Why Enterprise Automation Fails Before It Begins — and How Orchestration Changes the Game
By Prakash Palani
The Reality: Tools Are Not Enough
Across industries — from retail to manufacturing to technology to pharma — enterprises have invested heavily in automation, RPA, and digital programs. Yet, over 80% still lack true end-to-end automation.
This isn’t a technology gap. It’s a structural one.
Automation often stalls not because enterprises lack capability, but because they lack orchestration: the ability to align people, processes, and platforms into a single flow of execution.
Fragmentation Is Built Into the Operating Model
Inside most large organizations, automation emerges in silos:
Each unit solves its own problems independently. But nobody looks at the flow end to end.
This results in:
Where we’ve seen progress is where leadership drives collaboration. At Business Core Solutions, we’ve partnered with a global snack brand whose CTO sponsored cross-team alignment. Using Symphony, they now orchestrate Salesforce surveys, Linux patching, SSL renewals, website monitoring, month-end closures, and SAP backend processes on one layer — because collaboration made orchestration possible.
Tools Are Chosen Before Problems Are Understood
Many automation initiatives start with a tool — not with a problem.
Rarely does anyone ask:
“What end-to-end process are we solving?”
“Where are the cross-functional gaps?”
This is where the Enterprise Architecture or CTO office should lead. Too often, they remain at a planning level and don’t enter the operational trenches. Meanwhile, local teams exercise autonomy — and build isolated stacks.
We’ve seen orchestration succeed when EA leaders step in and unify the landscape. For example, a German retail enterprise we work with moved away from tool-first thinking. Their EA head pushed for outcome-based orchestration — aligning infrastructure, application, and business layers on a single platform. Today, Symphony coordinates everything from patching to SAP workflows in unified flows across teams.
Entrepreneurship Is Missing — and Innovation Stalls
Another unseen barrier is cultural: the absence of intrapreneurship.
Fear often stops progress:
Transformation requires individuals who take ownership — who volunteer to pilot orchestration, bridge silos, and drive maturity beyond their job descriptions.
Where this entrepreneurial mindset appears, orchestration scales quickly. Where it doesn’t, automation stays stuck as short-lived pilots or proofs of concept.
Innovation is driven by ownership — not hierarchy.
AI Won’t Help Without Orchestration
AI is often seen as the solution to automation challenges. In reality, AI depends on well-orchestrated foundations:
If an enterprise can’t consistently:
…then AI cannot operate reliably.
This is why Maestro — the Agentic AI engine within Symphony — was built as a layer on top of orchestration, not a replacement for it.
For instance, an Indian sugar manufacturer now processes rental invoices using Maestro + Symphony — but only because their automation foundation was already orchestrated.
AI enhances orchestration; it cannot substitute for it.
Fix the Structure Before You Chase the Future
AI will not unify siloed teams. It will not build collaboration. It will not replace orchestration.
If automation is fragmented, start by fixing the structure:
Then bring AI to accelerate it — not to compensate for the lack of it.
This is how real transformation takes root.