Transform IT

Today, many business leaders are familiar with the team “robotic process automation”, both on the technical and non-technical side. RPA, as a form of software automation technology, is sweeping through business processes faster than many other technologies on the market today, streamlining both rule-based and end-to-end tasks.

This impact of RPA in the workforce has only accelerated amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizations are recognizing the reality of automating repetitive tasks that exists in their workforce to save their employees time, and enhance their innovative efforts. To gain a better perspective of this impact, Smartbridge hosts Zach Reynolds, and senior RPA developer Raul Pena, sit down with Sanjay Patel, Director of Q&A at Weingarten Realty.

As it happens, Smartbridge recently concluded an RPA implementation project with Weingarten which served to completely automate their user provisioning processes. From a leadership perspective, Sanjay discusses the challenges, growing points, and immediate benefits that he experienced during and after the project was complete.

🍔 Enhancing the Customer Journey in the Restaurant Industry 🍕

Among the various industries impacted by digital transformation, food service (and the restaurant industry alike) has experienced perhaps the most dramatic shift pertaining to the dynamic journey of the customer. From social influencing, streamlined services and advertising channels, food service establishments are beginning to amplify the customer experience through digitally transforming their operations and business structure.

Recognizing how to appeal, generate, and nurture customer leads is perhaps the most impacted channel within food service establishments. Further, ensuring that the customer journey encompasses various digital touch points to appeal to unique senses is crucial. In the competitive cycle to stay relevant and retain a loyal customer base, only the strong (and digitally savvy) survive.

David “Rev” Ciancio – Yeah Management! Marketing Consultant, social influencer, and longtime food enthusiast has operated in this realm for over 25 years, gaining significant experience in the customer journey/experience in the food service industry. We joined Rev for an in-depth discussion on the ins and outs, dos and dont’s, and critical need to knows pertaining to the customer’s digital journey in food service.

A Skeptic is NOT a Nay-Sayer! 🤔

Often in the IT industry, the term "skeptic" can get get a bad rap. The perception of the term is someone who refuses to digitally transform, adopt new technologies, or doesn't want to evaluate their current business processes. However, healthy skepticism in IT is far from a negative concept, and can impact a organization's custom retention rate for the better.

Randy Laker, recently retired CIO of Oil States International, says that few (if any) companies understand the true value of productive skepticism. Randy states that customers are the biggest skeptics an organization will encounter, and looking at products, processes and services through their point of view will help create customer-centric value and retention in the long run.

In the ever changing world of IT, it's crucial for an organization to test, troubleshoot and structure their technological offerings from the perspective of a customer, not a subject matter expert. Further, questioning "if" something can be implemented just because it "can" be implemented is a pillar in the customer value offering.

😷😷 A Silver Lining Through the COVID-19 Crisis...

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has impacted multiple businesses in various industries. Small businesses are rapidly loosing revenue, workers are strapped for hours, and multiple projects continue to be put on hold. Among more vulnerable industries like shipping and oil & gas, nonprofit organizations such as food banks, charitable organizations and social advocacy groups, especially have significant challenges to face, and the worst is perhaps yet to come.

However, technology professionals have the means to provide a glimpse of hope during the economic downturn caused by the global Coronavirus, especially within the Salesforce community. Tyler Colby, Data Infrastructure Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), has initiated a call to arms in the Salesforce community (and the IT community in general), to provide whatever means of expertise they have to assist nonprofit organizations affected by COVID-19.

Tyler has had extensive experience in assisting nonprofits during community crises. His call to action, or more accurately - The COVID-19 Sprint, has already generated sizable buzz from Salesforce and IT professionals wanting to get involved. Transform IT was the first to capture his passionate message through a remote podcast, which we're eager to share with our listeners here.

In this special episode, we’re joined in the studio by former military members from Smartbridge to discuss veterans in the IT industry, and the benefits of hiring veterans.

❗ Veterans are impacting the IT industry ❗

Many organizations are aware of the various benefits of hiring veterans. They’re work ethic, loyalty, and leadership capabilities can serve them well in the public sector after their military separation. Further, their above average ability to adapt in unfamiliar environments can benefit organizations in various industries. However, the benefits of hiring veterans in the IT industry can often go overlooked.

Prior service men and women from all backgrounds serve as cornerstones in many organizations, especially in the aspect of leadership and project management. In this special episode, we’re joined by four Smartbridge military veterans who share their thoughts, experiences, and insight regarding veterans in the IT industry.

