The mixing of Client Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems is critical in delivering seamless client experiences. Now, let’s take a look at how connecting CRM and ERP applications can advantage your enterprise.

5 proven key benefits of CRM & ERP integration

1. Comprehensive view of customers

CRM and ERP integration offers a holistic view of the customers. It may be the most essential reason why you want it. Whenever you combine ERP and CRM systems, you get a complete view from your customers. From accounting to funds, income, and support, it offers all-out visibility and accuracy. It assists you with providing a higher value to your customer base. Your agency will have all the total facts it wishes to pursue extra certified choices and the most talented techniques to keep up with, and in addition, broaden your commercial enterprise relationship with customers.

2. Enhances performance

Companies repeatedly are caught investing strength in manual, strenuous obligations that call for loads of resources. Using an integration platform with a prebuilt ERP gadget and CRM system enables simplifying those strategies as they automate the work tactics for you and improve performance.

3. Eliminates data duplication

A good ERP system or business management solution will be able to incorporate the individual departmental gaps and completely eradicate the need for duplicate data. Using ERP and CRM it removes the possibility of duplicate or incorrect information and advances facts-pushed procedures for the duration of your corporate environment. Inaccurate statistics also can be controlled via your integrated platform. As a result, your corporation benefits from advanced statistics-driven workflows and consequences.

4. Advanced employee collaboration

Connected employees get an advantage from increased productivity and performance. Because everyone is on an equal page, they could push for more results. Previously, each group had a completely unique set of comparable statistics and as a result, getting the right records at the proper time turned out to be almost impossible.

While ERP and CRM work together, your team can proportion and expend up-to-date information. It increases their possibilities of manufacturing higher, more effective consequences. Salesforce confirms that high performers opt for cross-departmental collaboration. According to an AON study, engaged groups can drive 17 percent better productiveness, which can cause 21 percent better profitability and, ultimately, 10 percent better client rankings.

5. Accelerated motility with ERP and CRM integration

Constant facts assist sales and operations in correctly managing client contracts. It enables them to shorten settlement approval stages and even have same day signing. Therefore, an integrated system will help with shortening prolonged and sluggish performance. Cloud-based CRMs likewise make it easy to get to facts and update duties from any vicinity. It helps quicker time-to-income and expands valuable business possibilities.

The integration Challenge

In general, ERP and CRM systems are slow because their distinct configurations make integration difficult. Custom point-to-factor integration is frequently used by those seeking seamless connectivity between the two. This method is more delicate and difficult to manipulate. While using point-to-point connections, a developer must manipulate connectivity and make changes. Furthermore, changes have an impact on the entire system, leaving room for errors. These point-to-point integrations provide a quick recovery but become more complex as organizations grow.

Integrating workflow automation together with your CRM and ERP structures.

Your CRM and ERP system are primarily used by your organization for the dissemination of key strategies, the most notable of which is a quote-to-cash. To truly transform these processes so that they are resilient, scalable, and environmentally friendly, you’ll want to create workflow automation that can work from commercial enterprise activities; once activated, real-time enterprise outcomes (or actions) should occur across your CRM, ERP (among other apps), statistics, and groups. 

Conclusion

ERP and CRM integration can enhance corporate efficiency and help you develop your client base. To enjoy the perks of CRM and ERP integration, recognize your vital necessities. Survey your systems, arrange your information, and sort out how you’ll combine. Eventually, you may locate the proper combination that supports your requirements now and later.

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What exactly is Hyper Intelligent Automation?

In a nutshell, Hyper Intelligent Automation (HIA) is the combination of a number of next-generation technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Intelligent Document Processing (IDP), and Process Mining, which enable businesses to improve their ability to automate workflows and achieve better business outcomes in less time. Where the terms Hyper Intelligent Automation and Hyper Automation are interchangeable. According to industry estimates, the market for automation technologies like RPA will reach $5 billion by 2024, growing at a 20 percent annual pace. HIA has been labeled a “strategic business game-changer” because it drastically decreased the need for human intervention in existing operations. It has brought in the fourth industrial revolution, significantly altering the digital world’s core characteristics. And has the potential to revolutionize customer experiences by reducing outcome variability and improving business decisions that lead to innovation. While this era is all about customer-centric businesses, companies that want to create a unified, aligned workplace must adopt intelligent automation that is integrated and linked with a deep understanding of processes.

