Robotizing your back office

Robotics is the natural next step in the evolution of many businesses. This is not just in terms of enriching the customer experience (CX) but also optimizing back-office processes. Using technology to automate tasks and replicate human behaviors has the potential to bring about productivity gains in areas from finance and customer services through to purchasing and logistics.

Tasks like the labor-intensive recording and administration of attendance and absences or the deduction of payroll taxes can all be streamlined. In the same way, electronic personnel files which, though commonplace, are often managed manually, can be made more efficient. And that is by using robotic process automation (RPA) to check for necessary documents such as ID and references, send requests for further information or schedule appraisals without human involvement. Consequently, RPA, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are fast becoming a regular feature of companies’ digital automation toolbox.

These are destined to play an increasingly significant role in business growth and development. While automation software can be used as standalone systems in their own right, they are much more effective when combined.

By providing relevant data directly to your RPA solution, a content services platform will simplify and improve how you interact with information at every stage of the content journey to create true, end-to-end automation. Long-established flexible practices, can be a bear-trap because of the way they inadvertently create process gaps. Robots are programmed to perform in a prescribed fashion and so, if such omissions and oversights are allowed to enter the system, problems are still going to arise. So, planning, diligence and attention to detail must become watchwords.

Hence, for robotizing we must first decide which time-consuming processes can be automated. Next, companies must consider how they are going to communicate their intentions to employees, who may be concerned about the implications for them and their job. Many organizations struggle to actually implement change because they fail to involve their staff sufficiently in planning and rolling out the transformation. Then choose the right provider. Robots are already bringing significant automation capabilities to the workplace. And also, we need a robust governance framework in place, preferably overseen by an experienced solutions provider who can carefully plan and test all the elements within it. The growing adoption of software robots has provided the opportunity to automate a wide range of time-consuming tasks. This gives people more time to focus on higher priority initiatives. It is the time for those back-office bots to take a big step forward.