🗣 "The usefulness of hiring veterans in the IT field is because you are now placing very ambitious and self-driven individuals in the work layer of your teams. This frees up leadership to do more innovative things since they now have embedded leadership in their departments to drive efforts.”

- Rob Amason, Digital Innovations Manager at Smartbridge

🎧 Listen on your preferred platform 🎧

https://smartbridge.com/podcast/transform-it-ep-19-veterans-in-it/

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Hosts Miraj & Patrick sit down with Senior Manager of Buckeye Partners L.P, Steven Fein, to discuss the impact of RPA on process improvement.

❗ RPA is Impacting Business Process Improvement ❗

Among the various technologies emerging in business today, Robotic Process Automation is on the forefront. More and more organizations are adopting RPA technology to significantly enhance the mundane processes bogging down their workforce.

However, as the pressure to innovate continues to weigh on organizations, various questions emerge in the process. What is the true value proposition of RPA? What is the ROI and how is it measured? How do I get decision makers on board?

🗣 "You have to ask yourself, ‘what am I preventing myself from doing?’ Because RPA could potentially remove that barrier.”

- Steven Fein, Senior Manager at Buckeye Partners L.P

🎧 Listen on your preferred platform 🎧

https://smartbridge.com/podcast/transform-it-podcast-ep-18-rpa-process-improvement/

The majority of businesses today are data driven in some form or fashion. Organizations in various industries rely on their unique data to drive processes, innovate, and of course house valuable information.

This holds true for every department in a given business, be it finance, sales or service. For businesses in more dynamic industries like health care, data may even house health sensitive information, crucial for clinical trials and other special needs. Thanks to new compliance regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), data is now protected more than ever.

However, as regulations and new protection tools develop, avenues of intrusion also evolve. Businesses must adapt new technology, and take strategic steps to ensure their data is secure across multiple departments. For companies like United BioSource (UBC), implementing JD Edwards for data protection was a key to that security.

Content marketing in business is essentially nothing new. Organizations have placed a focus on developing content to promote their business in various avenues for the past decade. From website postings, creative pamphlets, videos and more, the need for marketing expertise continues to grow. However, as we evolve more into the digital era of business processes, how is traditional marketing practices effected? What's changing?

Digital transformation is changing businesses, and marketing is no exception. Marketing teams who choose not to embrace new technology and opt solely for the "traditional" approach are falling short of their goals, and failing to support business development efforts. A strategic, holistic approach to content marketing is the approach marketers must adopt.

In today's episode, hosts Miraj and Patrick sit down with Smartbridge Marketing Director, Brooke Browne to discuss the essentials in today's strategic content marketing practices.

By now, businesses in various industries are catching the buzz on robotic process automation (RPA). Integrating digital bots into an internal system to automate and oversee standard processes does more than free up time. Adopting this form of automation eliminates downtime, reduces G&A costs, and gives employees more time for innovative projects. Organizations at the front end of innovation want a piece of this technology, but many are still trying to figure out how to adopt and implement it.

George Danner has earned the reputation as a leader and subject matter expert in the space of innovation. He has been a student of business for many years, experiencing decisions, processes and technological adoptions from a front row seat of many global organizations. His journey to further explore the inner workings of various businesses lead him to create his second novel, The Executive's How-To Guide to Automation. Through many discussions with senior level leaders, he noticed a consistent trend in the desire and importance of adapting automation. Through the scope of RPA, George has developed an immense amount of knowledge and know-how on adopting this form of technology, and why it's crucial for businesses to thrive.

By definition, Accounts Payable (AP) automation is the initiative of digitally streamlining the accounts payable process in the most efficient way possible. Though AP Automation isn't necessarily a new topic of discussion, many organizations actually know very little about its dynamics and the benefits of transforming their accounts payable process. Organizations are especially unaware of the importance of properly integrating AP Automation into their Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP).

What do you do when you receive an invoice in your email inbox? Though most invoices are generated and exchanged electronically, many organizations still print them out to begin the process. Though optical character recognition (OCR) in the digital AP process is accurate roughly 80% of the time, many invoices require unique editing in some aspect before fully processing. Unique editing to an invoice could be triggered by numerous causes, such as a failure in the invoice line pairing, or that a PO based invoice does not have the PO number on it. However, what if the OCR is 100% accurate, and the digital invoice processing still falls through?

The solution lies within properly integrating AP Automation into your ERP system. In this episode, hosts Miraj and Patrick sit down with Inspyrus Executive Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer, Chris Preston to discuss the full scope of AP Automation in ERP systems.