Before we get into the significance of HIA. Let’s take a quick glance at the technical terms that are being discussed.

• Automation in general

Automation is a term that refers to technological applications that automate operations and processes to eliminate human involvement.

• Robotic Process Automation

RPA stands for robotic process automation, which promotes uniformity and transparency in corporate processes. Due to pre-programmed scripts and APIs, RPA solutions can perform repetitive manipulations or handle structured data inputs. Even the most basic RPA systems can save employers a lot of time and effort.

• Intelligent Automation

Intelligent Automation (IA) is a level up from RPA software that is based on rules. Intelligent automation technology, which is powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), can perform a broader range of tasks that require baseline analytics and conditioning logic.

Why Hyper Intelligent Automation?

When RPA and AI work together to allow applications that go beyond the mundane to the innovative, the power of intelligent automation shines through, from data collection and processing to analysis and contextual decision-making. According to a Harvard Business Review poll, 48% of respondents say they haven’t considered or implemented an AI-based intelligent automation plan. Another 36% are implementing artificial intelligence into their company strategy, but not on a major scale. Currently, just 11% of firms are embracing AI-based solutions.

In an era of unparalleled disruptions, organizations are turning to Hyper Intelligent Automation (HIA) to achieve antifragility and short-circuit digital transformation. HIA enables seamless customer experiences, optimizes workflows, and drives business outcomes with a shorter turnaround time. In fact, according to recent Zinnov research, 75% of Fortune 250 companies have already made considerable investments in HIA. Furthermore, both federal institutions and small and medium companies (SMBs) are paying close attention in order to generate significant value in the next years. Hyper automation’s capacity to loop humans into the process is one of its primary differentiators. Technology and humans collaborate via collaborative intelligence. Employees can now start learning how to use automation and other software where they can achieve AI-assisted decision-making through machine learning. Companies can begin to reinvent labour that is normally done by employees using hyper automation.

The future is HIA

Hyper Intelligent Automation (HIA) is the new strategic enterprise game changer that aids in the effective attainment of every business goal a company wishes to reach, such as cost savings, time savings, improved employee and customer happiness, and increased efficiency. During the period 2020-2027, the global Hyper intelligent Automation market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18.9%, with increasing digitization of traditional industrial plants driving growth. According to estimates, hyper intelligent automation would have a global market worth of $9.98 billion by 2022.

Healthcare, insurance, travel, and tourism, as well as the government, are among the industries most likely to be disrupted by such technologies. These industries have a lot of different legacy systems, a lot of intermediate players, and processes, and they all need some kind of intelligent cognitive input for decision-making and delivery. These features combined make these industries very appealing for Hyper Intelligent Automation.

Hyper Intelligent Automation has tremendous potential as digital twins can solve problems that humans couldn’t solve yesterday. Automation technologies will expand exponentially, just as the complexity of electronic circuits has doubled in a given length of time (Moore’s Law). We anticipate a similar merger in the future, as improvements in many technologies ended up complimenting each other and generating hyper automation. Now it’s time for your business to evolve too! With the world heading toward digitization, Hyper-Intelligent Automation solutions based on technologies such as RPA, AI, and others have the ability to make your business processes smarter and keep you ahead of the competition.

About Experion

Black Rock IT Solutions is a global IT solutions provider with strong Product Engineering DNA and an unwavering focus on delivering Customer Value. blackrock has been recognized for its core expertise in digital product engineering services, that drive new revenue streams, digitize business processes, and help improve operational efficiency and productivity. As a digital transformation service provider to 350+ global customers across 35 countries, blackrock has helped its customers to transmute their businesses from within, become more future-aligned, and successful. To know more please visit: Data & Analytics – Black Rock IT Solutions (blackrockdxb.com)

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What is hyperautomation?

