Automation Is Helping Retain Employees Despite the Great Resignation

Automation Is Helping Retain Employees Despite the Great ResignationAutomation Is Helping Retain Employees Despite the Great Resignation

Automation Is Helping Retain Employees Despite the Great Resignation

The Great Resignation is a term that has been in use since early 2021 when large numbers of employees began voluntarily resigning from their jobs. A whopping 47 million people left their jobs in 2021, and as of February 2022, there were more than 11 million job openings in the U.S.

Employees have given many reasons for resigning from their jobs. The top ones include low pay, lack of advancement opportunities, feeling disrespected at work, trouble finding childcare, lack of flexibility in terms of work schedule, insufficient benefits, and working too many or too few hours.

So, if all of these reasons are the driving force behind people resigning from their jobs, what can employers do to make them stay? At a time when employee turnover is high and costly and retaining employees is difficult, employers can take advantage of automation to help keep employees from resigning.

What Makes Employees want to Stay?

In order to understand how automation can help with employee retention, you have to know what makes them want to stay on with a company. While pay is certainly an important factor, it is not the only one, nor even the most important. A recent global study found the following were the top drivers of a positive work experience that make employees want to stay with their employers:

  • A good work/life balance – 50%
  • Being part of a team – 41%
  • Having the proper equipment/tools for the job – 38%
  • Feeling heard and having feedback considered – 36%
  • Compensation – 36%

How Automation Can Help

Automation and the Great Resignation

There are many ways automation can be used to improve the employee experience, resulting in a happier and more engaged employee. Take a look:

Offer flexibility in where they work

Intelligent automation makes it possible for employees to access the processes and tasks they need to do their job no matter where they are. This means they can enjoy a hybrid work environment that allows them to work from home when needed and still be highly productive.

Improved work/life balance

With so many people leaving their jobs and so many people being laid off, the people who remained have had to take on more and more of the work burden. This increases stress and decreases job satisfaction. Automating tasks and processes relieves that burden, so employees don’t have to put in extra hours and can find a better work/life balance without sacrificing productivity.

Automating repetitive tasks

The automation of repetitive tasks and processes is a natural progression to achieving a good work/life balance. Having to perform repetitive tasks is time-consuming, tedious, and joyless. Employees have so much more to give you, so relieve them of the repetitive tasks so they can engage in higher-value tasks.

Giving employees the tools they need

An intelligent automation platform that requires little to no code makes it possible for employees to create their own tools, such as a virtual assistant, when they need them. This will allow them to customize their tools to suit their unique needs, ultimately increasing their productivity.

Making it easy to collaborate and work as a team

When employees can connect and share work resources, such as notes and even bots, they can enrich each other’s work and create an environment that thrives on collaboration. Not only that, but cloud and automation technology together make it possible for employees to connect with each other, no matter where they are working.

Provide opportunities for advancement

With the automation boom that has arisen, companies are in need of people with the skills to work with automated systems. From developers to analysts to workflow specialists, your employees can broaden their skills and move within the company to fill these positions and their desire for advancement.

What Comes Next?

The COVID-19 pandemic has fuelled the growth of automation technology, and it is expected that our relationship with that technology will only deepen in the coming years. Robotic process automation (RPA) is at the forefront of this technology. It is offered as RPA-as-a-Service, being integrated into all existing digital technologies to reduce costs for companies, while increasing productivity and easing the workload for employees. This is a win-win, generating better results for the company while creating happier employees who want to stay.

Book a discovery call with a member of the Tangentia team today to find out more about how automation can help you retain your employees.

Get Started on Your RPA Journey Today

Book a discovery call with a member of Tangentia’s automation team today to find out more about what RPA can do for you.

Navigating Global Supply Chain Challenges with RPA

Navigating Global Supply Chain Challenges with RPANavigating Global Supply Chain Challenges with RPA

Navigating Global Supply Chain Challenges with RPA

It has been difficult to ignore the global supply chain issues that have plagued us over the past two years. People who want to buy a new car are facing delays due to a shortage of semiconductor chips, possibly lasting into 2023. Grocery stores in Canada and the U.S. have empty shelves as they struggle to stock the necessities consumers need.

