What is digital business automation?
什么是数字业务自动化？
While business has always innovated andembraced new technology for a competitive edge, these
days, the pace of this has hastened tobreakneck speed. Witness such innovations as mobile Gigabit
connections, autonomously driven cars, andsmart homes - all on the cutting edge, and the stuff of science fiction just adecade or so ago. An important trend for today’s businesses is digital businessautomation.
虽然商业总是创新和采用新技术以获得竞争优势，这些天，这种步伐已经到了惊恐的速度。见证了移动千兆连接，自动驾驶和智能家居的这些创新，所有的这些都在最前沿，还有十年前的科幻小说。数字自动化是当今企业的一个重要趋势。
How does digital business automation differfrom digital transformation?
数字业务自动化和数字转换有何不同？
This is distinct from digitaltransformation which refers to the implementation of digital processes
across the business. Digital transformationis more of a cultural thing, with a rollout of digital
technology, such as migration of data tothe cloud, embracing the DevOps approach to software
development, and use of business analyticstools to spot trends - and do all of this faster than the
competition.
数字业务自动化不同于数字转换的地方在于数字化流程的业务实现。数字转换更像是一种文化现象，应用首次推出的数字科技，像数据转移到云，从开发运营到软件开发，使用商业数据分析工具来准确的把握行业动态，并且做这所有的这一切都比竞争对手更快。
Digital business automation is a componentof digital transformation. It focuses on incorporating the digital realm - inparticular data, the software and hardware that works with it, and theinfrastructure that supports it - and applying upgrades to efficiency totraditional business processes. This is all done to make the business moreresponsive to current market trends, interfacing with customers better, withthe ultimate goal of improving revenue. In other words, digital businessautomation uses digital innovation to take a clunky business process, andstreamline it for a competitive edge.
数字业务自动化是数字转换的一部分，它主要致力于数字领域的合并，尤其是数据，与之工作的软件和硬件以及支持他的基础数据，并将效率升级应用传统业务流程中。这一切都是为了使业务更能适应当前的市场趋势，更好的与客户沟通，以提高财政收入为最终目标。换言之，数字业务自动化利用数字创新来进行笨拙的流程并将其简化以获得竞争优势。
History of digital business automation
数字业务自动化的历史
The origin of digital business automationcan be traced back to IBM in 2005, and its creation of the
BPMN standard (BusinessProcess Model and Notation). IBM provided software to facilitate creating flowchartsand diagrams for business purposes.
数字业务自动化的起源可以追溯到2005年的IBM及其创建的BPMN标准（业务流程模型和符号）。IBM提供了一些软件以方便为业务目的创建流程图和图表。
The goal was to graphically describecomplex business processes, with a standard notation, to make
it more understandable in the organization.The software that IBM released for digital business
automation was known as WPS (WebsphereProcess Server), and the files created were from a newly created open standardknown as BPEL (Business Process Execution Language).
目标是用标准的符号图形化的描述复杂业务流程使之在组织中更容易理解。IBM发布的数字业务自动化的软件被称为WPS（Websphere Process Server），并且创建的文件来自于一个新创建的被称之为BPEL(Business Process Execution Language)的开放标准。
WPS failed to gain the needed popularity,and was more focused on the SOA (service-oriented
architecture) than on traditional businessaspects. This made it more focused on technical aspects,
which made it more difficult forapplication to business processes. To focus more on these users,
IBM then released their IBM WebSphereBusiness Modeller. However, it did not stand alone, and
migration was required from the newsoftware back to WPS for execution to occur.
WPS未能获得所需的人气，相对于传统业务方面，他们更专注于SOA（service-oriented
architecture）。这使它更专注于技术方面而使业务流程的应用变动更加困难。为了更多的关注这些用户，IBM发布了他们的IMP WebSphere Business Modeller，然而，它并不是独立的，需要从新的软件迁移回WPS才能执行。
In the meantime, while WPS struggled togain traction in this emerging sector, a competitor
emerged, Teamworks, a product of Lombardi.IBM’s solution to this worthy competition was to
acquire the company outright. They alsopromptly in June 2010 renamed the Teamworks software to WebSphere LombardiEdition (WLE).
同时，当WPS想要在这新兴领域获得关注的时候，竞争对手出现了，Teamwors，Lombardi的一个产品。IBM对于这次有价值的竞争的解决方案是直接收购这个公司。他们还在2010年6月将Teamworks软件重新命名为WebSphere Lombardi Edition (WLE)
Having two products for digital businessautomation, WPS and WLE, under the IBM umbrella proved confusing. Theysubsequently combined them both into one product, the IBM Business Process Manager(IBPM), drawing on the best of these two platforms. The IBPM offered anintuitive way to capture business processes, and is approachable for lesstechnical business types to turn the business process into an understandablediagram. Furthermore, diagrams can be adjusted easily.
事实证明，IBM旗下的两款产品，WPS 和WLE是令人困惑的。他们随后将两者合并为一个产品，IBPM（IBM Business Process Manager）以充分利用这两个平台。IBPM提供了一个直观的方式来捕获业务流程，将低技术含量的业务类型转换业务流程成为一个可理解的图表。此外，图表可以很容易的进行调整。
State of digital business automation today
数字业务自动化的现状
The current IBPM remains focused onimproving business processes, and unlike earlier versions that favored thetechnical or the business aspects, this version attempted to strike a balancethat can “improve collaboration between IT and business teams.” They alsoinclude built-in process
accelerators, a self service portal, and alearning library.