In 2019, Gartner begat the expression “Hyperautomation” (Gartner). Hyperautomation alludes to the utilization of cutting-edge innovations, for example, AI and mechanical technology process automation (RPA) to robotize manual assignments. It is basic to comprehend that hyper automation isn’t intended to replace human specialists, yet rather to coordinate them into the cycle.

Benefits of Hyperautomation

Regardless of a few early mishaps in the utilization of mechanical technology and artificial intelligence (AI) in banking processes (McKinsey), the future shows up splendid. Banks are likewise learning significant work process illustrations in this new world, for example, how to oversee handoffs among man and machine more successfully, and where conventional interaction update/reengineering can be postponed or even skipped for automation.

1.IT expenses have been decreased

With regards to assets and customer maintenance, banks ordinarily burn through huge load of cash. They can set aside cash through automation since it permits them to use cloud-based services like iPaaS (which permits them to convey developments, new items, and scale foundation).

2. Streamlined market time

The desire of great importance is for new items and services to be brought to advertise as fast as could be expected. This additionally applies to banks. Automation will support formalizing the interaction and utilizing cutting edge innovations and devices to help with the execution of new items over more limited and more effective item life cycles.

3. Information and customer experience

Across businesses, a noticeable shift from is being item driven to being customer-driven and information centered. These will turn into a pivotal mark of separation. With the expansion of computerized channels and stages, the volume of information has developed dramatically, requiring constant information handling and updates. At long last, it comes down to utilizing progressed investigation to settle on better choices and giving customized encounters.

4. Transfer speed

Scalability is the essential objective of any business, and it very well may be accomplished through associations and nonstop development. With the presentation of new stages, hyperautomation gives the valuable chance to scale quickly while spending less, to assemble a biological system, and to make incorporation simpler.

Conclusion: The pandemic has increased the requirement for financial services to mechanize their business and data technology cycles to stay coordinated and answer a continually evolving market. To avoid complication in customer administration conveyance with more automation, hyperautomation consolidates abilities with shrewd work process coordination. It is expected to develop close by a business, bringing about a functioning biological system that is continually instructed and ready to involve information and experiences for fast and exact navigation. As financial institutions strive to keep up with their capability in a post-COVID world, there has never been a superior opportunity to acknowledge the eventual future of intelligent automation.

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From Industry 1.0 to Industry 4.0, intending to reduce cost and to improve efficiency, organizations have always tried to automate business processes with whatever technology or machinery is available to them. With the widespread adoption of digital technologies, automation has evolved quickly during the last few years. Though traditional automation has been around for quite some time, the introduction & adoption of Robotic process automation (RPA) has taken the automation industry by storm. RPA streamlines & automates business processes that are repetitive and manual-labor intensive – it has transformed human lives, the business ecosystem, and the global economy in an unprecedented way. 

What is Intelligent Automation? 

With advancements in digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, a smarter version of RPA that analyzes the vast amount of data generated, then decodes and learns the business process itself with context, rather than perform a series of rule-based tasks, has paved the way for Intelligent Automation. 

IA combines artificial intelligence and automation to create smart business solutions that can analyze, learn, and adapt to improve the efficiency and productivity of any organization. It leverages natural language processing, computer vision, machine learning, and machine vision to understand and solve complex business challenges.  Intelligent Automation automates any business processes that leads to reduced operational costs, improved efficiency, and enhanced customer experience. 

Let’s explore how Intelligent Automation Solutions are disrupting different industries. 

Healthcare   

 With the implementation of Intelligent Automation solutions, healthcare providers can devote more human resources towards patient care as the mundane & time-consuming tasks are taken care of by IA. The Healthcare industry struggled with the processing of unstructured data involving text, videos, and images – intelligent solutions took over the unstructured data processing and automated tasks such as collecting and interpreting diagnostic results, pharmacy & laboratory operations, etc., in a short time frame with increased efficiency.  Digitization of health records, inventory management, automating unstructured data processing, automating contact center operations, patient journey management, etc., are some of the ways automation has made an impact in healthcare. 

With virtual caregivers, patient management robots powered with speech & facial recognition, and AR/VR technologies, the healthcare industry can offer personalized patient care, ensuring superior patient and employee satisfaction. 

