Monthly Tangentia Byte August 2021

  • Monthly Tangentia Byte
    August 2021


“Take the Paper out of Paperwork”
Tying two key visual elements paper origami and animals – to illustrate how organizations globally should be using paper for creativity and using Ai & automation for traditional paper processes. The campaign uses the animal kingdom as an extension of our previous campaign that launched in early 2021 ‘Aim for Impact’. Celebrating the animals’ natural instincts to – survive, adapt, thrive, and transform. Instincts that are relevant to the modern business world.
Are you ready to automate your paper processes? It’s easier and more affordable than you might think! Book a call with a Tangentia Automation Expert today.

RPA Empowers Telecom Companies to Maintain Their Competitive Edge
The telecom industry needs robotic process automation (RPA) more than ever before. Read our latest blog to discover how telecom companies globally are gaining a competitive edge, providing a higher level of customer support, and improving internal processes from leveraging the power of RPA.
Blog: 8 Ways COVID-19 Forever Changed The Retail Sector
Whatever ‘new normal’ we adjust to once COVID-19 is fully behind us may well be unrecognizable compared to our outlook in 2019. The trends accelerated by the pandemic have had largely positive results. The technological evolution has, for those capable of adaptation, carried considerable benefits.

Robotic Process Automation in Manufacturing Industry
Manufacturers who have innovated early using automation technologies have grown their revenues at a faster pace and improved operational efficiencies. To scale business operations even further, it is vital to innovate and keep up with the constant technological developments.
Tangentia Open Annual Golf Tournament
Tangentia with its partners’ Automation Anywhere, Techdata, ArchESB, CIBC, Leyton, Hunters, and FOHOCOIN hosting its first Tangentia Golf Open in September in the Greater Toronto Area.
We can’t wait to see all our customers in person for the first time in 1.5 years!

Vijay Thomas, our CEO & Founder, was awarded ‘Global Entrepreneur IT Icon’
Skyline, a global read magazine by GR Foundation, has presented the ‘Global Entrepreneur IT Icon’ award to Vijay Thomas by Chief Minister of Goa, India Mr. Pramod Sawant.
Goa Technology Association Tech Meet & Awards Night 2021
We are proud to be the platinum partner for GTA Tech Meet & Awards Night 2021, a tech meet night where IT companies, startups, investors & government officials together will celebrate the 4 years of GTA.
Energy and Manufacturing Webinar
Join the webinar to learn the ins and outs of automating oil & gas and manufacturing-specific processes and how the industry can begin its digital transformation by going with Intelligent Automation. Hear from industry experts from Automation Anywhere on how to scale automation and successful implementations within the energy and manufacturing industry.
Happy with your services and products from Tangentia?
Let us know by leaving a review on Google. As a thank you, we will enter your name into a draw to win a $250 Amazon gift card. *T&C apply 


Testimonial by Aniket Kuncoliencar, AD, Goa Rajee Auto Pvt Ltd
“TiA is a great platform to automate online communication with the customers. Thanks to this well-designed platform that answers repetitive and simple questions to the customers/leads and improves customer satisfaction. It saves customers/leads’ hassle of having to seek the answers elsewhere or to call Customer Service or to read FAQs.”

– Aniket Kuncoliencar, Associate Director, Goa Rajee Auto Pvt Ltd

“Take the Paper out of Paperwork”
Tying two key visual elements paper origami and animals – to illustrate how organizations globally should be using paper for creativity and using Ai & automation for traditional paper processes. The campaign uses the animal kingdom as an extension of our previous campaign that launched in early 2021 ‘Aim for Impact’. Celebrating the animals’ natural instincts to – survive, adapt, thrive, and transform. Instincts that are relevant to the modern business world.
Are you ready to automate your paper processes? It’s easier and more affordable than you might think! Book a call with a Tangentia Automation Expert today.

RPA Empowers Telecom Companies to Maintain Their Competitive Edge
The telecom industry needs robotic process automation (RPA) more than ever before. Read our latest blog to discover how telecom companies globally are gaining a competitive edge, providing a higher level of customer support, and improving internal processes from leveraging the power of RPA.
Blog: 8 Ways COVID-19 Forever Changed The Retail Sector
Whatever ‘new normal’ we adjust to once COVID-19 is fully behind us may well be unrecognizable compared to our outlook in 2019. The trends accelerated by the pandemic have had largely positive results. The technological evolution has, for those capable of adaptation, carried considerable benefits.

