How to Avoid 3 Traps Killing Your Business Growth
Blog: Kofax - Smart Process automation
Greece Reports ‘Business as Usual’ for Airport, Tourism Infrastructure & Hotels after September 7 Earthquake
DENSO’s North American Headquarters Continues Business as Usual During Power Blackout
United Airlines Plans Business as Usual Monday; Airline to Operate Nearly 1,900 Flights Worldwide; Security Remains Tight
(Source: PR Newswire)
“Business as usual” is a stock phrase meant to reassure customers, stockholders and employees when a company
is under threat of disruption. But doing “business as usual” has a dark side, too: It can harm your company if you’re simply maintaining the status quo while your competitors are busy innovating with business process reengineering and continuous process improvement.
The good news is that emerging technologies like robotic process automation (RPA) and process intelligence (PI) are helping business leaders confront the status quo head-on and drive scalability and growth via operational transformation.
Don’t get stuck in “business as usual.” Avoid these three traps and innovate your way to process improvements that have a direct effect on the bottom line.
Business as usual: Manually perform routine, repetitive tasks
Driving innovation: Automate routine tasks and empower workers to perform high-value activities
Unlike humans, robots don’t mind doing grunt work like data migration and integration, copying and pasting and processing orders. While robots are busy handling your company’s repetitive, mind-numbing tasks, your workforce can spend their time on high-value work that robots can’t do, like communicating with customers, solving complex issues and making important decisions.busy handling your company’s repetitive, mind-numbing tasks, your workforce can spend their time on high-value work that robots can’t do, like communicating with customers, solving complex issues and making important decisions.
Research by management consultant McKinsey & Company suggests that as much as 45 percent of activities individuals are paid to perform can be automated. Imagine if a part of your workforce suddenly had nearly half their time back. What “important but not urgent” projects do you have on the back burner that would drive business growth, cement customer loyalty or increase your market share?
Business as usual: Accept that 10 percent of work will result in costly errors
Driving innovation: Eliminate manual errors and the accompanying risks
One multi-billion dollar transportation company used robotic process automation to mistake-proof invoice processing by automating currency conversion from American dollars to Canadian dollars and Mexican pesos.
While a manual currency conversion seems simple enough, the simple enough, the Institute for Robotic Process Automation reports that a human is likely to make ten errors out of every 100 steps, even when doing redundant work. Those errors kill growth by costing your organization time to resolve them, money to deal with the repercussions of those errors—from angry customers to misread market opportunities to noncompliance fines—and the diverted focus from innovation and transformation.likely to make ten errors out of every 100 steps, even when doing redundant work. Those errors kill growth by costing your organization time to resolve them, money to deal with the repercussions of those errors—from angry customers to misread market opportunities to noncompliance fines—and the diverted focus from innovation and transformation.
Business as usual: Throttle productivity to match available resources
Driving innovation: Utilize robots to scale operations and perform 24/7/365
A factory can deploy a finite number of workers in shifts before they need to expand or build a new factory. A service company can only hire so fast before hiring and onboarding and training finite number of workers in shifts before they need to expand or build a new factory. A service company can only hire so fast before hiring and onboarding and training becomes a bigger focus than actually doing the work. An enterprise company can outsource some business functions, but there are always hidden costs.finite number of workers in shifts before they need to expand or build a new factory. A service company can only hire so fast before hiring and onboarding and training finite number of workers in shifts before they need to expand or build a new factory. A service company can only hire so fast before hiring and onboarding and training becomes a bigger focus than actually doing the work. An enterprise company can outsource some business functions, but there are always hidden costs.
Robotic process automation is a true lever that enables a single robot to do the work of two to five full-time equivalents, according to the Institute for Robotic Process Automation. The cost savings compared to hiring offshore workers or using business process outsourcing (BPO) is significant: The National Association of Software and Services Companies says RPA can reduce onshore costs by 35-65 percent and offshore costs by 10-30 percent.
RPA enables a single robot to do the work of 2 to 5 full-time equivalents.
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(And yes, it’s true: robots don’t require breaks, training, health insurance or holiday parties. But they’re not as fun at the water cooler.)
Don’t settle for “business as usual.” Learn how your organization can benefit from the strategic use of RPA. Get a free preview of our ePaper, Digitally transform the way you work: How to deliver big results in six small steps with process transformation. Or download the complete ePaper here.
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