Retail 

Artificial intelligence infused into Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has enabled retailers to offer personalized offers to each customer. Intelligent Automation solutions analyze the massive amount of data generated via various customer touchpoints to create a seamless and error-free shopping experience for their customers. Assistive body measurement solutions by leveraging cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence & computer vision technologies to automate and fast-track body measurement and apparel-size recommendations for their customers accurately and efficiently is one of the applications of IA in retail industry.  

Pricing analytics, a sub-discipline of Intelligent Automation, helps retailers adjust prices based on customer’s intent and real-time market conditions. It can also gather customer sentiments from various social media platforms and allows retailers to make informed decisions. IA significantly improves the retailer’s operational efficiency, reduces costs, and ensures superior customer experience. 

FinTech 

FinTech organizations embraced Intelligent Automation solutions to automate almost every aspect of their business process. Combining technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Computer Vision, etc., Intelligent Automation enables FinTech providers to offer cognitive agents such as virtual assistants and chatbots. These cognitive agents are capable of learning complex structured and unstructured data to make logical decisions and have disrupted the way customers engage with financial institutions. 

Intelligent Automation solutions help wealth management organizations analyze the vast amount of available data to understand stocks’ historical performance, make more accurate predictions in the future, and help gauge market movements in near real-time. These solutions can also help FinTech providers to meet regulatory compliances and standards as they reduce the risk of human errors significantly.  

Transportation & Logistics 

In recent times, automation in transportation industry has made significant advancements. Intelligent Automation solutions enabled the highly fragmented and complex Transportation & Logistics industry to become more efficient and transparent with fewer resources – autonomous trucks, driverless cars, and drone taxis are some of the most exciting intelligent automation applications within the transportation & logistics industry. 

With the widespread adoption of digitization, the customer’s logistics & transportation expectations have changed enormously. Intelligent Automation solution providers help organizations streamline & optimize their business processes such as transportation planning, route planning, warehouse network management, and inventory management to meet the rising and fluctuating market demands. Driven by insights and predictions, IA solutions help organizations be more efficient, meet customer demands, and make better faster decisions.  

In Conclusion 

Intelligent Automation solutions are designed to address complex business problems, simplify business processes, reduce costs and improve efficiency. With increased market demand and dynamic customer expectations, if businesses don’t automate everything they can, they may not survive.

At Black Rock IT Solutions, we understand the intelligent automation ecosystem and can help build customized solutions for organizations across industries. To know more about Experion’s automation capabilities and how we can support your journey towards automation, contact us at sales@blackrockdxb.com   

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In fact, McKinsey estimates that these advancements in automation will lead to logistics costs dropping by as much as 40 percent. But automation is not limited to the workflows in warehouses – logistics companies are realizing that they can change the way goods flow across all modes of transportation as well – it can expand a company’s ability to flex with peak demand, pick and pack individual products and take on heavier cargo.

Let’s take a look at the revolutions  automation can cause in the transportation industry:

Autonomous Trucks 

Two-thirds of all goods transported in the United States are moved by trucks, and truck driving is the primary occupation in over half of the states in the USA. But ATs, as these fully automated trucks are called, are about to change all that in the future, with their capabilities of being able to operate without any human intervention. A fully autonomous truck would be able to operate at scale without drivers from loading to delivery. 

While full autonomy is a long way off,  experts in the industry have predicted that the shift will happen in several phases, with each phase bringing in a higher amount of cost-savings than the previous ones. 

They also estimate that it will take around ten years for fully autonomous trucks to get on the road and several more before we can envision a completely driver-free trucking industry nation-wide. 

Port Automation 

Automation in ports has five distinct parts: automated equipment, equipment control systems, the terminal control tower which is the “brain” of the automated terminal, human-machine interactions, and interactions with the port community.

From the first automated port that was set up in Europe in the 1900s, over 40 ports have since installed equipment to automate to some degree. Despite the slow returns on investment that most ports are seeing, they are the ideal candidates for automation – their physical environments are predictable and the activities conducted are straightforward and often repetitive and they generate vast amounts of easily collected data. 

