Automated Governance = 100% Automation?

Hello there!

Most of us understand the word automation: in general, it means to make something happen automatically and, in particular, to use technology to execute a task without human effort. It asks, “how fast or how efficient is the process?”

In the area of physical operations and process automation, I keep encountering another word—governance. It comes up so often that even though I sort of knew what it meant, I did a bit of digging.

Dictionary meaning as per Merriam-Webster:

• (as in government) lawful control over the affairs of a political unit (as a nation)
• (as in management) the act or activity of looking after and making decisions about something

In general, it means, to control how, when, whether, and under what rules something can happen. In other words, to apply a set of rules, policies, and oversight to a process. It answers the question: "How do we ensure this is done as per the rules and correctly, legally, and safely?"

So, while automation is about speed and effort, governance is about control.

Let’s take an interesting example of a self-driving car. Here:

• Automation is the car physically turning the steering wheel and pressing the brakes.
• Governance is the speed limit, the traffic laws, and the insurance policy that ensures the car stays on the right side of the road.

If you only automate without governance, you have a car that might be dangerous.

An example in the case of visitor management —a process VersionX automates (among many):

• Automate: generate visitor QR, notify security, assign lift access automatically (it’s about speed and efficiency)
• Govern: allow visitor only after resident approval, prevent access to unauthorized floors, mandatory sign off at security desk (it’s about business rules and policies)

If you only govern, you have a safe system that is painfully slow. I’m sure, like me, you’re also thinking about old-style, bureaucratic government offices here. An example of governance in visitor management in a non-digitized business office: a security guard manually checking every ID against a printed list.

We don’t want only automation. And we also don’t want only governance. So, then what is the ideal scenario or one that approaches it?

From what we understand so far, the ideal has to be “automated governance.”

In that case, does it also mean: automated governance = 100% automation?

And is it in governance that we mostly encounter process-related exceptions (those that simple straightforward systems cannot handle)?

Here’s some seed for thought: If 'manual' is done by man and 'automation' is done automatically, what do we call a process handled by a bird?

A flight.

Hehe. Off I fly!