Robotic Process Automation in Manufacturing Industry
Manufacturers who have innovated early using automation technologies have grown their revenues at a faster pace and improved operational efficiencies. To scale business operations even further, it is vital to innovate and keep up with the constant technological developments.
Tangentia Open Annual Golf Tournament
Tangentia with its partners’ Automation Anywhere, Techdata, ArchESB, CIBC, Leyton, Hunters, and FOHOCOIN hosting its first Tangentia Golf Open in September in the Greater Toronto Area.
We can’t wait to see all our customers in person for the first time in 1.5 years!

Vijay Thomas, our CEO & Founder, was awarded ‘Global Entrepreneur IT Icon’
Skyline, a global read magazine by GR Foundation, has presented the ‘Global Entrepreneur IT Icon’ award to Vijay Thomas by Chief Minister of Goa, India Mr. Pramod Sawant.
Goa Technology Association Tech Meet & Awards Night 2021
We are proud to be the platinum partner for GTA Tech Meet & Awards Night 2021, a tech meet night where IT companies, startups, investors & government officials together will celebrate the 4 years of GTA.
Energy and Manufacturing Webinar
Join the webinar to learn the ins and outs of automating oil & gas and manufacturing-specific processes and how the industry can begin its digital transformation by going with Intelligent Automation. Hear from industry experts from Automation Anywhere on how to scale automation and successful implementations within the energy and manufacturing industry.
Happy with your services and products from Tangentia?
Let us know by leaving a review on Google. As a thank you, we will enter your name into a draw to win a $250 Amazon gift card. *T&C apply 


Testimonial by Aniket Kuncoliencar, AD, Goa Rajee Auto Pvt Ltd
“TiA is a great platform to automate online communication with the customers. Thanks to this well-designed platform that answers repetitive and simple questions to the customers/leads and improves customer satisfaction. It saves customers/leads’ hassle of having to seek the answers elsewhere or to call Customer Service or to read FAQs.”

– Aniket Kuncoliencar, Associate Director, Goa Rajee Auto Pvt Ltd

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Empowers Telecom Companies to Maintain Their Competitive Edge

RPA in TelecomRPA in Telecom

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Empowers Telecom Companies to Maintain Their Competitive Edge

The telecom industry needs robotic process automation (RPA) more than ever before. The industry has grown at a rapid pace over the past 20 years. It forms the foundation of every aspect of human life, from work to play. In the U.S. in 2020 over 62% of households had only wireless voice service, rather than a landline. Of those households with a landline, over 34% also had at least one mobile phone.

Telecom has become more than just a means to call a friend or business associate. People use their phones to shop, locate businesses, order takeout and keep track of their health and fitness. Businesses use mobile technology to keep in touch with employees no matter where they are, to inspire collaboration, and more. Telecom companies can keep up with this overwhelming demand with RPA.

Challenges Faced by Telecom

Aside from the fact that demand for telecom has grown in the past two decades, telecom companies face additional challenges. They need to offer their service at the most affordable prices and their service has to be the fastest, all while maintaining a high level of innovation. This has created an incredibly competitive environment in the telecom industry.

At the same time telecom companies must:

  • Lower their capital expenditures (CAPEX) and operational expenditures (OPEX)
  • Transition to being a digital service provider
  • Update infrastructure
  • Continue to create next-generation offerings for customers
  • Be able to scale with ease
  • Meet customer service expectations
  • Support numerous products and services through multiple apps and platforms

Many of these challenges, and telecom operations in general, rely heavily on processes. And many of these processes are ideal candidates for RPA.

What is RPA?

RPA is software technology that is specifically designed to perform repetitive, rules-based tasks that are extremely time-consuming and error-prone when humans perform them manually. RPA operates in a similar fashion to its human counterparts. These software bots can be programmed to perform a variety of back-office and front-office tasks such as:

  • Pulling data from a variety of sources
  • Data entry
  • Auto-filling forms
  • Converting unstructured data into structured, usable data
  • Storing and managing data
  • Communicating with customers
  • Managing customer accounts

The automation of these tasks has a significant impact on many processes within telecom. Processes are performed more quickly and with fewer errors, and they free up employees’ time to focus on tasks of higher value, such as direct customer engagement, collaboration, and innovation.

Use Cases for RPA in Telecom

There are many areas of telecom that can benefit from RPA, including those that directly affect customers and those that relate to back-office processes. Here are some use cases that demonstrate the impact of RPA.

  • Inventory storage
  • Transportation
  • Shipping and handling
  • Trade tariffs
  • Smaller shipments

First Call Resolution (FCR)

When a customer calls in with concerns about their service or account, it can take a significant amount of time for an agent to retrieve the required customer information, enter data and update information as needed. This can make customer calls take a long time and it can be challenging to address all of a customer’s issues in a single call.

With RPA, the retrieval of information, updating of customer information, and data entry can be automated, making them go much faster and eliminating human error. This helps the agent focus on customer engagement and resolve issues faster, ultimately increasing customer satisfaction.