With automation, the safety in ports improves, the number of disruptions caused by human labor reduces and the performance of the port becomes more predictable. Once the initial hiccup of huge investment is overcome, ports become ripe to glean the benefits of automation.  In fact, according to research, successfully automated ports see their costs falling by 25-55% and their productivity increasing by 10-35%.

Automation in Air Freight

With companies such as Amazon making their stakes in the logistics industry, and the belly capacity of aircrafts increasing by 3-4% a year, and the huge blows to revenue that the pandemic brought with it, the air cargo industry is under immense pressure.  It is the need of the hour for companies to consider automation to seize as many new opportunities as they can.

Redesigned automated processes can help them provide better service with higher quality and transparency. Automating booking, for instance, could make the process up to 90% faster. A fully digitized sales and customer-service experience could push direct shipper-carrier bookings up to 15-20%, from the 5% it sees today. 

In Conclusion

While automation is one of the most exciting revolutions set to disrupt the transportation industry, it’s not a change that will be seen overnight. All experts point to a slow but sure change – one that might take years, but will certainly transform the industry into something that is a completely different creature from the one we see today. 

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The IT revolution that began in the latter half of the 20th century brought about great transformation to education and the learning process. The spread of the internet has made information available everywhere, anytime. This has changed the emphasis of education from knowledge transfer to knowledge creation and has shifted focus from group to individual education. 

Digital Transformation can contribute significantly to the future of the education sector in the same way the internet has contributed in the past with incredible new offerings like Automation, Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence paving the way for revolutionary change in mainstream education. Automation in particular, is becoming an important and meaningful part of our daily lives.

Defining automation

Automation is defined as the process of completing repeating and mundane tasks using technology, resulting in faster and more accurate outcomes. The work is carried out using minimal human intervention, which means that it is a combined effort between machines and humans. Robotic Process Automation in Education helps stakeholders to minimize manual effort, creating more efficiency. 

How does Automation impact the education sector?

Any industry sector has multiple layers and related functions. A traditional education sector framework consists of a mix of school/college administrators, teachers/ trainers, students, parents, and other school staff. These stakeholders combined are responsible for both academic and non-academic administrative activities of an institution.

Administrative tasks in the education sector are mostly paper-based and are repetitive and time-consuming. Automating some of these tasks can improve the working efficiency and motivation levels of employees. Softwares in Automating can be used to assist all functions of the institution such as administrators, trainers, students, and parents.

Some of the channels that can be automated in the education scenario are,

1. Administration

Administrative level officials are responsible for all non-academic activities, such as student registration, shortlisting of candidates, enrolment process, and finally the certificate generation process. Robotic Process Automation in Education can drastically bring down the workload for the administrative staff by minimizing the various manual processes mentioned earlier. For example, once the students have applied for a stream of study, a staff member needs to manually check and process the application forms and shortlist the candidate. If pre-defined rules can be configured, such as checking eligibility criteria, shortlisting of candidates becomes a faster task, freeing up resources as well as the time spent on the task.

Similarly, generating pass certificates for candidates is another time-consuming task that is labor-intensive.  Automation can deliver efficient results to quicken the pace for all the above. In this case, once the logic and rules are defined for selecting eligible candidates and calculating the score, numerous certificates can be generated within a short span of time with little or no human intervention, increasing productivity and efficiency levels for the staff.

2. Teachers/Trainers

Teachers and trainers play a major role in the education system. Training students is the primary responsibility of a teacher/ trainer. As a part of the training, they are also responsible for Class scheduling, Attendance Management, Assignment grading, etc.

Let us take the example of attendance management. Physically capturing student attendance, notifying parents on the absence of their wards, calculating attendance percentage of individual students, and segregating students based on performance are tedious tasks that take up a lot of time and effort. Today, most educational institutions rely on technology to fulfill their attendance requirements.

