Robotic Process Automation in the Hotel & Hospitality Sector
The hospitality industry is finally opening up again. After a year of staying in, people are only too happy to be parting with their money in restaurants and hotels whilst catching up with loved ones. However, the face of hospitality is very different to how it was pre-pandemic. As a result of the furlough scheme and hospitality staff finding new employment, there are now severe staff shortages in the industry. With more of the world opening up each week, the hospitality sector is now scrambling to get processes in place with reduced staff numbers. There are reports that as many as 9 in 10 venues that are now short staffed*. It’s not only due to lockdown, in the UK, Brexit has also had an effect on staff members too. Now that so many of us have renewed confidence due to vaccinations, we’re venturing out again in high numbers. This means venues are booking up, leaving restaurants struggling to cope with demand. All of this leads to increased competition for available hospitality staff. Although two thirds of employers are confident about recruiting and training in time – retaining staff will become imperative to remain cost effective. This is where Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can help. ‘Digital workers’ can continuously work throughout the day. Tasks that are classed as ‘dull’ and ‘repetitive’ are completed with ease. Basic tasks such as email reservations are automatically taken care of, so your staff can focus on welcoming customers back! Here are some of the jobs RPA can automate for you. Leaving the worry of staff shortages out of the running of your business; Payment collection – Collecting payment for pre-paid bookings is now much easier. It can be automated using Robotic Process Automation, freeing up staff time to focus elsewhere Insight – If you’re finding much of your resource is being used to generate essential reports, consider using RPA for this instead. You’ll find the data you require can be pulled together quickly and easily. Contact centre – Routine emails including email reservations, amendments or cancellations can all be taken care of. Any time of the day or night. Finance – Vendor setup and retiral, supplier reconciliation, and revenue postings are some of the financial aspects RPA can automate for your business Projects – We can provide fantastic support for projects. Covering anything from data migration, to rate code setup and user permission management. Easily controlled by you and carried out by our digital workers. To find out more about how Centelli has helped automate processes in the hospitality industry, take a look at our case study for Village Hotels. If you would like more information on how Centelli provides tailor-made solutions, get in touch with us today. Click here to Contact us TODAY! *Figures and information obtained at the time of publishing. https://dailybusinessgroup.co.uk/2021/06/hospitality-faces-growing-staff-shortage-crisis/
Robotic Process Automation in the Supply Chain
Companies across the world are looking at ways to automate core business processes and reduce costs in various departments of their business. It all needs to be achieved with customer service and experience at the heart of the operation. At Centelli, we’ve helped companies improve their supply chains and we’ll show you how Robotic Process Automation in supply chain could help your company. Why might I need to make changes to my supply chain operations? It’s good practice to regularly review your supply chain operations and there are many factors to consider. There is a requirement to keep margins low with cost effective practices in every area of the chain. Not only this, but when you are managing staff, it’s important to challenge and inspire them to do a great job. All whilst providing the top level customer experience you’re known for. Automating processes within the supply chain not only increases productivity, it also removes manual error and the need for re-work. How can Robotic Process Automation improve my supply chain? Hiring staff can be expensive. It takes time to train to a sufficient standard for the smooth running of a company. With the introduction of KPIs as your company evolves, it can become time intensive and stressful. Here are some of the key benefits of employing RPA and ‘Digital Workers’ into your supply chain; RPA can easily integrate into your existing software and applications. There’s no need to start from scratch with the programmes you use Digital Workers are constantly undertaking work, 24/7. This means your company can do the same Time consuming, manual processes become automated. Administration tasks such as inputting purchase orders are easily taken care of Human error is removed from the process, giving you clearer and more reliable data The data you obtain can lead to efficiencies and optimisation throughout the chain Robotic Process Automation can increase your return on investment Will RPA benefit my staff? RPA doesn’t replace staff, it simply allows you to distribute them to other departments of the business. Implementing new programmes and procedures can not only be time consuming, it can also be stressful for staff. We’ve found that introducing RPA to a company’s operation actually helps with staff retention. ‘Mundane tasks’ are undertaken via Digital Workers which increases employee satisfaction considerably. RPA can help grow your value chain, without any costly hiring charges. All of this can be done whilst allowing you to keep ahead of your competitors. How Centelli can help with your RPA requirements For more information on how Centelli can help – take a look at our video on dock door scheduling. Tasks such as managing appointments can be easily automated, using Robotic Process Automation. You’ll see how we’re helping companies across the world by using SMS text messaging and smart conversional AI. We’re using Digital Workers to quickly and efficiently create intelligent solutions. If you’d like more information on how RPA can help your business – get in touch with Centelli today. You can reach us by emailing info@Centelli.com or calling us on +44 7900 232396.
Never a better time than NOW to think of Digital Workforce Optimization
Future of Digital Workforce is NOW! It’s even more critical to be productive with newly created remote workforces and various work locations. This is the perfect opportunity to explore RPA and how to keep your company performing with maximum efficiency through the pandemic and beyond. Human workers often miss shifts due to illness, vacation, etc. while digital workers are always performing behind the scenes, 24×7, and without any breaks to get those repetitive tasks done. Numerous surveys reveal the need to increase process efficiency which includes factors like speed, quality, continuity and especially cost. In addition the optimization of Digital Workforce through automation allows for focus on more valuable tasks as employers look for more current and lasting operating models. Prior to the pandemic, the push for more knowledge-based, value-added services from humans set the foundation for many automation plans. Offshore options used to be cheaper, but Digital Workforce has changed the way companies can become more efficient in-house. Automation is able to take over for mundane repetitive tasks driving efficiency and productivity 15-20X that of human powered tasks. RPA (Robotic Process Automation) or as we call it “Digital Workers” is the latest mega trend in technology. Automating repetitive tasks allows valuable employees to focus on more meaningful projects. Digital workers are always on the task, working error free, 24/7 to maximize productivity for operations. No coffee breaks required. Digital Workers are simply intelligent software that works with your existing systems!
