Supply Chain Professor | Western Michigan University | SCM Top 20 | simecurkovic.com or youtube.com/@simecurkovic
Are we hearing less about RPA? If a company wanted to get started with using Robotic Process Automation (RPA), where & how should they begin? https://lnkd.in/eQYrHUM. “Walmart deployed AI-powered negotiations software w/ a text-based interface (i.e., a chatbot) to connect w/ suppliers.” https://lnkd.in/eGeuZQa5 Have you heard of RPA? That is basically software that makes use of ML & AI to do routine manual SCM activities like process a Purchase Order. These processes tend to be manual, tactical, & clerically driven. However, that RPA software is learning from itself on how to do things better, faster, & cheaper. For example, RPA could start saying things like: I think we are paying too much, I think we should be using a different supplier, I think we are ordering in the wrong quantities, etc. The RPA software might actually decide to reopen the contract & have suppliers rebid on the business & the RPA might actually pick the new supplier. Yes, there will likely be human intervention for any activities that are “strategic”. I have a former student who went on to become a technology consultant & I asked him: if a company wanted to get started with using RPA, where & how should they begin in general? See his response below. Let’s just say the student has become the teacher. Hi Sime: Here are some points on how to approach a new technology investment, based on what I have seen in software & professional services: 1. Have a very specific use case for implementing RPA. This requires research on behalf of your company. If you approach it with a general attitude that says, “Let’s have robots do all the work”, you will end up paying a consulting firm loads of money to evaluate your business for RPA opportunities, only to hear them tell you what you could have figured out on your own. 2. It would be better to research industry peers to see what they are doing with RPA, THEN engage a consulting firm to help you implement an RPA solution that is focused on specific business processes. If you are looking for general help with where to start on RPA, I would advise against outsourcing the research to consulting/tech firms. It would be best to engage a consulting/tech firm for the implementation of an RPA solution, but not for general advisement on where to start. Most high-level assessments are overly priced in my experience & do not add much value. RPA is a cool technology but I have seen limited adoption with the mid-market companies I work with. It seems more popular with the Fortune 500 because they can afford the investment. In my opinion, companies of ALL sizes would get more value investing in integration solutions rather than RPA. Integrating disparate systems is a problem that all companies face, & I believe it’s a problem of greater importance than automating repetitive tasks. For more: https://lnkd.in/eQYrHUM. FYI, a great post on RPA by Mr. Stankovic: https://lnkd.in/gM6PcT-m.
Sime Curkovic
5mo
…data on job postings by non-technology companies tied to skills around artificial intelligence, robotic process automation & data science/analytics…From Gartner: https://lnkd.in/gcs-xgxV. I had a former student tell me: "I could see our org utilizing this in that way to help in the solicitation process. But relationships and customer service is what really makes our org stand out among the competition. When we negotiate with vendors, the vendors SHOULD give the same pricing to me as they do a competitor but we both know that isn’t the case. Between that aspect and maintaining the bids throughout the year, I think I’m pretty safe from automation." Some Practices that Can Make Your Commodity Related Supply Chain Job More Fun and Rewarding ($$$): https://lnkd.in/eUfxt_P9 https://lnkd.in/gwPfkdkK https://lnkd.in/eRy48_mu
Sime Curkovic
5mo
An AI just negotiated a contract for the first time ever — and no human was involved: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/11/07/ai-negotiates-legal-contract-without-humans-involved-for-first-time.html The LLM approach in this article was a nice read. It motivated me to discuss it with one of our CIS faculty. Years back, he was talking about blockchain based smart contracts for supply chain, but that was based on set rules before negotiation can actually happen. This LLM approach is moving into a dangerous/suspect zone. LLM is non-directional until someone prompts it to give it a focus. Notice, the article says nothing about the prompting. My colleague thinks that the data they used to train their LLM model and the way they prompted had a lot to do with their success. Either way, buckle up. Some Practices that Can Make Your Commodity Related Supply Chain Job More Fun and Rewarding ($$$): https://lnkd.in/eUfxt_P9 https://lnkd.in/gwPfkdkK https://lnkd.in/eRy48_mu
Sime Curkovic
5mo
RPA does pop up in over 5,000 job postings: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search/?currentJobId=3865181633&keywords=robotic%20process%20automation&origin=SUGGESTION For example, job posting: https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/ni/SonicAutomotive/013c1379-f681-4f7c-bb3e-500cff8cfe00-rpa-process-controller Job Description RPA Process Controller (Charlotte or virtual) POSITION OVERVIEW As a member of Sonic’s Center of Process Excellence (CoPE) the Process Controller will be responsible for the daily administration of the automation software production environment, Level 1 support, and process monitoring and improvement using UiPath. The Process Controller will be responsible for managing the deployment of approved robotic code into the production environment including scheduling processes, monitoring resources, etc. The Process Controller will also be the first point of contact for issue resolution and will investigate and triage issues in to determine appropriate break-fix or escalation procedure. The Process Controller position will report to the Center of Process Excellence Operations Manager.
Veera Baskar K
5mo
Hey Sime, great post! I totally agree that Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is transforming supply chains by increasing efficiency and reducing errors. Your point about RPA improving data accuracy is spot on; it's a game-changer for decision-making. Do you think smaller companies can easily adopt RPA, or is it still mostly for the big players?
Supply Chain Professor | Western Michigan University | SCM Top 20 | simecurkovic.com or youtube.com/@simecurkovic
5moNotice that a lot of grad degree programs tend to offer trendy courses. This reminds me a lot about the Business Process Reengineering or Business Process Automation course that people used to offer years ago. On RPA for example,… • Will there be a continuous or frequent demand for RPA at a company? • Will new RPA need to be created or existing RPA need to be tuned often? • What kind of robots are involved? Consumer robots, manufacturing robots, or a mixture of both? • Will the course need to teach realistic applications or BPR? What technologies? What kind of robots and for what purpose? If the answer is no and no to the first two questions, the skills will likely be taught and then forgotten. This is not to say that there is no environment that needs a constant or frequent RPA design and tuning, but I wonder what kind of environment that would be and how much a company would sustain doing that for long. If the RPA is done once in a few years for example, I am not sure of the utility/usefulness of such a graduate course other than showing people that they are teaching leading-edge topics.