Nowadays, the telecom sector is all too familiar with challenges and difficulties. With the growing demand for seamless connectivity and customized solutions, a wide variety of products and services, the ever-increasing amounts of data to handle, and the cutting off competition, the telecom sector is heavily burdened. And for this, automation via robotic process automation (RPA) is the answer. We live in a digital era where businesses and industries are automating their systems and operations. As telcos seek to address network complexities and revenue declines, RPA is becoming more important to their strategies.
RPA use cases
RPA can work across different applications, platforms and departments, and integrates well with the existing IT infrastructure, with no additional installations. There is no need for companies to invest heavily to automate essential processes; instead, there are several ways to use RPA effectively, and some of them are:
- Customer service: Automation can help deliver the results that customers want and automated systems can categorize inquiries by tech department, service department, etc. Customer service has several rules-based procedures that can be automated and modernized. Between 70% and 80% of rules-based processes can be automated, and it is a good idea to start with customer service.
- Invoice processing: This process is usually done as manual tasking, which can result in delayed and incorrect payments. RPA can automate data input, reconciliation of errors and even certain decision-making processes required for invoice processing, minimizing the need for human intervention.
- Sales orders: Entering data into the system, replicating it and then entering it into another system is a boring task, and might result in errors that may affect productivity. By automating tasks, RPA can perform sales activities from beginning to end, increasing sales workforce efficiency and generating more business.
- Payroll: As with other responsibilities, payroll is a repetitive task for the team and requires a lot of effort. As an alternative, RPA can perform automation payroll-related and dated transactions from end-to-end to avoid inaccuracies and delays.
- Price comparison: Companies always research online in order to purchase products or provide services. This process can be time-consuming and complicated, which is why RPA is the solution. Business owners can use this system to not only compare prices from different vendors, but also to compare product attributes and quality. This way they can purchase the best resources for the lowest possible price.
- Storing customer information: RPA can help businesses store, sort and organize a variety of customer information to ensure everything is easily accessible, all while reducing repetitive tasks by nearly 80%. It’s more accurate than human application and has a lower margin of error.
- Extracting data from different formats: Data can appear in different formats ranging from editable text to handwritten notes. If the business needs to collect and store information from different sources, RPA is a great investment.
A game-changer in the Middle East
Globally, more organizations are deploying robotic process automation (RPA) to simplify processes and optimize costs. According to the Industry ARC, “The Middle East factory automation and assembly technology market is expected to reach $46.1 billion by 2026 at a CAGR of 5.1% during the forecast period 2021-2026.” The number of local manufacturers for food processing and automotive parts is growing in Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman and others. Moreover, the Middle East factory automation and assembly technology market is impacted by the growing number of smart devices, industrial sensors and industrial automation motion control systems installed and implemented over the forecast period.
Saudi Arabia, for example, held a market share of more than 34% in 2020, according to the report of Industry ARC, this as a result of government initiatives to reduce dependency on the oil and gas sector and invest heavily in domestic manufacturing industries including pharmaceuticals, automobiles and food processing. In addition, industrial robots are growing at a CAGR of 7.5% in the forecast period. In this region, manufacturers are using industrial robots to reduce human intervention in manufacturing, increasing production capacity and reducing manufacturing costs.
RPA can be implemented in several interesting ways, and employees can easily adapt to the changes and work more productively. Everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life. Businesses can gradually implement RPA to make workflows more efficient with benefits directed to both employees and customers. RPA may not result in immediate cost savings for companies, but it can attract customer loyalty, benefiting businesses in the long run.