Robotic Process Automation and Intelligent Automation are definitely relevant for large Enterprises; Are they relevant for SMEs?
SME Mindset
For SMEs in Dubai, technology spending is often considered as an expense and newer technology solutions in such scenarios is considered a gamble. Market situation sometimes gets management to prioritise reducing costs, missing good opportunities for new technology that can provide good returns to be considered as an investment. SME’s typically have fewer employees – less bureaucracy and can move faster. A few key employees can make things happen. Exploring new technologies early on opens up new possibilities and gets those moving forward to study the building blocks. This often prepares them to “talk the new language”, providing them an advantage to take on newer solutions faster.
In SMEs, often strategy follows structure – existing people define new strategies for the organization and it is important to familiarize them with newer solutions in a non – threatening way.
Each new Technology Project needs a strong Sponsor within the Organisation to see it through to the end.
We often find staff getting comfortable with one way of operations and then continue to operate the same way even when a much more sophisticated solution is implemented, thus not fully leveraging the benefits of the solution. Simple automation of what we do is not the ideal solution, the processes and surround elements need to be reviewed and an effective solution identified and implemented. If there are currently three touch points in a process / customer service situation, can we reduce it to one?
In new technology topics, the differentiation when we consider SMEs Vs Enterprise is the management outlook – an SME willing and able to adopt the right new technology will compete effectively. A scaled down version or specific modules of the Enterprise solution is often adequate for SMEs.
Nature of Solution
RPA / Intelligent Automation has elements of Automation, Analytics, Business Process Management, Artificial Intelligence [machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, etc.], Intelligent OCR and the like. Different vendors have different combination of elements. A joint exploration with the Vendor will identify the elements that are relevant for the particular situation. In a SME scenario, typically fewer elements may be relevant and it may be wise to start small.
Benefits RPA provide for SMEs:
Getting RPA for small business will result in making our employees more efficient and free to do more interesting work. Robotic Process Automation is the perfect tool for handling the daily, repetitive tasks that keep a business running, such as invoice filing, payroll, data management and the like. There will be greater accuracy and compliance of data.
RPA and Intelligent Automation provides actionable insights through the Analytics engine. The Software robots can collate data to produce forecasts and business intelligence. These provide business with competitive advantage, enabling a smaller player to compete well with larger players by enabling small business transformation. RPA for small business help to move fast and adapt quickly.
Unlike larger firms, SME’s won’t have the budget for major upgrades to IT systems. Since RPA technology is non-disruptive and can be placed on top of existing IT systems. RPA does not change the underlying code of the client’s IT system. It never compromises the integrity of the underlying applications and the ‘assistants’ (Robots) can access the end user computer systems exactly as the human does, ensuring fast implementation and very low risks.
RPA for small business in Dubai can be explored to augment humans wherever relevant. It is obvious that it can replace large sets of people executing repetitive work. The competitive nature of the industry, the ability and willingness of stakeholders and many such related factors will determine the deployment of such solutions. RPA has often aided small business transformation to reach greater heights.
There are numerous “use cases” already available for different industries across multiple vendors. Presenting relevant ones to SME managers will ensure faster engagement.
posted by Pinnacle Marketing Dept
Tags : SME Solutions , Business Trends
