Out-of-Box Competencies of RPA for Supply Chain Management that Enterprises Should Not Miss!

Global RPA Software Revenue is forecasted to touch $1.89 billion by the end of 2021.– Gartner

Enterprises have been investing heavily in strengthening supply chain processes and infrastructure. Many logistics providers and retailers have deployed an SCM (Supply Chain Management) system in bits and pieces, but they continue to struggle with complete process automation and data integration.

It is spearheaded by the growing role of digital transformation, in SCM and shaping how enterprises deliver products, functions, and fulfill orders. Enterprises have been seeking capabilities that can boost the overall supply chain process and cut costs without any major infrastructure investment. RPA (Robotic Process Automation) promises these capabilities and beyond.

In this blog, we will walk you through the out-of-box competencies of RPA for SCM. We will also discuss the supply chain processes that you can seamlessly automate with RPA.

Let’s dive in-

Why do you need RPA for Supply Chain Management?

Enterprises have started implementing RPA to automate and accelerate manual and error-prone tasks for the seamless SCM. It also comes in line with the recent ongoing digital transformation across businesses.

RPA redefines the entire business supply chain process and makes it efficient. Apart from the mundane administrative tasks, enterprises leverage RPA to integrate and automate data-driven tasks. RPA is answering the main challenges faced during the supply chain process by streamlining the error-prone operations. Wondering how? Continue reading.

RPA is Making Superhuman Supply Chain Management A Reality

Many enterprises that use robotic automation have implemented these bots within their SCM and piloted some of them to verify targeted efficiency gains. Let us look at some of the RPA use cases in SCM.

Seamless Order Processing and Payments

Enterprises depend on paper documents and manual labor for processing orders and transactions, which keeps them at a high risk of inaccuracy and consumes a lot of time. The order-to-cash cycle with flawless functions can make a supply chain smooth and optimize productivity. RPA in the supply chain automates such back-office tasks while reducing the need for manual labor.

Reduced Procurement Risk

Managing and expanding the supply chain network make businesses prone to different risks in their procurement area. They need to adjust supplier relationships well to minimize risks, enhance the product mix, and reduce procurement costs. These adjustments bring along various manual processes, which RPA can automate to take rules-based decisions and reduce efforts and increase productivity.

Inventory Management Automation

Business demands fluctuate, so enterprises must be aware of their inventory levels to ensure they have sufficient stock to cater. RPA implementation enables businesses to automate their inventory management to stay notified when the stock levels are low. Supply chain automation can also analyze historical data and predict the optimal inventory levels.

Effective Communication

RPA enables businesses to optimize SCM by maintaining effective communication between customers, manufacturers, transportation service providers, and suppliers. Many enterprises have started handling the SCM with RPA, which ensures open communication during all kinds of situations, such as a delayed shipment, etc. RPA bots shoot emails to recipients when their order is processed, delayed, or shipped.

Logistics Management

Logistics is an integral part of SCM as it prepares, executes, and manages the flow and storage of products and services to meet customer needs. Logistics include the scheduling & tracking for shipping, which demands manual labor to work with multiple applications, labels, etc. as it involves a bill of lading, invoices, and proof-of-delivery, etc. RPA automates these tasks for real-time, accurate tracking of shipments, resulting in better planning.

Supply and Demand Planning

Supply-and-demand planning plays a pivotal role in making a SCM process efficient. As this process demands data from multiple sources to make decisions, enterprises integrate RPA across multiple functions, such as inventory, procurement, shipping, and warehouse, for seamless demand & supply planning management. RPA bots can further, in conjunction with artificial intelligence and machine learning, predict the demands and keep the procurement team notified in advance.

Customer Service and Relationship Management

Businesses update customer information in multiple systems, which needs to be synchronized to deliver effective customer service. This process includes various manual tasks spanning multiple information systems that RPA can automate for faster and efficient processing. It helps enterprises leverage their customer service team for high-priority tasks and strengthen the customer relationship.

In a nutshell, enterprises are increasingly implementing RPA for SCM to improve their supply chain process by accelerating worker productivity, reducing the error rate, and optimizing electing, sorting & storing times. Enterprises planning to implement RPA across operations for streamlined SCM can explore opportunities with PureSoftware. PureSoftware offers a wide range of industry-focused and tailored RPA services and solutions. Write to us to understand the out-of-box competencies of RPA for your business.