The reality is that the global supply chain has been affected from end-to-end by the COVID-19 pandemic and it is taking its toll. Fortunately, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can help us navigate and mitigate these challenges to ease the burden on manufacturers, suppliers, businesses and consumers. But before we get into that, let’s take a closer look at the supply chain issues facing the world today.

The Complexity of the Supply Chain Issues

The world’s supply chain issues stem from many contributing factors that are interrelated, forming a complex web of cause and effect that can be felt across the globe and in every industry. At the heart of these supply chain issues is COVID-19. Prior to the emergence of the Omicron variant, COVID was already wreaking havoc on the global supply chain—Omicron made it worse. Here’s how:

Labor shortages

Labor shortages have occurred along every point of the supply chain, from the collection and creation of raw materials, to the factory floor, to shipping and distribution, and finally, to the sales floor. The Omicron variant of COVID-19 has amplified theses shortages, leaving industries without enough staff to keep goods flowing.

Ghost orders

Businesses that are concerned about getting the orders they need from their suppliers, are placing what are called “ghost orders.” Vendors will place the same order with multiple suppliers in the hopes that one of them will come through with a delivery. This creates a false level of demand for these supplies.

Panic buying

With empty shelves becoming increasingly common, consumers are keeping a sharp eye on stock levels. When an item comes in, shoppers will snap them up quickly, once again clearing the shelves and perpetuating the cycle of panic buying.

Bottlenecks

During times when goods become available and need to be transported, seaports become jammed with cargo ships and distribution centers fill up with trucks waiting to load and offload their cargo. The result is a bottleneck as shipments move slowly, causing further delays on goods that are desperately needed in stores and through online vendors.

Lack of data

Many businesses do not have the data they need to accurately predict demand and potential shortages. For example, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the automotive industry expected a decreased demand for new vehicles. They canceled orders for semiconductors, only to find that demand was far higher than they anticipated.

How RPA Can Make a Difference

RPA is perfectly poised to help ease the burden of supply chain issues on businesses. By automating tasks that would take humans hours to accomplish, speed and productivity increase, human error is eliminated, and the supply chain can move more quickly.

This cost-effective solution can also help improve the supply chain through:

  • End-to-end visibility into the supply chain
  • Real-time flow of information
  • Rapid response

RPA can help provide visibility into all parts of the supply chain and it can be integrated with relevant supply chain systems. This makes it possible for a business to view the state of each part of their supply chain, as well as their operations and inventory, the current state of the market, and market forecasts.

The ability to gather this information in real-time and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze it, makes every part of the supply chain transparent and makes it possible to accelerate supply chain operations and facilitate business continuity.

As an example, consider the manufacturing industry. RPA provides manufacturers with access to a complete and accurate inventory of raw materials required in their manufacturing, which will allow them to determine the risk associated with each component of the products they manufacture.

They can then make realistic predictions as to when certain components will become available and develop a manufacturing schedule accordingly. This information can then be passed up the supply chain, influencing distribution and delivery schedules.

COVID-19 is still with us, and it will continue to affect the supply chain for months to come. But RPA can help ease the burden and increase the efficiency and agility of the supply chain to minimize the impact of the pandemic.

Reach out to one of our team members at Tangentia and discover how we can work with you to create a customized RPA solution to meet your supply chain needs.

Get Started on Your RPA Journey Today

Book a discovery call with a member of Tangentia’s automation team today to find out more about what RPA can do for you.

RPA in Manufacturing – Automate Your Processes, Improve Your Value Chain and Thrive


RPA in Manufacturing – Automate Your Processes, Improve Your Value Chain & Thrive

When we think of the use of robotics in manufacturing, physical robots performing repetitive tasks on the factory floor, such as assembling and packaging products, are often the first thing that comes to mind. However, the use of robots in manufacturing is taking a new turn with robotic process automation (RPA). RPA is the use of software robots—or bots—that perform repetitive manual tasks related to back-office and front-office processes in much the same way physical robots perform manual physical tasks.

