From industrial automation to intelligent management support
For decades, automation has shaped industrial value creation — from assembly lines to robotics and cyber‑physical systems. Until now, automation has focused primarily on production and business processes. But with artificial intelligence entering the management domain, attention is shifting. A new paradigm is emerging: Intelligent Management Automation (IMA). Its goal is to make decision‑making processes as efficient, adaptive, and scalable as production or logistics. As Steinbeis entrepreneur Dr. Helmut Döring illustrates, automation isn’t about replacing executives — it’s about providing intelligent support and freeing them from routine tasks.
Today’s organizations operate in increasingly disruptive markets and under significant uncertainty. They face a wide range of challenges: complex environments, digital transformation, and ever‑growing volumes of data. At the same time, modern technologies open up new opportunities to make strategic decisions more evidence‑based, faster, and more forward‑looking.
Driven by technology
One promising approach is Intelligent Management Automation (IMA). IMA brings together artificial intelligence, algorithmic decision support, and process automation into an integrated framework that makes management more agile, resilient, and intelligent.
Technically, IMA draws on methods ranging from predictive analytics and natural language processing to reinforcement learning. This allows executives to rely more heavily on model‑based decision‑making. The potential becomes clear in practical applications:
- Supply chain management: IMA enables early detection of bottlenecks, automatically evaluates routes and suppliers, and compares different alternatives based on cost, time, and sustainability.
- Finance and management accounting: AI agents can allocate budgets adaptively and simulate scenarios that would be almost impossible to capture with traditional calculations. This not only makes financial planning more accurate but also enables its dynamic automation.
- Compliance and risk: Automated analyses check regulatory requirements, identify risk factors, and provide decision‑makers with clear indicators of where action is needed.
Decision intelligence: a decision‑making architecture
A key concept within IMA is Decision Intelligence — the systematic integration of data, AI methods, and decision models to make management decisions more robust and transparent.
AI models forecast developments, simulations reveal alternative courses of action, and human expertise provides context and judgment. The aim is a decision environment where facts, models, and experience reinforce one another, enabling decisions that are not only faster but also better.
While Decision Intelligence defines the overarching architecture, IMA represents its practical implementation in day‑to‑day operations — translating the framework into concrete tools, applications, and processes.
Augmented leadership — not a substitute for managers
IMA’s potential spans AI‑driven budgeting and resource planning, automated risk and opportunity analysis, and dynamic early‑warning and decision‑support systems. One particularly forward‑looking concept is augmented leadership: AI helps executives recognize complex patterns, prioritize action areas, and evaluate strategic options.
The goal is not to replace managers — it’s to empower them. Routine decisions can be automated, while complex decisions become more data‑informed. This gives leaders more room for creativity, communication, and strategic foresight.
Challenges and keys to success
These opportunities come with challenges around acceptance, transparency, and accountability. “Black box” algorithms — where decisions cannot be explained — face clear limitations in business practice. Successful implementations therefore rely on explainable AI and well‑defined governance models.
A cultural shift is also essential: moving away from purely intuition‑driven decisions toward an approach where data, models, and human judgment complement one another. IMA is not a passing trend — it is reshaping the foundations of management. It makes organizations more resilient, faster, and more precise, while keeping people at the center. Companies that embrace this potential now will not only boost efficiency but also secure a lasting competitive advantage.
Intelligent automation of management processes
The Steinbeis Research Center Management Automation bridges research and practice to enable intelligent automation of management processes. It supports organizations in introducing AI‑based solutions responsibly and pragmatically through:
- Potential analyses and strategy workshops
- Pilot projects and expert‑guided implementation
- Development of customized prototypes
- Training and qualification programs
The goal is to make management processes more efficient, future‑ready, and trustworthy — with AI as a true partner to executives.