Omnichannel

10 steps to plan successful business automation initiatives

In a world marked with constant economic uncertainty and changes, many people scare away from automation simply by fear of the unknown, initial capital investment, and the worry of changing their organization’s culture.
Many also believe this could lead the way to turning every position into a robot or computer. The reality is that automation is here to make employees’ lives better and alleviate their workflow so they can utilize this time towards finding new ways to innovate, ultimately leading to business growth.
This means less time entering and looking for information, writing reports, and much more.
The mundane activities that every employee dread because it usually keeps them away from doing what really matters in their role.

The benefit of automation lies in the execution of a task at a much higher speed. In addition to its velocity, its performance does not fluctuate based on a human body’s temperament or glucose levels, that could lead any employee to experience oversight.
Miscalculations or errors, when passed from one person to another, or worst from one department to another, can become very challenging to control in a matrixed environment. They can even become deadly in manual laboured environments.
In large organizations with worldwide operations, it becomes difficult for executives to manage their business unit at a micro level; instead, many functional managers lead different groups. Each team working to the best of their ability, given their department’s constraints.
However, if miscommunication happens or mistakes are made, then carried over to other departments, the result seen often leads to: continue business as usual.
From a bigger picture, the reality is: employees work longer hours to make things work. They constantly put out fires derived from an accumulation of mistakes, often losing sight of the real problem.

What automation brings is peace of mind. Information is entered as accurately as possible and completed at a much faster rate. Data can communicate in real time and be updated in no time.
If needed, this information can automatically be added to a business intelligence platform, helping leaders make even better business decisions.
The accuracy and transparency of information ultimately serves everyone involved in the process.

A significant approach in preparing the workforce to this inevitable shift, particularly for the roles that will be most affected by automation, is to support their development by teaching complimentary skills that will go hand in hand with these new tools.
A great effort in communication and support will be important in that transition to achieve higher results.

Automation can be utilized at many different touch points of a business:
Buying, demand planning & supply chain management.
Inventory, manufacturing, logistics, sales recommendations, CRM, Marketing, Payment processing, management, scheduling, workflow tools and much more.

If automation is being considered in an organization, its implementation needs to be well thought out.

Here are 10 steps to plan and adopt successful automation initiatives:

  1. Conduct root-cause analysis underlying your top business issues (internal or external)
  2. Start with the most repetitive tasks. Look for functions that are the most susceptible to errors with the highest business impact.
  3. Research the best solution based on your business objectives, capacity and budget (SaaS, sensors, IoT, Ai, ML, etc)
  4. If you have a strong tech team, consider doing a Build vs. Buy analysis
  5. Strengthen the business process with accurate order and information. This step improves the quality of your data in order to avoid deploying from a broken workflow.
  6. Set up a program for the roles most impacted by automation with employee training and development.
  7. Launch company-wide or department-wide communication explaining the steps towards automation, its impact on daily activities and business growth.
  8. Initiate Integration and Implementation
  9. Conduct Quality Control, Tests & anticipate potential improvements
  10. Sustain the process and reap the rewards!

It is essential to keep in mind that these steps are iterative and need to be examined regularly to truly benefit from their by-product.

The challenge is in proving that automation tools, machine learning and AI can coexist with human capital. That such a coalition can deliver excellence in products or services, in order to better serve customers and reach ultimate business competitiveness.
In parallel, it is equally important to learn how to balance automation tools and ML/AI objectives with the critical human touch needed when delivering exceptional customer service and staying in tune with employees’ well-being.

Based on market observations, tech companies are hiring at speeding pace in a large array of roles. In that sense, there is no reason why all business categories cannot benefit from the same type of performance and growth whether they have a more traditional business approach or were built on a digital-first mindset.

In the next few years, we will witness how companies will embrace these new technologies in order to adapt to their ever-evolving markets.
There will also be an interesting learning curve when it comes to balancing technology driven initiatives and human capital.

At the end, success will reside at that perfectly calculated intersection between human and machine, while never forgetting the purpose each embody for the development of a better society. Ethics, transparency, productivity, better products and services should be the end goal; enabling a transformation that will naturally lead to profitability.

Customer Experience

Are you ready to adopt new technologies, personalization and…

About 100 years ago, a great second Industrial revolution came along with the rural exodus and the uprising of major city centers. 
It set the groundwork for technologies that led us to live faster paced lives, filled with new products, travel experiences and advanced communication.
It made people’s lives better, easier and more comfortable; which enhanced with the digital offering of the latter years.
Since then, we have continued to rely on these same technologies to support our modern needs, despite the span of several generational changes.

We will look at the fundamental approach needed to adapt to the next industrial revolution, or as we prefer to call it, the knowledge era, that will enable any company to stay relevant and competitive for the years to come.

As we enter this new era, we understand that information, data science and robotic systems are some of the key elements that will lead us into the next generation.
With that in mind, we experienced a hint of what’s to come in the recent race towards personalized systems and solutions in e-commerce, marketing, customer service and logistics – through advanced analytics, machine learning and AI.

It is well known that 74% of modern customers will abandon a buying journey and even their brand loyalty if they received poor service or were disappointed by an experience (Business Wire).
Relatively, close to 50% of US customers state that brands don’t meet their expectations (Acquia).

It will be difficult for any company to provide personalized experiences to their customers when operating in legacy systems, silos and decentralized data visibility. 
These management systems came as an advantage in the industrial era but will slowly become obsolete in this new technological revolution.
Customers can see through these uncoordinated efforts and can sense a certain uneasiness in their experience.

In order to become truly competitive in personalized approaches and to deepen relationships with customers; companies need to start personalizing their own backend and operations processes first, and become wary of the mass produced, one size fits all solutions available on the market. While they can seem attractive at first, they can represent inevitable threats to a business, in its effort to adapt to new technologies, consumer trends and behaviors.

In a world where we are increasingly celebrating diversity and uniqueness of voice, it is equally important to celebrate these same values in every aspect of a business, down to the operative and clerical processes. 
In personifying theses values through customized operating processes and managerial approaches; businesses from global brands, to cultural industries and small businesses could witness substantial returns.

Distinctive values that can transcend in every aspect of the company, at the client facing or branding level but also at the HR, operations, manufacturing, and supply chain levels, that will result in perfectly coordinated and orchestrated products and services. 

At 8visio, we believe that every company is different, and therefore needs to operate with different processes and customer approaches in order to stay competitive in their respective industry.
We understand that, at times, it can be difficult to navigate the unknown possibilities of new technologies and we are here to offer you the support, knowledge and strategies needed to help your company rise through the ranks of the unforgettable pioneers of this generation.