SOFTWARE AUTOMATION

When Scenario 77 approaches a new project involving business automation (or process automation or workflow automation) we group the requests we receive, issues we identify and features we propose into 3 categories:

• Increased Productivity
• Cost Reduction
• Risk Mitigation

As with any software automation project, the software that is created to capture, automate and validate the work being performed by a company must closely match the processes that your employees currently use or should be using.

Let’s discuss the unique focus for each of these categories.

While we all understand productivity in a broad sense, let’s focus on productivity as it pertains to software development.

Custom software that automates what used to be manual tasks is by far the most common kind of automation. After all, who wants to enter the same information into 3 different spreadsheets when they can all be combined into one system that’s setup to accept the data entry just one time and then surface that data in other areas.

Do you have employees accessing 2, 3 or 4 different systems just so they can combine this information to do their job. Scenario 77 has seen this in many different areas. One example, is a client who receives orders online. Once the order is received an employee then looks up the customer in another system and either retrieves the customers shipping information or creates a new customer. This employee then went to a third and final system to print shipping labels. All 3 systems were combined allowing for increased capacity (the net effect of increased productivity) and eliminated duplicate entry and entry errors (aka risk mitigation).

Custom software is often perceived as expensive however Scenario 77 has seen time and time again reductions in cost that far outweigh any upfront development costs.

Scenario 77 often implements or updates systems with data validation ensuring that complete and accurate records are entered to begin with and therefore eliminating the need for rework or the inevitable back and forth when one department or group isn’t getting the right information to begin with.

As an example, we’ve implemented a system that automatically retrieved test equipment data and correlated it with individual parts that were being assembled. This allowed the client to eliminate costly labor hours and as an added bonus gave the client a healthy bump to their per part rates (aka increased productivity)

Most companies we engage with love to talk about increased productivity or reducing costs but we often are called in because of an immediate problem. That problem usually manifests itself in one way, “lack of compliance.” That may be lack of compliance with a regulatory official or a lack of compliance with a customer agreement or contract. These companies quickly and painfully identified a hole in their processes that needs patched quickly.

Risk mitigation work is the not-so-glamorous cousin to the other two and usually is most often in direct odds with the others. Risk mitigation processes often require extra checks, extra fields to be completed, extra buttons to click, extra bar codes to be scanned. Extra, extra, extra.

All of these extras reduce your productivity and increase your costs however Scenario 77 has the experience to help you deliver solutions that give your customers the protections in quality, output, completeness and accuracy they require.

Software automation can be an extremely powerful advantage for your business however you need a partner who understands the benefits and risks with every project. Could your organization benefit from software automation? If so, give Scenario 77 a call at 260-310-2291 or book an appointment to start discussing your software automation needs.