Don't Automate a Broken Process: Making Work Simpler Without Leaving People Behind | Marty Herbert

On this episode of The SmartMAI Consulting Edge Podcast, I sit down with Marty Herbert, President and CEO of Herbert Insights & Innovations, to explore why organizations should never automate a broken process — and how to build workflows that are efficient, compliant, and still human. Marty's background spans accounting, government-contract compliance, auditing, operations, process improvement, and technology. His company helps organizations improve and automate workflows, strengthen compliance, manage data, and guide employees through change. His philosophy is simple: no business process is worth perfecting if it leaves the humans behind. Most organizations don't design bad processes on purpose — they grow that way over time, one approval, one workaround, one spreadsheet at a time. Marty explains why technology should never make a broken process move faster, and how leaders can fix the process first, automate only where it adds real value, and avoid the kind of "AI regret" that comes from moving too fast. We cover: Why reasonable processes quietly become slow, confusing, or unreliable over time Why organizations should improve a process before they automate it How compliance can be built into daily work instead of checked after the fact Why reports from different systems often disagree — and what it takes to trust a dashboard What causes "AI regret" and how leaders can avoid it How to decide whether AI should do the work, assist a person, or stay out of the process entirely Why removing too much entry-level work could cost organizations their future leaders Learn more about Marty Herbert and Herbert Insights & Innovations at HerbertInsights.com. #ProcessImprovement #Automation #Compliance #ChangeManagement #Podcast