Business processes automation plays an increasingly important role. To analyze the impact of this technology, Byte Ti organized a meeting in Barcelona that was attended by Manuel FulgueiraCIO and Director of Systems of Institut Dental; Enrique Riera, SALES ACCOUNT MANAGER IBERIA DE GTRONICS; Miquel MartìIS & T Director of Agbar; Álvaro VerdejaMaking Science Operations Director; Gonzalo Valdés, Making Science Strategy Director; Pablo GiancarleRegional It Manager of Rhenus Iberia; Iván Trueba, CEO of Cenker Robotics and Albert SierraDirector of Cambra de Comerç Systems of Barcelona.
The departments that make up an organization that are using some automation process are different and wide. Marketing, financial, human resources or production departments among many others take advantage of their benefits such as increased efficiency, cost reduction or minimization of human errors. One of the great advantages is that by automating repetitive tasks, companies can dedicate workers to more strategic tasks and generate greater value for the organization.
However, although it seems that it is now when it has taken relevance, as Albert Sierra, director of Cambra de Comerç Systems of Barcelona, “of robotization and Ia many years that we talk about them many years ago, although the thing seems to be something current . If we talk about RPA gives brutal expectations especially from AI. In the Cambra de Comerç we have begun to reorder processes and with it we can reorganize repetitive tasks. Robotization helps us a lot because we release people to dedicate them to other tasks. The problem is that you have to adapt to cultural change for these people because the process is more efficient but it must be seen that the person is more efficient to do other processes. And people are the most important. With automation, we dare not implement certain things until we see that we cover the other aspects that people can cover in their new tasks. ”
In the case of Pablo Giancarle, Regional It Manager of Rhenus Iberia, “we had processes that were outdated and the first problem I found was the resistance to change, so I had to demonstrate that with you we could do more and better. The first thing we implemented was the CRM and when we began to analyze how a client managed we saw that multiple errors were produced. Now the operations part is digitized and more productive. The customer area is where we are now focusing and ending the project. In the automation part we have resolved the issue that the processes ask it and we solve the problem but we have launched some keys so that it is the users who solve simple problems. ”
Manuel Fulgueira, CIO and Director of Systems of Institut Dentistry also influenced the importance of people: “The key is people. We have a strategic plan to fold the number of clinics and we come from a moment in which the paper and Excel were the protagonists. The problem we encounter was to change people’s work mentality. We see that there has been a fairly important resistance to change. You have to convince people that you are not going to fire them and that they will do tasks of greater value. Then we have the clinic sales section. In this process different people come into play and it is a complex process in the billing and customer services that take time to professionals to dedicate themselves to the work that really care that it is to give dental treatments to patients. We apply automation with the fine line that the important thing is really the patient. For example, the admission process on a visit through a totem that indicates the room to which we have to go in an appointment do not want to do it because we believe that the important thing is that you receive the treatment of a human. We are digitizing HR management, administration and conciliation of invoices with ERP. But in the case of clinics we do not want to stop braking and that this supposes that the relationship with the patient is dehumanized. ”
Miquel Martì, Is & T director of Agbar, explained that “we see how IT impacts automation. Our strategy is to have a first conversation and first talk about business. It is about talking to an area and when you know their needs and their value delivery adapt the technology to them. The IT department cannot lead on its own: it is about colliding. If you work together with business there is an improvement and valid cases are produced. Technology has to enter later. On the other hand, nothing happens if you act as a facilitator. ”
The departments that make up an organization that are using some automation process are different and wide
Gonzalo Valdés, Making Science Strategy Director believes that “business has its processes based on what you know, not what you don’t know. The classic business model is something that is not worth today. You have to think about business and be a business builder and not be a mere technology supplier. Automatizing is very good, but if it is not carried out with business it will not succeed. Technology must lead. ”
Emerging trends
What will be the trends and emerging technologies and that will be imposed in the coming months were another aspects treated in the meeting. For Enrique Riera, Sales Account Manager Iberia de Getronics, “What I see is that the important thing is the improvement of efficiency and cost savings. The automation against the ERP and against the month contribute a lot of value and are little exploited. The same goes for migrations to Cloud, which are not well used when efficiency will be improved. As for ia we are a bit cautious: there is a part in the company as unified communications where there is a mature knowledge base that can be implemented on clean data. As when applied in OT. Chatbots is another of the trends that we see that generates a lot of interest. ”
For his part Iván Trueba, CEO of Cenker Robotics, considered that “one of the keywords is integration. If the systems and applications are not integrated, then there will be problems. From the point of view of AI, the other word is optimization. In our case, automated stores, you see that it does not match the data between what the user believes and what the data offers. That is why optimization is important. “
Álvaro Verdeja, director of Operations at Making Science, explained that “we are marketing and technology services company. We for our origin, being young, are like a startup. So we adopt the technologies that existed. What many invested is in connecting everything: Salesforce with Google, etc. The advantage is that we did not have to face the culture to change. We let any new technology use, such as when Chatgpt appeared so that we will see what can benefit the company’s processes. In my opinion, the important thing is that the data is available at all times. We do not reject the AI, but what we want is for experts to use it. ”
As for artificial intelligence, Albert Sierra said that, “the AI what it has caused is that people have realized that we have more automated processes than they believed. Thanks to this, many of the things that have been implemented so far are being valued and that people did not see it. One of the problems is that people can go quickly if they do not see possibilities of evolution within the company.
For his part, Manuel Fulgueira said that “technology is always, but the problem is people. We must know about business because if not, we are dead. In our case, how do you manage a company where the client does not want to go and that you are also going to charge an important amount for a treatment? All this must be managed with magnifying glass and technology is the least of the problems, but does not solve the personal treatment that occurs between doctor and patient, for example.
Miquel Martí believes that in the case of automation there are different vectors. For example, he considers that “there is talk of non -internal automation and in the case of Agbar, for operators it has meant an important transformation. With customers we have launched omnichannel tools and the issue of being able to measure the satisfaction index is one of the most important keys. Because that measurement allows us to see that efficiency is not impacting on the perception of the brand’s client. ”
Gonzalo Valdés, for example, believes that “technology also allows us to understand the needs and perception of the user. In this, AI helps us understand the user, knowing what he likes most. The AI is not only to generate things, but to take advantage of it to detect the tastes and needs of the client.
Investment
In the end, the adoption of any technology has to have an investment. In the case of Miquel Martì, “we all the investment of you that we make is drawn with a business investment. The conversation must revolve around business. There are sections in which the participation of IT can be considered as the bad poli, such as in the aspects of security application. On the other hand, business must take a step forward and be increasingly autonomous in the adoption of technology. For example, in Agbar we have replaced Microsoft’s office suite with Google’s in record time. And in this process it is not sustainable to do it with an army of IT trainers. More autonomy is also needed by the business ».
For Gonzalo Valdés, “the point is that there is more and more demand for you, but resources do not rise and that is why it is important that AI helps efficient processes.”
