Roy Dreyfus, Senior Director of IT at Market America, discusses his 14-year automation journey with Dan Twing and Tom O'Rourke on the Enterprise Automation Excellence Podcast. Roy shares how Market America has evolved from basic, disconnected automation tools to a sophisticated orchestration platform using HCL Workload Automation (HWA). Market America is now transitioning to HCL's new AI-powered Uno platform, which combines automation with artificial intelligence capabilities.

Key Points

Evolution from Basic to Advanced Automation: Market America transformed from using simple automation tools starting in 2016 to implementing enterprise-wide orchestration platforms

Strategic Vendor Partnership: - After their licensing costs tripled, Market America selected HCL HWA based on exceptional pre-sales support and ongoing customer engagement

Cross-Process Orchestration Value: Roy highlighted a use case building automated metrics and analytics that examine system performance data to provide meaningful insights for business owners and executive leadership

Takeaways for Automation Leaders

Fear is the Main Barrier: The biggest obstacle to automation adoption is fear rather than technical limitations. People who avoid automation typically haven't invested time in learning about or using these tools

Start with Partnership: When exploring new automation technologies, work closely with vendors to access their expertise and provide feedback that shapes product development. This collaborative approach ensures better outcomes

Embrace Experimentation: Companies that want to stay competitive must allow their teams to experiment with automation and AI tools, recognizing that failed experiments still provide valuable learning experiences

AI Enhances Rather Than Replaces: Successful automation implementation focuses on making human workers more efficient and capable of deeper thinking, rather than eliminating jobs entirely

Executive Buy-in is Essential: Advanced automation initiatives require top-down support and investment, as sophisticated AI and orchestration tools typically require significant financial commitment and organizational change

CI/CD Pipeline Automation Opportunity: There's significant potential to automate software development processes, with 6-7% of enterprise automation jobs already focusing on CI/CD pipeline automation

Show Links

Roy Dreyfuss discussing HCL automation on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F6Z_3-xfGo

Roy's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leroy-dreyfuss-cio/

Dan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dantwing/

Tom's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomorourkeEAE Podcast Home: https://em360tech.com/podcast-series/enterprise-automation-excellence

Feedback & Questions: mailto:eaepodcast@emausa.com