustration and mounting pressure on IT.

The solution

Lida Solutions was engaged to assess, streamline, and automate high-volume service activities, with a clear focus on business outcomes and long-term scalability. Key processes and activities involved in the end-to-end delivery process were the starting point for creating business-led, smart technical automation

Lida focused on co-creation with key stakeholders across business units to simplify and reorder processes in order to produce logical and efficient workflows.

Lida evaluated each workflow step to determine suitability for technical automation, replacing manual actions with robust, repeatable, machine-driven processes. Where appropriate, Lida built technical solutions using tools such as vRealize Orchestrator, RESTful APIs, SQL scripting, Azure logic apps, and PowerShell. Some examples were:

🗃️ Automated creation of Active Directory user accounts

📧 Provisioning of Exchange mailboxes

🔐 Population of AD security/distribution groups

☎️ Configuration of Microsoft Teams telephony

💽 Automated Azure server builds with licensing and software installs

The automation program evolved into a scalable, continuously optimised service delivery engine with tangible results.

Metric	Result
Manual Activities Automated	10,000 per month
Time Saved	1,000+ hours per month (equivalent to ~6 FTE’s)
ROI	Project costs recouped within 4 months, and multiple times via ongoing savings
Speed of Delivery	Onboarding time reduced from days to 2-3 hours
Risk Reduction	Lower error rates and improved compliance
Scalability & Flexibility	80+ automation now embedded across 30+ service processes

Want to drive value, where to start?

Any decent IT department is going to want to deliver value to its customers but it often isn't clear how to move further down that path. Here is how we approach things at Lida:

• Optimise – you can enhance your efficiency and productivity just by analysing current operations and ensuring the processes behind them are as good as they can be. Critically, do this in conjunction with your customers to ensure the new process delivers value to them as well as to you.

• Workflow – backing your optimised processes with automated workflows reduces manual workload, ensures consistency and drives down cost and time to deliver. The customer sees value in low error rates and quick turnaround.

• Orchestrate – let your systems do the "busy work" automatically in the background so your team are freed up to drive real value to your customers.

Automation isn't about replacing people; it is about giving them time and space to do what matters most.

In doing so, your customers feel heard, your employees feel empowered, and your business becomes more agile, resilient, and customer-driven.

If you're ready to uncover this kind of value, we would love to explore with you where automation can take your business. Why not start with an ITSM Health Check so we can meet you, see where you're at, and help map out a pathway to excellent customer service? Or just touch base with a Lida consultant now for a no-jargon, no-pressure conversation.