{"id":2110,"date":"2024-07-10T10:21:10","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T10:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/encorsa.ro\/digitalizarea-si-automatizarea-proceselor-de-business-unde-ne-aflam\/"},"modified":"2024-10-31T12:45:59","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T12:45:59","slug":"digitalization-and-automation-of-business-processes-where-do-we-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/encorsa.ro\/en\/digitalization-and-automation-of-business-processes-where-do-we-stand\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 1. Digitalization and Automation of Business Processes \u2013 Where Do We Stand?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Recently, I had a scheduled Teams presentation with a potential client who didn\u2019t join the meeting. I called but received no response. Late in the evening, the potential client called back to apologize, explaining that he was unable to join and couldn\u2019t answer the phone, being very busy. As we spoke, I could hear the rapid clicking of his keyboard, realizing that he was simultaneously writing an email while talking to me. He was multitasking because otherwise, he probably couldn\u2019t complete his daily tasks. Does this sound familiar? Have you experienced something similar?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There are multiple reasons for this overburdening of company employees: staff reductions in the name of efficiency, lack of candidates to fill open positions, increasing demands from management, numerous ongoing projects and initiatives, endless meetings, fatigue, and a continual reduction in the capacity to concentrate.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Possible Solutions?<\/h2>\n<p>One possible solution is BPA (Business Process Automation). According to Gartner, BPA is defined as \u201cthe automation of complex business processes and functions beyond conventional data manipulation and record-keeping activities, usually through the use of advanced technologies.\u201d In other words, the automatic development of a business process with advanced technology and limited human intervention.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If we managed to automate (even partially) the processes in a company, not only would we relieve employees from being overloaded with tasks, but we would also have:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reduce execution times;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Eliminate inherent human errors;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Reduce employee fatigue and stress;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ensure compliance with procedures;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Enable scaling when necessary without cost increases.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The list of advantages could go on, but despite all this, the digitalization and automation of processes take place with great difficulty and relatively modest results in most companies in Romania.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Why Aren\u2019t We Automating?<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There are sufficient reasons to justify the delay in adoption and modest results. Let\u2019s list a few of them:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conservatism and self-sufficiency<\/strong> (\u201cColleagues complain, but we will manage as we have so far!\u201d)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fear of evaluation<\/strong> (\u201cHonestly, no one wants to evaluate the current processes. If it turns out that they aren\u2019t optimal, someone higher up will ask us why we haven\u2019t done anything until now. It\u2019s better to leave things as they are.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lack of management clarity<\/strong> (\u201cWe bought new laptops with pink mouses, isn\u2019t that enough?\u201d)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Resistance from employees and even management<\/strong> (\u201cWill we lose our jobs after that?\u201d)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Previous failed or modest implementations<\/strong> (\u201cWe tried before, and it didn\u2019t work!\u201d)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Additional initial effort on top of current tasks<\/strong> (\u201cI can\u2019t take it anymore; a new project is the last thing I need!\u201d)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lack of internal expertise<\/strong> (\u201cWe know how to make tires, we\u2019re not experts in digitalization&#8230;\u201d)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Because digitalization of processes comes before automation<\/strong> (\u201cPaper is fundamental for us. We can\u2019t operate in the factory without papers.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>If We Still Want to Digitalize and Then Automate Processes, Where Do We Start?<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Start by evaluating the current state. Where are we now? To my surprise, often, management doesn\u2019t precisely know where they stand.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2013\u00a0\u201cDo you have a map of the company\u2019s processes?\u201d -Radu<\/p>\n<p>\u2013\u00a0\u201cWe don\u2019t, but we\u2019ll talk to the IT colleagues. They had one, but it\u2019s old, we\u2019ll find it and give it to you.\u201d- Client<\/p>\n<p>\u2013\u00a0\u201cWhat processes do you already have digitalized and, possibly, automated?\u201d-Radu<\/p>\n<p>\u2013\u00a0\u201cWe have everything! We have ERP, CRM, VMS, BI, and &#8230;bip. But it\u2019s all for nothing!\u201d \u2013 Client<\/p>\n<p>\u2013\u00a0\u201cThose are software applications; I was referring to processes&#8230;\u201d-Radu<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The first step in digitalizing and automating the company processes is evaluating the current state. A possible sequence of steps would be:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 1.<\/strong> Analysis of existing processes and their interconnections.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 2<\/strong>. Identification of processes already digitalized (partially or fully).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 3.<\/strong> Identification of inefficiencies and bottlenecks.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This step is absolutely necessary and can be conducted:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Internally<\/strong> \u2013 by the management team and specialists from each department.<\/p>\n<p><strong>In a mixed manner<\/strong> \u2013 by the internal team and an independent consultant or from a partner IT company. Only after we have a map of the processes and an understanding of the current situation we can move on to the next steps.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Otherwise, we\u2019ll only have a sporadic initiative, uncorrelated with the rest of the processes, which might work correctly only by chance. Most of the time, it\u2019s doomed to failure because:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>The connections with other processes and data exchanges weren\u2019t correctly defined<\/strong> \u2013 so someone, somewhere, will manually enter data into an Excel file.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The optimal solution wasn\u2019t chosen<\/strong> \u2013 it might have cost less in the department\u2019s budget, but it will cost the company more in the long run.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The complexity of the IT system increased<\/strong> \u2013 yet another application to install, update, maintain, back up, support, grant access to, etc.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Any process changes raise problems and update costs<\/strong> \u2013 changes driven by other processes or external causes.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In the next article, we will continue to explore the following steps in digitalizing and automating business processes, along with best practice recommendations from our and others\u2019 experiences.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>See you soon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recently, I had a scheduled Teams presentation with a potential client who didn\u2019t join the meeting. I called but received no response. Late in the evening, the potential client called back to apologize, explaining that he was unable to join and couldn\u2019t answer the phone, being very busy. As we spoke, I could hear the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2076,"parent":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"articol-tip2.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[145,151,152,134,153,136,154,138,155,156,157,158,159,160,140],"class_list":["post-2110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-automatizare-procese-en","tag-bpa-en","tag-digitalizare-afaceri-en","tag-eficienta-operationala-en","tag-implementare-bpa-en","tag-inovatie-in-afaceri-en","tag-management-eficient-en","tag-optimizare-procese-en","tag-procese-de-afaceri-en","tag-productivitate-angajati-en","tag-reducerea-erorilor-umane-en","tag-solutii-automatizare-en","tag-suprasolicitare-angajati-en","tag-tehnologie-in-afaceri-en","tag-transformare-digitala-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Part 1. 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