ROBOTS do not get sick or CoVid-19 vs Technology
The uncertainty caused by the CoVid-19 pandemic made business continuity a priority for all organizations. This situation applies to all companies, regardless if the pandemic impact on the business was severe or not.
Multiple action areas are “attacked” by companies in order to secure the future of the organization: applying agile in management, HR resources planning/ adjustment, supply chain optimization, financial optimization, change management&communication. But if the organization did not shut its doors completely keeping operations alive is one of the key focus elements for business survival.
There are multiple challenges that operations face during and post pandemic periods:
- abnormal work volumes (temporary spikes or steep decrease)
- lack of staff due to sickness or risk management measures (spare critical personnel in reserve)
- brain drain and loss of know how due to personnel outflows / difficulties in new personnel on-boarding
- lack of efficiency and increased probability of human error caused by high level of stress and/or work volumes
- work from home regime limitations due to IT security or infrastructure
- changes in customer preferences regarding interaction channels (e.g. moving towards on-line)
So what can be done now and for the future? Increased flexibility and creativity and a lot of technology.
Industrial robots/automated solutions could be used more for jobs requiring physical work (e.g. warehouses, production). Brain works will benefit from using more electronic approval workflows and signature, RPAs, BPMS, chatbots and other IT technologies.
Let’s take the example of RPA technology use in order to help with business continuity:
|
Challenge |
RPA use / benefit |
|
Abnormal work volumes |
Robots can work 24/7 at a fixed cost/ year. In case current robot processing capacity increases just add another robot with virtually no effort |
|
Lack of staff |
Robots do not get sick. Unattended robots allow tasks queue management without a mandatory human interaction |
|
Brain drain |
Once automated the process knowledge is embedded in the automation. You have to worry less about hidden knowledge that leaves with the employees |
|
Lack of efficiency/ human error |
Robots do not get bored or tired. A well-done automation algorithm will not allow errors in processing. |
|
Work from home limitations |
Robots will be working from your premises all the time. An employee supervising the robot will need less to no access to other IT applications. Unattended robots have a digital manager so less human interaction is needed. |
|
Changes in customer preferences |
Faster processing and spike volumes management advantages brought by robots will allow better customer service levels |
Practical examples are plenty: an e-commerce business redesigns it’s client reimbursements process that allow overnight processing and absorbing activity peaks and increases same day reimbursement multiple folds, a traditional retailer benefits from a standard, error proof creation of new SKUs in the ERP and is no longer impacted by the personnel turnaround.
All the possible business continuity measures will be analyzed from the financial impact and nature of work perspectives. But one thing is clear – when assessing the benefits of implementing new technologies a new benefit will have to be taken into consideration – technology is helping with business continuity.
Ensight can assist you with additional information on how to leverage available technologies and management tools for your benefit. Contact us at ion.ghimbovschi@ensight.ro for additional information.