The use of RPA in manufacturing is about taking operational efficiency to the next level. This includes the operational efficiency of workflows that provide the most value for an organization and its customers, suppliers, and other partners. According to MAPI, 84% of manufacturers are either using, implementing, or planning to implement RPA in order to streamline their operations in finance, information systems, business strategy, and risk and compliance. The result is an improved value chain between the supplier and the customer.

Improving the Value Chain

The value chain between the supplier and the customer is a series of critical processes that include logistics, procurement, accounts receivables and payables, supply and demand planning, order management, inventory management, customer service, and regulatory compliance. The benefits of RPA in these areas are many, including such things as:

  • The automation of data acquisition from multiple sources and the filling out of forms
  • Improved data management and real-time data analytics
  • Results that are consistent and free of error
  • Increased accuracy in estimating delivery times
  • Full regulatory compliance even as regulations change
  • A full trail of documentation for work that is performed

With this in mind, here are a few use cases for what can be automated using RPA in manufacturing.

Logistics

RPA makes it possible to automate the entire logistics process, assessing various carriers and insurance options to determine the optimal balance between transport time and cost. In addition, RPA allows you to monitor the transportation of raw materials and finished goods with real-time freight tracking and reporting.

Demand Planning

RPA has the ability to draw data from a variety of data sources, making it possible to gather enough information to accurately determine demand. This information, which includes data such as market trends, internal sales forecast, competitive analysis, and product catalog information, can be imported, processed, and cross-referenced to determine an accurate sales forecast.

Bill of Materials

The Bill of Materials (BOM) is a critical document when it comes to the manufacture of new products. it can take a lot of time for a human worker to go through the BOM and gather the required information to determine what to purchase and where to make those purchases. RPA can pull the required information from the BOM in a fraction of the time with increased accuracy. This will drive the creation of new products, ensuring they are completed on time every time.

Onboarding New Suppliers

The BOM requires the use of the right suppliers across all categories. Assessing potential suppliers requires a lot of information gathering from many disparate documents. RPA makes it possible to automate the collection of this information. The bots can analyze proposals, gather supplier information and consolidate this data into a ready reckoner and evaluation sheet that can be of help during negotiations.

Navigating the COVID Crisis and Beyond

All the benefits RPA brings to the value chain in manufacturing is helping manufacturers not only weather the COVID pandemic but come out of it stronger than ever before. The COVID pandemic has resulted in lower supplier production and a decrease in inventory, while at the same time, the cost of logistics and transportation is higher than ever.

The ability of RPA to streamline inventory management, navigate supply and demand planning, manage inbound logistics and automate the supplier onboarding process makes it possible for manufacturers to scale and adapt to the changing requirements of the industry.

For more information on how RPA can help your manufacturing company, reach out to our sales team today.

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Automating the Insurance Claims Process with AI from Automation Anywhere


  • Automating the Insurance Claims Process with AI from Automation Anywhere

We live in a time in which automation is taking many industries by storm. The insurance industry is perfectly poised to enjoy the advantages that automation brings to the table. This is particularly true when it comes to claims processing, which is laden with tedious and repetitive tasks that are subject to human speed and error.

In order to keep up with an ever-changing industry, it is vital that insurance companies adopt an automated approach to claims processing. Thanks to advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), automation is the perfect solution to handle the claims process. It allows companies to process claims more quickly and at a reduced cost.

How Automation Can Help

Automation makes use of AI in the form of bots (intelligent software) that are capable of processing large amounts of data quickly and efficiently. This is precisely what is required during claims processing. Here are the main benefits of using automation in claims processing:

Streamline Processing

Streamlining the claims process by automating tasks that are traditionally done manually means these tasks take less time and have no errors. Regardless of how the claim is submitted (email, phone, or another method), the information in the claim can be extracted, organized, and transmitted within seconds, making the entire process move more quickly.

Increase Satisfaction

Being able to increase the speed of claims processing increases customer satisfaction, which is the goal of every business. When the claims process is automated, customers will get their money more quickly and with less hassle than ever before. This leaves them happy at the same time as it lowers the cost of claims processing for the insurance company.

