6 Ways Intelligent Automation is helping businesses grow

Intelligent automation is the use of artificial intelligence to aggregate, extract and analyze data and make meaningful decisions out of insights. This is helping businesses automate routine tasks that otherwise take up most of their time. There are three intelligent automation technologies which are swiftly being adapted to shared services solutions. They are Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Virtual Agents (VA), and Artificial Intelligence (AI). 

The Impact of RPA, VA, and AI Technologies

To know the potential impact of the new automation technologies on Global Business Service (GBS)  just return to the decisions you made, or are thinking of making, to decrease labor costs. Let’s take a look at a few of these:

1. Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Decisions:

To lower the cost associated with the paradigm, rule-based, repetitive processes for years companies have turned to BPO solution providers. BPO solution providers, as a return, shifted their service centers to developing countries where there was low labor cost. But what if the processes included could be automated via RPA bots? This will actually decrease the need to outsource selected processes or would impact the decision as to which BPO service provider to use, insofar as many providers are working to apply the new automation technologies to their solution offerings.

2. ERP Decisions:

The ability of RPA to automate repetitive process transactions has a number of ERP implications. For example, whether to move to a single-instance ERP solution or deal with the headaches of multiple ERP solutions across their global footprint is one of the daunting tasks faced by GBS executives. The decision can be stepped aside by RPA solutions and they serve as an unsophisticated “integration” tool. If the customer service representatives are logging currently onto one system and then using that data to input into another system, it may be quite cheap to automate this activity via RPA rather than just moving to a single ERP solution.

3. Support Service Location Decisions:

Particularly, GBS support hubs have been settled in specific countries or key regions in order to make use of local language employees and even service availability could be provided in local time zones. But, what if 30% of the call volume could be handled by Virtual Assistants, immediately interpret any language, and do this on a 24/7 basis? Country and regional service hubs can be actually made near the company’s headquarters where technology solutions, quality control, intellectual property and privacy issues might be better managed. 

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Steps You Should Take:

Below are some steps which you should consider if you want to move forward. This is based on the experience in guiding companies through the acceptance of automation technologies into their GBS organization.

1. Assess for Opportunities

Designating a digital leader or team to assess automation technologies is quite vital to understand their potential impact on your businesses.

• Strategic sessions should be conducted to design holistic GBS models, utilizing automation and a new “work type”
• Process mapping workshops should also be conducted to hone in on a choice of “high-impact” business processes
• Market research and document the vendor landscape should be conducted.

2. Build the case :

The potential benefit of applying automation technologies should be documented and management support should be obtained for moving forward.

• Work activity tools with intelligent automation (RPA, VA, and AI) should be utilized as a new “work type.” Work activities should be measured and specific work that can be automated should be determined.
• Cost-benefit analysis  should be conducted so as to develop resource forecasts by role.0.
• Associated risks should be evaluated.
• Your approach with your strategic objectives, your five-year IT roadmap, and your business priorities should be assigned.

3. Prepare the Data: 

On clean and well-structured data all of the automation solutions are reliant. The absence of this can actually result in more problems than fixes. Questions about the ownership and use of data can also impede the process.

• Determination of what data will be needed to support a pilot or initial AI project.
• Data eliminating duplicate, outdated, or erroneous information should be data reviewed.
• Do make sure that the data is coming from one source of truth.
• A data governance model should be designed to determine what data may be used, and for what purposes. A data governor to rule on data issues should be designated.

Also Read: Application and Benefits of Artificial Intelligence on Automation

4. Select the vendor and the pilot: 

A pilot GBS business process should be selected where favorable results are present and can be more willingly achieved. The pilot should be used to build support and better understand the degree of disruption inherent in these new technologies.

• An RFP with detailed requirements should be created and a software provider should be selected.
• Pilot use cases selected in one function (keep it simple)
• Refine and confirm the earlier business case.
• Contract negotiations should be conducted.

5. Implement Solution: 

If the pilot business process is selected appropriately then this actually take three to nine weeks.

• The implementation plan should be created and managed
• Same way project plan should be made and then managed accordingly
• Develop and put into practice change management strategies and tactics
• Navigate roles, responsibilities, and key stakeholder engagement

6. Mange intelligent automation lifecycle: 

From the “project” environment to an ongoing “operations” environment, a move is required which should be stuck.

• An intelligent automation CoE (Center of Excellence) should be created to measure upcoming, long-term strategic decisions that are likely to be impacted by intelligent automation technologies (BPO decisions, ERP decisions, service support decisions, location decisions, etc.)
• Finding the new operating model, governance, and procedure prioritization
• The ongoing communication should be managed and change management should be there.

Regardless of whatever thoughts you inculcate, you can’t ignore that these new technologies are going to basically affect how GBS organizations deliver their services in the upcoming period. Whether they offer a problem or an opportunity, it is better to face them now rather than putting off the inevitable. By successfully calculating your opportunities, building the case, and piloting the technologies, you will raise the likelihood of implementing an effectual solution to make better the GBS operation for the further zone.