Your Competitors are Automating to Save Time, Money, Reduce Errors, and Scale with Ease.
AUTOMATION
Automation can be an intimidating topic for some. The thought of software replacing job functions is in some cases a bit unnerving, but for a lot of functions it is inevitable. Whether it be through coding, integration, scripting, workflow automation, robotic process automation, or simply new enhancements made in your applications. The question is how much value is there in automating a process, and is it cost effective to implement now. These are the questions we’re eager to work with you on. The more overhead you can automate in a process the more time your human elements have to contribute in other ways, creative ways that code cannot replace.
TYPES OF AUTOMATION
Robotic Process Automation
If you are not familiar with Robotic Process Automation (or RPA) you are not alone, it is relatively new to the market. RPA is a type of automation that utilizes a written script, virtual machine, and a bot, to perform a process the same way a user would. The bot is programmed to position the mouse pointer, perform clicks, copy and paste, take screenshots, and even execute scripts. This is of course an overview, and most RPA platforms can get much more advanced with how they can automate a process, test, or even perform Quality Assurance (QA) functions.
Archimedes is familiar with several RPA plaforms but most previlently Automation Anywhere. We are training and performing research into several emerging platforms all the time so feel free to contact us for details.
Microsoft 365
Many businesses utilize a Microsoft 365 license model that includes automation tools. Between SharePoint, Power Automate, Power Apps, Outlook and Teams, we can automate a lot of different types of activities.
These tools are included in most M and E licenses and can be licensed through your Microsoft 365 admin portal. See our Insights page for examples and writeups. We maintain certification on the Microsoft Power Platform as well as years of hands on experience.
Platform Specific
Some platforms have the capability to automate tasks and/or design automated work flows built right in. For example, Freshservice is a SaaS (cloud based) service desk solution that has work flow automation tooling built right into the platform. With these tools we can in most cases automate the vast majority of the administrative overhead for common service desk tasks.
At Archimedes we have familiarity in several platforms and work management systems. If you are curious if your particular system has this capability or if we have the skills to engineer on it simply use the contact us for details.
Scripting and Integrations
Depending on the task and the platform it is performed on it might be as simple as writing a PowerShell script and scheduling it on an automation platform. We can also write up JavaScript if the task is web-based.
If your tools are web-based or have an API we can typically write integrations based on alerts in one system or another. Essentially when a programmed trigger is tripped and API call is made to pass data or execute a fucnction we have written in the host system or a remote system connected with API. There are also options to have custom APIs wrtiten, and triggers programmed into SaaS platforms like Zapier.
EXAMPLES OF AUTOMATION
The most typical examples of automation are either back office operations or administrative overhead. Think of small things like automated email notifications that help manage an internal process like audits, process management, quality checks, or even administrative activities. Automated responses to customers, or perhaps notifications of upcoming meetings or appointments. We’ve seen a lot of automation take the form of dissemination of information during a process, or even automation of approval work flows. So instead of users having to manually email, or print, and gather approval, track, and record keep, computer systems can do it all for you.
Reporting is a very popular activity to have automated. The gathering of data, complex calculations, feeding dtaa into a format, filing a copy, and sending to stakeholders.
It is honestly easier to think up things that cannot be automated. Most of the time we identify dynamic and/or creative thinking to be a key differenciator in whether or not automation can be apply to replace a user in a process. Most commonly we find that automation augments a user, as opposed to replacing a user. Usually you see automation replace a user if the task has a huge regular volume, and the process is highly manual by nature.
BENEFITS OF AUTOMATION
Time Savings
Automation saves time by using a script that allows the automation system to take actions without having to think about what is next. Automation cannot become distracted or need to slow down after a number of repetitions. If the automation augments a user the time savings might be felt in a few different areas of benefit. Now the user is freed up to persue other activity that plays to their talents, meaning the original work is getting done faster and more work overall is being accoplished. If the automation is replacing a user, it simply means you can repurpose the headcount into another role, and the automation can handle the workload 24 hours a day without rest, and be scaled to handle any work load.
Money Savings
Augmenting a user might mean they can pick up extra work load given their talent, ensuring you do not have to hire another headcount, or bring on outisde partners to supplement. If the process has enough volume, and is manual enough for the automation to replace a user, it’s almost a given the automation is more cost effective than the user counter-part. If the activity as it’s being performed today is costing you money in opportunity loss, freeing up the user might close that gap. Also, depending on the solution, occasionally the automation can replace the need for certain middleware or bridge systems saving you licenses, infrastructure, or other costs. Finally, it is cheaper to train a bot to perform certain tasks than hire new headcount.
Scalability and Adaptability
Once bots are trained, they can be duplicated or augmented a lot quicker and affordably than user counter-parts. If business ramps up quick, sometimes there’s no amount of money you can spend to adapt quickly enough. Opportunity loss on gaining market share can have signifigant long-term disadvantages for your business.
In addition to scale, automation environments can adapt quickly. Training a large team can be costly both in the effort of training but also in the downtime. If changes are known ahead of time, engineers can update bots with zero downtime, then simply deploy the updated bots in a planned, controlled way. Users typically do not respond to change with optimism, bots don’t have feelings.
Quality of Service
If built properly, bots do not make mistakes. They simply execute the coded instructions and commands. With the speed you can also count on an extremely low level of variation on the execution of processes, and therefore record low error rate. This ensures no re-work, or quality issues being seen potentially by a customer.
In instances when the automation is augmenting a user activity, having a bot do the highly repeatable work allows the users to focus on the exceptions, and root cause problem solve. In general we see this approach have fantastic results as the users are more focused on the why behind results, and can solve up stream issues, leading to process improvement.
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