Triage Claims

Triaging claims to single out those that look suspicious is an important task that can be difficult to do manually. However, it is vital this is done to avoid paying out fraudulent claims that can cost you billions of dollars each year. Tangentia’s Automation Anywhere provides insurance companies with a means of reducing the number of fraudulent claims they process by automatically extracting claim data and identifying and isolating potentially fraudulent claims. These isolated claims can then be sent to a team that can put them under the microscope and take a deeper look.

Automate Analytics

The ability to automate analytics and insights regarding claims can help you make better decisions regarding your claims process as a whole, as well as each individual claim you process.

Best of all, the bots used in automating the claims process can be customized based on industry segment and the tasks you want them to perform. They can be programmed to handle any level of claims processing, whether you want them to take over the entire claims process from beginning to end, making the final decision on each claim and making the payout, or just certain parts of it, leaving the final claims decision up to the claims adjustor.

Want to learn more about Automation Anywhere and what it can do for your claims process? Reach out to our Tangentia team today. We’d love to hear from you.

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Tangentia is a Platinum Partner of IBM and well as partners with Automation Anywhere, UI Path, Blue Prism, Adobe, Microsoft, Salesforce, Amazon and leading enterprise software vendors. We work with customers globally with offices in Canada and India to implement their RPA strategies using an agile methodology.
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Monthly Tangentia Byte February 2021

  • Monthly Tangentia Byte
    February 2021







Tangentia is proud to announce that we are the recipient of the “2020 IBM Partner of the Year” award as part of the 2020 Tech Data Canada IBM Partner Awards. We are dedicated to working with IBM in bringing the latest technological advancements to our customers and we couldn’t accomplish that without the dedication and value we receive from Tech Data, our preferred distribution partner for IBM.

Meet our Bots: Get Tangentia Intelligent Automation (TiA) Bots Working For You
Empower your organization with a digital workforce and improve efficiencies. Our TiA Bots have been designed specifically to automate core high-volume processes that require low speech recognition, are rules-based, and require digital input or triggers.
TiA for COVID-19 Assessment: Help Keep Your Campus Safe with AI
The superior voice capabilities of TiA make it possible to screen students for COVID remotely, conducting a quick assessment of whether it is safe for them to be on campus and providing them with the support and resources they need during the pandemic.

EDI + RPA Webinar, Canada
EDI helps streamline your trading partner and supply chain interactions — but why let the business automation stop there?

Join us for our EDI+RPA webinar for Canada on March 16, 3:00 – 3:45 PM EST
EDI + RPA Webinar, India
With the power of RPA, you can extend your automation capabilities by automating more of your core business functions.
Join us for our EDI+RPA webinar for India on March 25, 4:30 – 5:15 PM IST
The Jigyasa 2021 Grand Finale is here! Join us live in Goa or via Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube as we stream this exciting event live all the way from Goa, INDIA
Customer Spotlight
Rollover Pet Food is a premium pet food company that’s focused on creating high-quality and healthy pet food and treats. They were looking to change providers to reduce their EDI costs and wanted to make the transition to a full cloud-based EDI solution. With Tangentia they got the solutions to their challenges by making the transitions as seamless as possible. With Tangentia, Rollover Pet Food has a trusted partner that’s just as invested in their success.







Tangentia is proud to announce that we are the recipient of the “2020 IBM Partner of the Year” award as part of the 2020 Tech Data Canada IBM Partner Awards. We are dedicated to working with IBM in bringing the latest technological advancements to our customers and we couldn’t accomplish that without the dedication and value we receive from Tech Data, our preferred distribution partner for IBM.

Meet our Bots: Get Tangentia Intelligent Automation (TiA) Bots Working For You
Empower your organization with a digital workforce and improve efficiencies. Our TiA Bots have been designed specifically to automate core high-volume processes that require low speech recognition, are rules-based, and require digital input or triggers.
TiA for COVID-19 Assessment: Help Keep Your Campus Safe with AI
The superior voice capabilities of TiA make it possible to screen students for COVID remotely, conducting a quick assessment of whether it is safe for them to be on campus and providing them with the support and resources they need during the pandemic.