Responding to Partner and Customer Queries

Telecom companies typically have external partners who sell their services, and it is common for these partners to have questions and concerns. RPA can relieve human workers of many of the tasks associated with partner queries by scanning and interpreting emails, answering simple queries, and notifying a human worker of any queries that are complex in nature.

RPA is capable of performing the same tasks when it comes to customer queries, making customer service run more smoothly. The result is human workers who can work more efficiently and effectively to resolve partner and customer issues and provide better service, ensuring happier partners and customers.

Tracking Competitor Prices

Since telecom companies typically have their pricing structure and plan online, it is possible to determine what your competitors’ prices are and to monitor those prices on an ongoing basis. However, this is difficult to do manually. RPA can relieve human workers of the burden of tracking competitor prices by doing it for them. This is an asset to telecom companies trying to remain competitive within their industry.

Make RPA Work for You

The benefits of RPA in telecom are clear. The key is to get RPA working for you as efficiently as possible. To accomplish this, it is important to assess your operational objectives and determine where RPA can have the most impact in your organization. This makes it possible to customize an RPA solution that will suit the unique needs of your company.

Book a discovery call with a member of Tangentia’s automation team today and find out what RPA can do for your telecom company.

Get Started on Your Telecom Automation and Innovation Journey Today

Contact us for more information.

8 Ways COVID-19 Forever Changed The Retail Sector

8 Ways COVID-19 Forever Changed The Retail Sector

For retailers, traditional business processes, workflows, and systems were some of the first and most significant casualties of the coronavirus pandemic. As a result of lockdown and quarantine measures, we condensed a full decade of technological development into just three months. Others, such as IBM, have a more conservative estimate of five years.

However significant the shift, one thing is clear — digital technology coupled with the unprecedented stress generated by the virus has irrevocably changed the face of retail.

The old world is gone. Whatever ‘new normal’ we adjust to once COVID-19 is fully behind us may well be unrecognizable compared to our outlook in 2019. And that’s okay.

The trends accelerated by the pandemic have had largely positive results. The technological evolution has, for those capable of adaptation, carried considerable benefits. And for retailers who understand the world we now live in, the future is brighter than ever.

But what kind of world do we live in now? What existing trends did COVID-19 accelerate, and what new trends did it generate? Most importantly, what lessons can retailers take away from all this?

Digital Commerce is Becoming The Norm

eCommerce was one of the clearest winners of the pandemic. In 2020, online sales increased by 44% year-over-year and online spending accounted for 21.3% of total retail sales. For context, online commerce represented an estimated 11% of total sales at the end of 2019.

The surge in and of itself is unsurprising. In order to comply with quarantine requirements and protect loved ones from the pandemic, many shoppers chose to use grocery delivery services or digital storefronts in lieu of making trips to brick-and-mortar outlets. As a result, many physical storefronts ended up functioning as impromptu fulfillment centers.

In the short term, we may see a boomerang effect as lockdowns and restrictions ease off. People will return to physical shopping simply for the interactions it affords. If you look further into the future, however, you’ll see a very different picture, one defined by direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales — Adidas, for instance, plans for 50% of all sales to be DTC by 2025.

Technology is Redefining The Brick-and-Mortar Retailer

Although brick-and-mortar stores will still exist in the future, they will look markedly different than they did pre-pandemic. Digital technology will become the norm, with an emphasis on providing deep personalization and increased convenience. As they did during the pandemic, stores will likely also serve double-duty as fulfillment centers.

Contactless shopping kiosks will likely remain in place post-pandemic as well. Though they were initially deployed for health reasons, the level of convenience they offer means they’ll continue to be attractive to shoppers. That technology, however, only scratches the surface of what’s coming.

Savvy retailers are already experimenting with ways to bake new technology into the customer experience, from augmented reality tools to full-on VR. A furniture retailer, for instance, may allow a customer to see how a particular item will look in their home through its online storefront. A business that sells apparel, meanwhile, might offer an app that allows customers to digitally ‘try clothes on’ while they’re in-store.

How We Shop Will Never Be The Same

Concurrent with the shift towards digital commerce, COVID-19 also fundamentally changed consumers. In-store and curbside pickup, together with a consistent part of the pandemic shopping experience, will remain in high demand, and as of this year, more than 50% of retail chains support the service. Customers are also increasingly discovering new businesses via social media in lieu of other channels and spending significantly more time online.

It’s not just customer behavior that’s changed, however — it’s also customer attitudes.

For many, the pandemic has changed how they view the world. Customers care more about the environmental and social responsibility actions of the brands they shop with. They also expect more from brands in regard to customer service and convenience and are more willing to abandon a brand that doesn’t meet their expectations.