Optimizing Supply Chains – Vendor Selection
RPA is being increasingly adopted within the supply chain to mimic the actions of human employees: capturing, replicating, and processing data, communicating with customers, as well as making judgements and learning from past actions. Intelligent Process Automation in areas such as Vendor Selection, Shipment Status Communications, and Demand Planning are just some of the examples that streamline current processes providing increased customer experience and higher staff satisfaction. A recent study suggests that 72% of global supply chain companies plan to implement RPA solutions leading to process efficiencies by as much as 43%! Benefits of RPA in Vendor Selection & Procurement Selecting and procuring vendors is a highly manual process that normally involves employees preparing an RFQ (request for quotation), communicating to vendors, performing a preliminary analysis of vendor documents, evaluating the vendor, running a credit check, and finalizing the vendor selection. Deploying RPA solutions systemically can automate almost the entire process. Human intervention is only needed when developing initial specifications, generating a list of potential vendors, and engaging in face-to-face conversations or onsite visits and negotiations. This could lead to cycle time improvements by as much as 50% and processing time by as much as 45%. Digital Workers from Centelli are like having low cost workhorses that operate 24×7 without coffee breaks or ever calling in sick. Get started today and put your manual and repetitive tasks on autopilot!
Automation and Automobiles
Everyone can imagine how Automation have been used in the automotive sector. One quick look at a vehicle production line, and you will see swathes of industrial robots pulling together the various components that make up the cars we drive today. It has been this way since the 60s & 70s. Robots can build the vehicles quicker, for longer periods of time without fatigue, and with less errors than the staff who were previously on the production line. The staff who would have building the cars manually have transitioned their skills into supporting, maintaining, and repairing the robots so they can do their job. RPA is no different in the 21st century Robotic Process Automation in Automotive sector is the modern-day equivalent of steam engines and industrial robots. UiPath software robots pick up the repetitive, computer based processes that human staff used to do. But these robots are not constrained by the same limitations that we are. We are only able to execute a certain number of tasks in our 8/9 hour day, but we need to also be doing the rest of our day jobs (because the repetitive tasks are generally the distractions). The automotive sector has already undergone this secondary revolution using robots, just this time around its been with software robots. We have clients within leasing, dealerships, vehicle remarketing and even automotive data organisations who already use RPA. There are countless back office processes that can be picked up by robots (AP within Finance, onboarding & offboarding within HR, and even tasks like returns processing within Supply Chain functions). Automotive specific use case However, the biggest benefit gainers and savings have been linked to front office and have a direct impact on the success of the business. Within one automotive group we have developed an automation where the robots calculate the prices of available leases from across 5 different applications, and then posts the best price. Because a robot does not take holidays, coffee breaks, works midnight-midnight and not 9-5, and does not make human error and need to go back for rework, the benefits have been massive. The amount of prices they have been able to post each month has increased by a factor of 10x. This directly results in increased revenue for the company. Chances are, there will be repetitive, routine processes that consume the time of your staff and a lot of the time, keep them away from dealing directly with customers or stakeholders. If you want to look under the hood at your operations and see where you can use software robots to help your operation, get in touch at sales@Centelli.com.
Navigating Complex Supply Chain Systems to Drive Business Transformation
It seems each year the invent of new technology gives us an opportunity to transform our processes but too often the Supply Chain industry finds itself weighed down by multiple systems and Integrating legacy applications. In a digital first world, continued acceleration in adopting innovative technology is vital to success. Sudden impact of Covid-19 only highlighted the gaps in digitization of the modern supply chain and companies with weak or ill-defined digital projects are being left behind at a pace never seen before. However, it is not easy to simply replace legacy systems or share data among the various functional tools to get an edge. So how does one go about digital transformation to solve short-term business objectives while ensuring long-term viability? Digital Workers (RPA – Robotic Process Automation) are enabling the industry to overcome such barriers by simply providing a digital assistant to your teams to overcome shortcomings in integrations, removing the laborious task of data redundancy, improving accuracy of information across platforms, and providing fast and more accurate information to customers and management for rapid decision making. CEO’s are realizing that Digital Workers enable their teams to execute short and long-term strategies without significantly increasing headcount or adding additional projects on their already strained IT teams. Here is where Digital Workers add value to supply chain by picking up repetitive tasks and bridging the gap between multiple applications: Shipment scheduling, tracking, and communications Invoice processing Load management Order processing (don’t have an EDI option with a partner, no sweat – use a Digital Worker!) Supply and demand planning Communications and Alerting Inventory tracking, vendor managed inventory, consigned inventory Bridge data gaps between any of your existing applications Reduce data redundancy errors and mistakes Remove silos and improve cross-functional collaboration Virtual servicing Enable digital commerce How We Enable Digital Transformation with Digital Workers Keep your legacy systems and embrace a digital first mindset, while improving operational efficiencies at reduced costs and with rapid deployment. At Centelli, we deploy Digital Workers. Digital Workers are like a virtual assistant for your teams that work 24×7 without breaks, without holidays, without calling in sick and without making any errors. Deploy Digital Workers now to move business forward! It is expected that 72% of companies will use Digital Workers in the next 2 years alone. Integrating Legacy applications are no longer a barrier to transform – in fact keep them! Contact Centelli