EDI + RPA Webinar, Canada
EDI helps streamline your trading partner and supply chain interactions — but why let the business automation stop there?

Join us for our EDI+RPA webinar for Canada on March 16, 3:00 – 3:45 PM EST
EDI + RPA Webinar, India
With the power of RPA, you can extend your automation capabilities by automating more of your core business functions.
Join us for our EDI+RPA webinar for India on March 25, 4:30 – 5:15 PM IST
The Jigyasa 2021 Grand Finale is here! Join us live in Goa or via Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube as we stream this exciting event live all the way from Goa, INDIA
Customer Spotlight
Rollover Pet Food is a premium pet food company that’s focused on creating high-quality and healthy pet food and treats. They were looking to change providers to reduce their EDI costs and wanted to make the transition to a full cloud-based EDI solution. With Tangentia they got the solutions to their challenges by making the transitions as seamless as possible. With Tangentia, Rollover Pet Food has a trusted partner that’s just as invested in their success.

Everything Dealers Need to Know about FASTag


  • Everything Dealers Need to Know about FASTag

Technology is evolving quickly in India and you need to know how to keep up. One of the upcoming changes is how drivers make toll payments when they are on the road. Up until the end of December 2020, drivers will still be able to pay the traditional way – using cash or credit. However, once January 1, 2021 arrives, they will be required to have FASTag.

What Is FASTag?

FASTag is an electronic toll collection system that is operated by the NHAI. It is a technology that is based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), which allows drivers to make toll payments without the need for cash or even credit or debit. They don’t even need to stop their car to pay their toll. The FASTag is adhered to the windscreen of their car and scanned whenever the car passes through a toll plaza. The toll is automatically deducted from the driver’s prepaid FASTag account.

Why FASTag?

The use of FASTag has significant benefits for drivers, as well as the highways systems of India. Drivers can move through toll plazas without the inconvenience of stopping or waiting in a lineup of vehicles. This can significantly cut down on their driving time. The FASTag system will keep traffic moving smoothly, preventing congestion at toll plazas. Best of all, the Indian government is offering 2.5 per cent cashback on toll payments made using FASTag.

How to buy a Fastag?

Drivers can get a FASTag from anyone of 23 certified banks, at National Highway toll plazas and through online retail platforms such as Amazon, Snapdeal, and Paytm. Once they have their FASTag, they can link it directly to their credit card, bank account, or wallet. Drivers can top up their prepaid account at any time and every time they go through a toll plaza, they will receive an SMS text message alerting them to the toll payment.

How TiA Industry Accelerator (IA) can help your customers with FASTag?

How does FASTag affect buying a new vehicle? Before that vehicle can be put on the road, a FASTag must be acquired and the account set up. This is yet another item in the long list of things a new car owner must deal with before they can drive off the lot.

The TiA Industry Accelerator is part of the Tangentia Intelligent Automation (TiA) Platform. The TiA IA is built to serve the needs of various industries, offering deployment-ready software solutions built to accelerate business processes. It is built with the automotive retail sector in mind and provides you with digital worker capabilities that allow you to:

  • Streamline the collection of vehicle owner data from multiple outlets
  • Automate all aspects of purchasing a vehicle from one convenient platform
  • Enhance your customer service and increase satisfaction
  • Automate mundane tasks for automotive dealerships so you can focus on core competencies
  • Ensure regulatory and legal compliance in the automotive industry

The capabilities of TiA Industry Accelerator (IA) can be extended, modified or customized, depending on your needs, making it the ideal solution for all your process automation, including the purchase and setup of FASTag.

At Tangentia, we are ready to partner with you to offer smooth and speedy FASTag compliance for the vehicles sold under your dealership as mandated by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), India. This is a must since, as of April 1, 2021, new third-party vehicle insurance will be issued only if the vehicle has a valid FASTag.

