Get rid of repetitive, mundane tasks
As managers and subject matter experts review their various processes, they are likely to realize that manual data entry occupies a very large portion of their or their team’s workday. In a world where labor shortage is plaguing every industry sector, it is imperative that every task gets analyzed, to then be kept, improved or eliminated. In this post, we’ll explain how and why we started looking for solutions to this problem, and why data-entry automation became the obvious and easiest solution to implement universally.
Automation in business processes is not a new concept; it’s been around for a long time. Think of all the robots doing mundane tasks that nobody wanted to do anymore - or heavy lifting, precision tasks, etc. It started out with a bad rep, it was going to take away everybody’s jobs, bosses were going to replace all their employees with robots or computers: it was going to be horrible. And slowly but surely, changes started happening not so drastically and not for every job, as feared. Fast forward to now. Every industry sector is plagued with labor shortages, and in every industry, there is someone entering data manually into a system - financial, operational, or other. But the process is inefficient and incredibly slow due to the different source types of documents, approvals, checks, etc. There is also a lack of transparency in the process: it is easy to know when an invoice was received, and then when it is paid, but anywhere in between is a mystery. Furthermore, manually entering data is bound to bring its fair share of errors, which, as you know, are costly and time-consuming as well.
We heard the complaint coming from many of our clients and started thinking of ways to make this situation better for them. Then, after making an automated check deposit at the bank, the idea of incorporating an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) application into IBM Maximo came up. Creating the application wasn’t easy, but we finally managed to do it! ScanNmax was born just in time to be presented at the 2019 Maximo World Conference, at which we won the New Automation award!
ScanNmax can work with various IBM Maximo application, but we’ll concentrate on Finance, Measurements and Qualifications.
In Finance, the data input clerk receives invoices from various sources and in various formats: paper, pdf via mail, pdf via a portal, etc. The idea now is to send the file to a dedicated email address associated with Maximo. Then ScanNmax reads the file, finds any matching documents (PO’s for example), creates the invoice and attaches the pdf. Then the person can approve or modify it. This process has been reported to save a whole
7 minutes PER INVOICE!
In Measurements, data taken on site can be written on a piece of paper or form, and the operator takes a picture with their phone or tablet to send directly to the dedicated email address. Then, ScanNmax will input the received data and match the correct fields into the Maximo module.
In Qualifications, an operator or driver can send a photo of their license taken with a phone or tablet directly to the dedicated email address. Then, as for the Finance and Measurements modules, ScanNmax will populate the proper fields with the new data.
Such a solution is very easy to install, very easy to use; it installs in less than two days and is simple and intuitive - ScanNmax uses the same Maximo interface so users feel at ease right away!
Company leaders are willing and eager to implement new tools and processes, but are faced with labor shortages and financial constraints: they need to do more with less! Automating data entry is about assigning their most valuable assets - their employees - to perform meaningful and satisfying activities instead of repetitive tasks, such as data entry.
Is data-entry automation for your company? You can find out by scheduling a free demo with one of our experts. We can also determine how quickly you’ll get your ROI.
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