Combining Automation and Outsourcing to Improve Productivity

2018

Combining Automation and Outsourcing to Improve Productivity

Back office outsourcing providers know that business success depends on how well you can manage time and tasks productively. Now, outsourcing and automation can be integrated for better business outcomes.

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Innovations in the outsourcing market and economic changes are reshaping the competitive landscape of business processing. Organizations are now embracing innovations across business functions through analytics, automation, digital transformation, virtualization, and mass personalization etc with the help of outsourced solutions. Businesses are working hard on disruptive automation technologies, and outsourcing plays a critical role in pushing automation in business.

Automation and Outsourcing Go Hand in Hand Automation and outsourcing can both enhance businesses and help them achieve better accuracy, productivity and efficiency, and cost reduction.

Earlier, various business process

management techniques and other conventional technology rationalizations were used to transform IT and business processes but today RPA or robotic process automation is used to increase productivity and efficiency.

Organizations are now increasingly adopting and

integrating RPA with outsourced work to achieve business goals.

Artificial Intelligence or AI helps to automate a range of tasks. The latest automation technologies such as IFTTT or Zapier allow different apps and technologies to communicate with each other. For instance, these can help you set certain processes to work via your smartphone. You can set your office lights to activate when your phone reaches a certain point on your travel route. You can automatically post your Instagram photos on your Twitter account. Or when you add an event to your calendar, it can sync a series of tasks to your todo list.

Thus automation helps you save a lot of time and eliminates the need for doing

repetitive tasks. 

Automation is considered a good option for businesses looking for cost savings and improved productivity. Banks and Accounting firms: Tasks such as contacting clients, confirming that payments are done in a timely manner, and syncing with banks online can be automated. Human error can be avoided via automation.

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Insurance organizations: Policy administration, claims management, underwriting services, insurance history assessment, and insurance operations can be automated.

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Online Stores: Online stores use RPA to accept orders and communicate with customers. This enables a customer service agent to promptly handle enquiries of higher priority or those that require critical thinking.

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Telecommunication / IT companies: IT or telecommunication companies require a lot of customer support which can be easily accomplished by automation software. It helps to create electronic tickets and respond to them when a customer sends in questions or requests for a service.

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Experts from Deloitte, Consulting, Everest group and KPMG estimate cost savings of RPA over outsourcing at upwards of 70 percent. Other advantages include: 

Full control of all activities: Since all automated processes are driven and delivered by your organization, you are in full control and there is no question of losing sight of your business objectives.

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Minimize cost: The cost related to designing and implementing RPA is usually lesser than that for an average outsourcing contract.

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Save on training and simplify communication: If you are using robotic process automation (RPA), you need to train the robot only once. After that, the bot can repeat the task sequence accurately and without any complaints.

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Accuracy and Compliance: Automation ensures a higher level of accuracy and compliance. Once a set of operating procedures to be followed are programmed, those are strictly followed ensuring compliance with business mandates.

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Wide versatility: Many business processes can be automated, especially those that are definable and rules-based.

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Scale in accordance with demand: With automated software or RPA, it is easy to scale up or down, to meet variations in the business activities.

Is Automation a Threat to Outsourcing?

Automation could replace some outsourced tasks; however, it cannot substitute humans in all tasks.

Despite the many advantages of automation, it still has some weaknesses: 

Automation is not as good as humans when it comes to processing scanned images and unstructured data such as free-form emails and attachments. So companies must first accurately digitize the data using OCR or any other similar technology.

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With automation software, any minor error in one entry or transaction can be repeated across multiple entries in various applications.

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Automation is ideal for rules-driven processes. If your business is one that has frequent changes to its standard processes, then the competitive advantage of automation over a human counterpart will be diminished.

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RPA robots can never substitute the experience of a human interaction, and therefore there are some tasks that just cannot be automated.

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Combining Business Process Outsourcing and Automation The above mentioned weaknesses of RPA clearly show that outsourcing is still relevant in the present business world. Since the introduction of automation, there have been rumors about the end of outsourcing. But these are just rumors. Outsourcing still plays a crucial role and continues to be a viable and cost-effective option for many jobs that require a human touch such as voice-based jobs.

It is important to understand that both BPO and automation can help businesses streamline processes, improve quality, achieve efficiency and enjoy cost benefits. Back office, internal, and call centre tasks can be performed quickly and efficiently. Both these options are applicable for business processes that are frequent, repetitive, rules-based, and stable.

Outsourcing Companies Leveraging Automation Interestingly, now BPO companies have started utilizing robotic process automation to reduce the workload associated with complex tasks in the front office, back office, and during the development phases, while allowing managers and employees to make important business decisions. They are increasingly leveraging automation in their operations to improve their service offerings and reduce transactional costs. A 2016 Deloitte report shows that among businesses that outsource, technical innovation was a major driving factor when selecting a BPO company.

Innovative BPO firms are using RPA for the following purposes: 

To limit repetitive tasks: It is estimated that 91% of software development companies promote the use of automation to reduce the time spent of repetitive tasks.

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To function as administrative assistants: RPA technology helps outsourcing companies to perform office duties much faster than traditional approaches. Outsourcing firms usually work with businesses to relieve the workload of office duties, and RPA makes these duties easier for contract workers. It can check emails, log in and log out of various systems, create reports for outsourcing managers conducting performance reviews, provide insight into the changes that need to be made to improve employee productivity and so on. Automation can also help with accounting functions such as payroll management, bookkeeping, and help avoid expensive fines.

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To meet compliance standards: Rule-based work is the foundation of business development. RPA ensures that the rules input are followed consistently. It helps ensure compliance with all regulations.

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Outsourcers are finding new ways to utilize their resources strategically and improving processes for optimal performance with the help of automation software.

In Conclusion Though automation is improving at a steady pace, computers cannot yet do all types of tasks.

Or, you may not be the ideal person to perform a certain job. In such cases businesses can consider outsourcing to achieve quality output. Make sure that you are hiring the right people for the job. Find out whether the outsourcing provider can do the work entrusted. By giving actual tasks, you can eliminate providers who may not be able to meet your requirements. The most common mistake in outsourcing is that people expect their employees or virtual assistants to think like them.

So, to avoid mistakes create SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), a

step-by-step guide that explains each and every task clearly. You may also include diagrams or screenshots for better understanding.

Back office outsourcing providers know that the success of an organization depends on how well you can manage time and tasks productively. Outsourcing and RPA together can help businesses achieve higher accuracy, efficiency, productivity and cost reduction. They are complementary to each other. Traditionally, business process outsourcing companies have used technology rationalization and BPM techniques to optimize business processes and ensure productivity gains to their clients. Now, they are leveraging RPA in the outsourced space and passing on higher productivity benefits over the life of a contract. RPA has wide application across the organization and can go beyond the scope typically delivered by outsourcing providers. Businesses on their part, are at present increasingly adopting and implementing RPA for in-house processes, while also outsourcing other processes. This is helping them enjoy benefits across the cost base including the comparatively lower cost outsourced work, and the higher cost work managed in-house. Automation has the distinct advantage of facilitating an integrated workforce in a setting that promotes humans and machines working together to enhance productivity and ensure customer satisfaction.

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