So, let TiA IA help you help your customers purchase the vehicle they want without all the hassle that comes with a vehicle purchase. When you can do this, you will provide your customers with a superior buying experience, enabling them to hit the road immediately.

Get Started Today

Tangentia is a Platinum Partner of IBM and well as partners with Automation Anywhere, UI Path, Blue Prism, Adobe, Microsoft, Salesforce, Amazon and leading enterprise software vendors. We work with customers globally with offices in Canada, USA, Mexico and India to implement their RPA strategies.
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Tangentia receives Automation Anywhere’s IMEA Partner Awards 2020

  • Tangentia is awarded “Excellence in Business Process Automation 2020 – IMEA” from Automation Anywhere.

At Tangentia, we are proud to announce we are the recipient of the “Excellence in Business Process Automation – India” award as part of Automation Anywhere’s esteemed IMEA Partner Awards 2020.

As a leader in Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Automation Anywhere is dedicated to helping organizations around the world move into the 21st century by creating innovative Intelligent Digital Workforce’s that will automate the fundamental processes they need to operate. As an Automation Anywhere partner, Tangentia has its finger on the pulse of agile digital transformation, thinking outside the box and delivering innovative solutions on a global scale.

The excellence award is a testament to Tangentia’s vision and leadership in the intelligent automation category and our dedication to customer experience, which is at the core of everything we do. This is in large part thanks to our work with Automation Anywhere. “We hold our partnership with Automation Anywhere in high regard,” says Tangentia CEO Vijay Thomas. “It has helped us provide even more value to our customers through the creative use of cognitive bots and our proven ‘global boutique’ deliver model. This award reinforces our commitment to RPA, helping organizations with their digital transformations and partnership with Automation Anywhere.”

Get Started Today

Tangentia is a Platinum Partner of IBM and well as partners with Automation Anywhere, UI Path, Blue Prism, Adobe, Microsoft, Salesforce, Amazon and leading enterprise software vendors. We work with customers globally with offices in Canada and India to implement their RPA strategies using an agile methodology.
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Making Automation More Intelligent with Hyperautomation


  • Making Automation More Intelligent with Hyperautomation

Automation is leading the technological revolution of the early 21 st century. Tools like artificial intelligence, robotic process automation (RPA), and machine learning (ML) have been developed and adopted by many industries to automate and streamline tasks and processes. This frees up employees to engage in more meaningful work. However, Gartner argues that RPA and similar tools are not enough on their own. Instead, Gartner believes organizations need to adopt the concept of hyperautomation, which they labeled the No. 1 technology trend of 2020.

What Is Hyperautomation?

Automation has gone through an evolution over the past few years. It began with the automation of simple tasks, then moved on to the automation of individual processes, then progressed to automation across multiple processes. Hyperautomation is now taking the concept of automation to the next stage of its evolution.

Hyperautomation is a term that was introduced by Gartner. It encompasses a combination of complementary automation technologies – RPA, AI, ML, and intelligent business management software (iBPMS) – that together take the automation of business processes beyond what any single automation tool can offer.

What Hyperautomation Can Do?

RPA is confined to interpreting structured data based on a set of established rules. This limits RPA’s ability to deal with more complex data analysis. However, hyperautomation can handle unstructured data, in addition to structured data, which turns it into a powerful analytical tool.It uses AI and ML to learn as new data comes in and outcomes change.

What this means for organizations is simple. Hyperautomation will allow you to provide an end-to-end solution that goes beyond just automating repetitive tasks. Instead, it provides intelligent monitoring and analysis that has the ability to assess and reassess data across multiple systems and departments in order to augment and support decision-making. And the best part is that this is all done in real-time. Hyperautomation analyzes the data as it flows in,which means decisions can be made in a timely manner.

The capabilities of hyperautomation are so powerful that it can result in the development of what Gartner has termed a digital twin of the organization (DTO). A digital twin is a system that all organizational departments and interested parties can connect to in order to get the information they need. This eliminates the need for multiple channels through which data is delivered and allows hyperautomation to provide ongoing intelligence that drives business decisions by making it easier to see opportunities as they arise.