B2B Commerce Has Grown in Leaps and Bounds

It’s not just your relationship with customers that have changed as a result of COVID-19. You’re also looking at completely uncharted territory with your vendors, suppliers, and business partners. McKinsey notes that B2B sales have changed in a multitude of ways:

  • B2B interactions are now primarily digital. The majority of businesses now prefer to interact with suppliers either remotely or via a digital self-serve terminal. This holds true regardless of whether they’re ordering, reordering, or even evaluating a new prospect.
  • Business customers are making big-ticket purchases online. 70% of B2B decision-makers are open to making self-serve or remote purchases in excess of $50000, and 27% are willing to spend more than $500K. Retailers that sell electronics or other office supplies may well see increased demand from business users as a result.
  • Video and live chat are now the main venues for sales meetings.

Order Fulfillment is More Complex and Less Profitable

The majority of COVID-driven trends are positive, but that doesn’t mean it’s nothing but silver linings. Driven by omni-channel shopping and a wealth of new fulfillment options, the order fulfillment process is now more complex than it’s ever been. That translates equally to inventory management.

Already a logistical challenge, tracking inventory across multiple brick-and-mortar outlets, suppliers, channels, and fulfillment centers crosses the line to nightmarish. Unsurprisingly, this has also created a significant upturn in fulfillment costs. Rather than simply shipping products to stores in bulk, brands must also ship them between stores, between fulfillment centers, and directly to consumers.

The costs associated with such an approach include:

  • Inventory storage
  • Transportation
  • Shipping and handling
  • Trade tariffs
  • Smaller shipments

The impact on profit, per consulting firm Alixpartners, is significant. For a $100 sweater, for instance, and in the absence of mitigating circumstances, margins are as follows:

Fulfillment Method Margin
Directly shipped from a distribution center $36
Purchased in-store $33
In-store/curbside pickup $23
Shipped from store $17

The good news is that these challenges are driving significant innovation in fulfillment, with better inventory management, pricing management, and order management.

Supply Chain Optimization is Now Non-Negotiable

The past year and a half has also demonstrated the very real, very significant weaknesses in our existing supply chains. Over the course of the pandemic, merchants had to contend with multiple supply chain disruptions. At the moment, 47% of retailers have made supply chain digitization one of their top organizational priorities — though this figure will likely increase as more businesses see the value in this particular brand of optimization.

In addition to being more cost-effective, a digital supply chain provides deeper visibility into every stage of a product’s life-cycle and better management of contracts between retailers and suppliers. Digitization also makes it easier for suppliers to share crucial data on inventory and shipping with retailers and partnered organizations. This data exchange will, in turn, allow stakeholders in logistics and fulfillment to make more informed, effective decisions.

A Surge In Customer Service Demands Underscored The Need for Chatbots

One side effect of the surge in online shopping was a subsequent upturn in customer service requests and inquiries, which saw a 69% overall increase in 2020. This increased exponentially during the holiday season, with calls increasing by 183% in November 2020 and 155% in December 2020. As you might expect, many customer service teams struggled to keep pace with this increased demand.

That, in turn, resulted in increased wait times, more errors, and lower customer satisfaction. Those brands that inexpertly deployed chatbots arguably fared worst of all, as chatbots ranked dead last in customer satisfaction in 2020. Still, for those brands that managed to effectively automate even part of their customer service process, the technology was a welcome boon.

Customer Data is More Valuable Than Ever

COVID-19 also presented another challenge to retailers. Customers demanded deeper personalization and a better shopping experience but collecting the data necessary to provide that has become more difficult than ever. Thanks to legislation like the GDPR and measures like Google’s decision to eliminate all tracking cookies, retailers can no longer rely on passive tracking to learn about their audience.

Instead, they must actively engage with their customers. They must prioritize customer retention initiatives, focusing on DTC connections through mobile and social media. And most importantly of all, they must be completely transparent about how they intend to collect, store, and use customer information.

This may seem like a negative trend at first glance. But as multiple retailers have learned, customers are more than willing to provide their information in exchange for the right perks and benefits. Those customers were also both more trusting and more loyal as a result of transparency around data collection.

Automate, Innovate, and Optimize Through Tangentia

The current retail landscape is filled with both challenges and opportunities. Tangentia can help you navigate both. From robotic process automation to electronic data interchange to chatbots, we offer a full portfolio of solutions for future-focused retailers. More importantly, we have the expertise necessary to help you apply those solutions in the most effective manner possible.

COVID-19 has forever changed not just retail, but also the world. Those retailers who are able to pivot and adapt stand to gain a great deal. Those that cannot will ultimately be left behind.

Get Started on Your Retail Automation and Innovation Journey Today

Contact us for more information.