Those who automate win!
For some companies during the coronavirus crisis; RPA may be an opportunity to cope with an increase in orders; while for others it may be a way to deal with a decline in orders. Those who automate cannot go wrong. Examples of the first group currently include online grocery and medicine stores (@rohlik.cz; @kosik.cz; @pilulka.cz). They are definitely using RPA in some form; otherwise they would not be able to cope with the current increase in volume and eliminate human error. Opportunities for robots include matching invoices with orders; crisis reporting; collecting data from various sources; and warehouse processes. Another example is a company that had to introduce "home office" practically overnight. However; not everything can be done remotely. Some processes; for example; require working with incoming paper documents. Yes; one could say that this can wait until people return to the office; but what if it is a process that is important for the functioning of the company? Wouldn't it be better to designate one employee who; while complying with all hygiene measures; would come to the office to scan the documents; and then a robot would extract the data from the scanned documents and send them to the right employees working from home for further processing or approval?
Identifying critical processes is key
The key; therefore; is to correctly identify critical processes that can help manage growth or; conversely; protect the company from productivity losses. However; it is always necessary to assess whether a critical process can be automated and how long it will take. These are two factors that will determine whether automation will actually benefit the company. The next step is to look at the return on investment. However; this is assessed differently in a crisis environment; where saving the company may be more important than the return on investment in automation. The important thing is that when introducing automation into your company; a large part of the project can be implemented online without the need for face-to-face meetings. This means that both the supplier and the client remain safe; but business can continue.
Tomáš Krýsl became a partner at ERA Group in April 2012. He specialises in printing technologies; office supplies; robotic automation of administrative processes; client management and acquisitions.