The result? Resource optimization, lower costs, improved employee satisfaction, enhanced customer relationships, and increased revenues. Hyperautomation will also make your organization more agile, providing the ability to change processes as required to keep up with internal organizational changes, industry changes, and external changes (such as the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020) that can affect operations.To learn more about what hyperautomation can do for your organization, contact Tangentia today.

Get Started Today

Tangentia is a Platinum Partner of IBM and well as partners with Automation Anywhere, UI Path, Blue Prism, Adobe, Microsoft, Salesforce, Amazon and leading enterprise software vendors. We work with customers globally with offices in Canada and India to implement their RPA strategies using an agile methodology.
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A Quick Guide to Warehouse Inventory Management in 2020


  • A Quick Guide to Warehouse Inventory Management in 2020

The holidays are fast approaching, and that means retailers and wholesalers must be efficient in organizing their products and managing the inventory of their products.

Depending on the size of your operation, how you manage your products may differ. However, warehouse inventory management is not just a requirement for compliance with SEC regulations and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) for public companies—it’s crucial to the success of any retail company.

We’ve put together this brief guide to help you understand the basics of warehouse inventory management.

What Is Warehouse Inventory Management?

Warehouse inventory management is the system used to organize and track all of the company's owned products. For warehouse operations, this helps to ensure the right level of inventory is in the right place at the right time. Inventory is then converted to revenue once it’s sold.

In the United States, manufacturers, retailers, and merchant wholesalers carried more than $1.9 trillion in inventory in June 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Accurately evaluating the inventory for the company’s balance sheet requires either physical stock count or an automated inventory system that creates an accurate record of each inventory-related transaction.

This quantitative product management differs slightly from a company’s warehouse management system (WMS), an umbrella term that supports the entire operation of a warehouse, including inventory management.

The best warehouse inventory management systems keep track of products and provide actionable business intelligence, such as identifying trends in product performance and sending reorder notifications when stock is low.

Current warehouse inventory management systems are outdated and often haven’t embraced everything automation has to offer.

Features of Inventory Management

There are many steps involved in warehouse inventory management, some of which include:

  • Picking and packing
  • Shipping
  • Managing locations
  • Receiving orders
  • Tracking inventory levels
  • Cycle counting
  • Generating reports
  • Providing business insights

What Are the Different Types of Inventory Management?

Manual

Every step of the delivery, tracking, loading, and data manipulation is done by workers. This manual system can increase the risk of human error at any point in the inventory management process. If there is ever a mistake, the only method of resolving the problem is another manual re-do.

Another downside to this type of inventory management is its unsustainability for more significant warehouse operations. Without computerized report generation, companies may see difficulties in turning paper-based information into useful data.

Barcode

This system uses the familiar label of black stripes that are affixed to the product, packaging, or pallet. Using wearable barcode readers, workers can speed up warehouse inventory management and save seconds scanning per item. This digital format is efficient and accurate by counting goods in real-time.

RFID

Radiofrequency identification tags are found in two configurations: active and passive. Active systems use battery-operated tag readers located throughout a warehouse and updates of inventory count and location. Passive systems are read-only when someone activates the readers through hand-held devices. Passive technology can be read at up to 40 feet, while active readers are effective up to 300 feet, but both systems automatically record inventory.

Warehouse Robots

With growing advancements in technology and automation, companies are starting to turn to optical systems mounted on the ground or aerial platforms. These systems use machine learning to read existing labels without barcodes or RFID and maintain accurate, up-to-date inventory.

Warehouse Inventory Automation: Is This the New Norm?

Modern supply chains are more complex than ever. Traditional manual processes are no longer viable for businesses that want to optimize workflows and reduce wasted resources.

Automation is the natural solution to these problems. It’s ideal for individual warehouses or companies that support numerous locations across the entire supply chain.

Effective fulfillment requires sophisticated solutions that are able to predict trends, make actionable recommendations, and increase the visibility of potential issues before they turn into larger problems.

