Quite commonly organizations have some undefined or unmanaged processes. This is giving the impression to C level that only IT enforced processes are working fine.
Then, to feel more comfortable, top or senior management triggers projects to automate those unclear processes.
Very often this IT enforcement is not mandatory : having a proper process definition and performing the proper checks would often be sufficient and by far cheaper!

IT is not the only way to setup a process

A little anecdote on this topic : a company was struggling in setting up a sensitive process dealing with revenue recognition between production and sales. As it was not working, it was decided to get it automated (!). IT has been called and implemented a process at unitary deal level creating an IT an administrative monster. Production and sales were fighting on each transaction blocking the whole process.
Stepping back for a while, it was clear that this was the wrong decision and a more manual approach was taken : a weekly report was produced and both parties were invited to discuss and sign it off. The sign-off was recorded in a basic document workflow making the agreement official.
This simplistic approach paid off : due to netting effect, production and sales were much more in sync, talking to each other every week instead of fighting through systems, also creating a smoother relationship.

 IT is not meant to be a change agent

Another impact of trying to automate unclear processes is that IT is being put in a difficult role: IT is becoming the change agent. Instead of managing the required change in the process from the business side, this change is becoming all of a sudden a change forced by IT. Business managers can escape from their responsabilities in managing the change letting IT doing it. This is not so comfortable for IT teams that have to manage the process clarification, its implementation and the change management.
Also, the small example above is telling that brutal force is not helpful. Enforcing systematically processes implementation through systems is not always bringing value although it is sometimes mandatory (managing transaction status, product lifecycle, purchase orders, …).

A lightweight approach can also be considered espacially when processes are unclear. IT is then not any more in the driving seat which gives back to business the change responsibility.