现今的IBPM依然专注于改进业务流程，与早期的版本不同，早期的版本更倾向于技术或业务方面，这个版本试图在提升IT和业务团队合作中取得一个平衡。他们也包括内置流程加速器，自助服务门户和学习型图书馆。
IBM recently took a step forward this yearto their next generation of digital business automation,
and debuted their IBM Automation Platformfor Digital Business, which promises “an integrated
platform of five automation capabilitiesthat help business people drive virtually all types of
automation projects at speed and scale.”Their five pillars are:
Tasks - automation of repetitive human work
Content - collection and management ofbusiness data with connectivity to digital business
applications
Workflow - the ability to analyze andimprove business processes for improvements
Capture - digitization of businessdocuments, with extraction and analysis of data while obviating a manual entryprocess
Decisions - application of business rulesto fuel on the fly change in processes, while being able to
audit the process
最近，IBM在今年向下一代数字业务自动化迈出了一步，首次发布了他们IBM面向数字化业务的自动化平台，该平台承诺提供5个自动化功能的集成平台，帮助企业用户在速度和规模上驱动几乎所有类型的自动化项目。他们的五大支柱是：
任务--重复性人力工作的自动化
内容--收集和管理业务数据连接到数字业务应用程序
工作流—分析和改进业务流程的能力
捕获—业务文档的自动化，在排除人工输入的同时提取和分析数据
决策—业务规则的应用在流程中产生飞越的变化，同时可以审计流程
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With such a robust platform, all types ofenterprise work can be automated including tasks, decisions and workflows, withthe capability to grow, and add multiple pieces as needed.
有这样一个强大的平台，所有类型的企业工作可以被自动化，包括任务，决策和工作流，并且可以增长以及根据需要添加多个模块。
Other implementations of digital businessautomation
数字业务自动化的其他实现
Another less known company is offering adigital business automation tool. Much of digital business automation hasfocused on analyzing and streamlining a process at an organization. As the datais available, and stays within the confines of the organization, this is a lesschallenging scenario. Ultimus wants to take on a more complicated scenario, oftransactions between organizations.
另一家不太知名的公司正在提供一个数字业务自动化的工具。大部分的数字业务自动化都集中在分析和精简组织中的流程。由于数据是可用的，并且局限于组织内部，这是一个不那么具有挑战性的场景。Ulitmus想要呈现一个更复杂的场景，即组织之间的事务。
Here, things are more bumpy, with majortrust issues between the parties involved in the
transaction, including customers, suppliersand partners. These types of transactions, from a
purchase order, to a loan, or an employmentcontract, are typically quite time consuming.
Documents need to be completed, and theyare usually paper based, with physical signatures,
notaries, and the dreaded faxes back andforth- hardly the speed that a nimble business aspires to.
在这里，事情更加坎坷，主要是参与交易的各方的信任问题，包括客户，供应商和合作伙伴。这些类型的交易，从一个购买订单，到贷款，或者是劳动合同，都是很费时间的事。文件需要完成，他们基本上都是纸质的，需要签名，公证以及可怕的来回传真，几乎没有灵活的业务所渴望的速度。
The blockchain functions quite well as adistributed ledger, most commonly for crypto currency
transactions these days, but it could alsobe applied to these types of business transactions as well.
区块链功能作为一个分布式分类账很好，最常见的为最近的加密货币交易，区块链也可以应用于这种业务交易。
In order to take the theoretical to thepractical, Ultimus is moving towards applying blockchain
technology to business transactions withtheir Composed Process Solutions (CPS). Some practical
challenges that their solution addressesinclude the accuracy of timestamps (within two hours given current blockchaintech), scalability and keeping the cost of preserving the data at an affordablelevel.
为了从理论走向实践，Ulitmus正在努力通过它们的CPS，应用区块链技术来实现业务交易。一些实用的挑战,他们的解决方案地址包括时间戳的准确性(两小时内提供当前区块链技术),可伸缩性和保存数据的成本保持在一个合理的水平。
A case scenario of Ultimus’ CPS is for ablockchain enabled car loan. Here a digital business
automation approach gets applied to astreamlined user interface. Via a web portal, with data stored in theirblockchain, the documents for the loan are tracked for uploading, verification,and review.
Ultimus CPS 的一个案例场景是用区块链实现汽车贷款。这里的数字业务自动化被应用于一个简化的用户界面。通过门户网站，以及存在区块链中的数据，可以跟踪贷款所需文件的上传，验证及审查。
Gone are the pile of manila folders, aswell as waiting for the notary public to return (who is
invariably at lunch in our experience), asthe documents are now ‘e-notarized’ via a highly secure
login process. Along the way, an audittrail is created, and in another example of an automated
business process, automated emails aregenerated to update the concerned parties on how this is
proceeding.
那堆马尼拉文件纸不见了，还有不需要等公证人返回了（在我们的经验中，公证人总是在吃午餐），因为现在这些文件通过高度安全的登录流程进行电子公证。在此过程中，会创建一个审计跟踪，在自动化业务流程中的另一个例子，自动生成电子邮件通过有关的各方这是如何进行的。
We also discuss digital transformation ingreater detail here
我们还将在这里更详细地讨论数字转换