Successful manufacturers, 3PLs, and retailers know the importance of optimized supply chains. That’s why they’ve heavily invested in cloud-based automation solutions for their supply chains.

Automate Your Warehouse Inventory Management With Tangentia

Here at Tangentia, we understand the transformative difference automated solutions can make for your business.

When you’re processing hundreds or thousands of pallets or cartons per day, automated processes can significantly save time, effort, and costs. For many retail companies, creating greater warehouse inventory management efficiency translates to a multi-million dollar impact.

Are you interested in learning more about warehouse inventory management automation? Get in touch with Tangentia today to learn more.

Get Started Today

Tangentia is a Platinum Partner of IBM and well as partners with Automation Anywhere, UI Path, Blue Prism, Adobe, Microsoft, Salesforce, Amazon and leading enterprise software vendors. We work with customers globally with offices in Canada and India to implement their RPA strategies using an agile methodology.
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How AI Can Support the New (and Old) Way of Learning


  • How AI Can Support the New (and Old) Way of Learning

When COVID-19 made its presence know in early 2020, everything ground to a halt – including school. A whopping 1.6 billion children in 191 countries were out of the classroom for the remainder of their school year, with parents trying desperately to help them learn at home. Meanwhile, education institutions, private schools and teachers around the world have been scrambling to map out a strategy for bringing kids back to school in the fall. Those strategies are now in place and kids are going back.

The development of the new back-to-school strategy has created the need to adopt technology that will support remote learning. And while many schools hope to see their students back in the classroom, the reality is often a hybrid model of learning, with some of it done remotely, or a full remote learning schedule. Fortunately, the technology exists to make this remote learning journey a smooth one.

RPA to the Rescue

AI In Education & Private School Learning Environments Not long ago, it was thought that the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the classroom would lag far behind that of other industries. However, the need for remote learning that COVID-19 has created is shining new light on the need for AI technology to support learning.

Fortunately, AI, along with the Internet of Things (IoT), has advanced enough to become a powerful tool for education systems, the teachers they employ, and the students they educate. Simply put, AI can benefit the teachers and the students in many ways.

Teacher Benefits

AI can help teachers, whether they are teaching in the classroom or remotely. According to McKinsey, teachers work 50 hours a week and only 49% of that time is spent interacting with students. In addition, 20%-40% of those hours are spent on tasks that could easily be automated with the technology that currently exists. That is time teachers could be using to
improve the student experience and provide them with higher quality teaching.

Tasks that can be automated include administration, preparation, and student evaluation and activities that directly support student learning. This would benefit students whether they are learning in the classroom or online.

Student Benefits

The use of AI and chatbot technology can bring immense benefit to students, either in the classroom or remotely. This technology makes it possible for teachers to personalize the learning of every child they teach. This tailored learning approach will take into account personalities, learning disabilities, learning styles, and interests to create a unique and rewarding experience each and every student.

AI can also act as a teaching assistant, with chatbots available 24/7 to answer student questions as they arise. This means a child doing work at 8:00 pm can ask a question if they get stuck on a problem and receive an immediate answer.

Student safety is also a major issue when it comes to going back to the physical classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic. AI can be used along with IoT to connect devices with cameras and sensors to gather data in real-time and detect unsafe situations as they unfold. Alerts can be sent to teachers and staff, who are not able to monitor every child at every moment,
allowing them to respond and ensure a safe environment for everyone.

Ultimately, the technology that is available to education administrations can support teachers and students in ways that can help them maximize their time, improve outcomes, and increase safety. With student needs growing more complex and no way of knowing how long this current pandemic will last, the time to adopt AI in the classroom, whether physical or virtual, is now.

Learn more about Tangentia’s TIA (Intelligent Automation) Education platform and discover how to the harness the power of AI to streamline processes, support students and enable
learning.

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Tangentia is a Platinum Partner of IBM and well as partners with Automation Anywhere, UI Path, Blue Prism, Adobe, Microsoft, Salesforce, Amazon and leading enterprise software vendors. We work with customers globally with offices in Canada and India to implement their RPA strategies using an agile methodology.
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