Posted on 08/05/18 by Jodi Reimer
Offshore, near shore, less expensive; outsourcing has certainly been a corporate trend over my time in the working world, especially with US based companies. Offshore job outsourcing helps U.S. companies be more competitive in the global marketplace by keeping labor costs low, but also adds complexity in managing the integrity of products and services. One of the most common tasks associated with offshore outsourcing is information technology, particularly as it relates to data entry and processing. More and more companies are discovering Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is reversing this trend, while saving even more money and improving accuracy. These companies are experiencing the benefits of improved efficiency, improved data quality, improved governance, and real dollar savings.
Think about it: It makes more sense to use RPA tools, for example Winshuttle Studio for integrations with SAP, to update ERP and LOB systems rather than using humans interacting with a keyboard. By automating the actions of the user interface to the core system, mass data maintenance can be rapid and can be accomplished within your organization. Recognizing that data is a strategic asset, and pulling data maintenance back into your company’s controlled governance helps ensure data quality. Ultimately, it protects the asset that is potentially the most critical driver of a company’s economic health.
Bringing the control of data back to being “within your four walls” has significant advantages. With updates to SAP, whether it’s pricing changes, Journal Entries, customer additions, etc., Winshuttle allows you to schedule workflow changes to SAP data. Even when utilizing the form and workflow capabilities within Winshuttle (Winshuttle Composer), CPS has found that automating processes from front to back, applying business rules in a standard fashion, and updating SAP automatically via the workflow allow human steps to be replaced. Expenses and management time required are reduced. A more lean environment is created.
Recently we embarked on a project for a global company based out of the US who used offshore outsourcing for data entry. Though not a goal at the outset of the project, a measurable return of the implementation led to the reduction of five full time offshore resources for data entry for just one type of transaction. While the labor costs from offshore outsourcing were low, automating the process made it far more efficient, and accuracy improved.
Innovations in technology are what actually allowed US-based companies to look to offshore outsourcing to begin with. So while technology has on one hand been the culprit, it’s also the answer. It’s made the United States more competitive as a nation, and continuing to take advantage of new technology such as RPA will swing the pendulum back to home shores for these companies, making them more efficient while also strengthening their profitability, and in turn, our economy as a whole.
Interested in learning more about Winshuttle features? Check out our YouTube channel for Winshuttle WebTips training sessions.
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