Students can be provided with active RFID cards to capture attendance automatically instead of the traditional attendance marking system. This automates the attendance process once they enter into the institution premises. Alerts can be configured such that teachers and parents are intimated automatically if their wards are absent/late on several days. Rules can be assigned for the generation of routine reports. This process mechanizes the attendance management process, gradually allowing teachers and other academic staff to spend less time on routine tasks and more time with students.

3. Parents

Parents are another beneficiary of automation in the education sector. Enhancement of security for children is an example. Parents can be relaxed about child security if the institution uses the latest technology to boost student safety. This includes SMS alerts on the absence of child/leave taken and so on. Parents can also be mailed information about the children’s performance in the institution. 

4. Students

Students are the key beneficiaries of the disruptive tendencies in the new education system. Students can take advantage of technology through the learning methods opted for. Learning methods have changed a lot since the emergence of technology – new tech like Machine Learning in Education & Artificial Intelligence in Education are going to completely disrupt the way education is perceived and experienced today.

E-Learning has transformed the way in which learning used to be imparted. Unlike the traditional blackboard/whiteboard way of face-to-face teaching, e-learning makes learning possible through geographical distances.

The main challenge in e-learning is that it is difficult for the trainer to identify whether the session is interesting or boring to the individual student. To identify the actual response of the students while giving online lectures, cognitive learning technologies can be used. Cognitive psychology refers to the study of the mind and how humans think. Cognitive integrated applications capture expressions and emotions from the student’s face. Applications run numerous patterns built into it and provide instructions to the trainer. It can give an insight into which learning method works best for the targeted students. Thus, online learning sessions become more personalized, thereby increasing the effectiveness of learning for the student.

blackrock recently partnered with a leading EduTech service provider in the Middle East to take over a platform that provides fully personalized tutoring services. The client offers mobile and web-enabled platforms that provide comprehensive learning management systems,  the flagship one being an on-demand tutoring platform that instantly connects students to specialized tutors in real-time – the first concept of its kind in the region.

With the successful execution of this project, and utilizing our ongoing engagement, the application has now expanded to a comprehensive learning system that is now used in over 25 countries by over 500,000 students. It has proved to be one of the most successful examples of online learning that the current COVID-19 situation has forced on the world.

You can read the complete success story here. 

Interested in knowing more about how blackrock can help you with EduTech? Write to us now: sales@blackrockdxb.com

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E-learning platforms have been around for many decades, but haven’t been able to create the kind of  ‘transformational’ impact that has long been promised. With the Coronavirus ‘black swan’ event, all of these remote learning platforms have gotten a sudden push into the mainstream, even in places where people could not envision such options earlier due to poor infrastructure and other socio-economic issues. 

The size of the E-learning market had already been pegged to cross USD 240 Billion by 2023, and now this projection is going to go up further. It is no wonder then, that in the coming days we will see newer companies entering the remote learning race utilizing emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics, Cloud Computing & Augmented and Virtual Reality to compete with established market leaders.  

Emerging technologies that are set to take e-learning solutions to the next level

Artificial Intelligence

According to Forbes, “Artificial intelligence can act as a virtual tutor and answer questions on the fly”.

Artificial Intelligence-powered E-learning platforms will be equipped to identify and assess learners’ levels of understanding and suggest customized paths of learning. Content analytics powered by AI makes personalized and learner-centered approaches possible – these would be based on the learner’s intellectual level, from kindergarten through higher education to even corporate training. Developing these solutions is no longer a daunting task with the advent of AIaaS or “AI as a Service” – now these solutions are easy to implement and come with enticing benefits. 

Augmented Reality (AR)

AR solutions bring more engagement, excitement, and innovation to e-learning platforms making content more consumable, enjoyable, and valuable. Augmented Reality techniques will be widely utilized to increase engagement for learners through activities, rather than the traditional read and write learning methodology. Augmented reality can also be used to offer customized learning options to suit differently-abled students with special needs to learn better, as AR includes gesture, voice recognition, and image rendering experiences.

Virtual and Remote Laboratories

Laboratories are some of the best places to learn – they allow students to acquire knowledge, experiment with different methods of arriving at answers, and experience real equipment, inculcating active learning and the development of skills based on solving challenges. Simulating labs virtually makes it possible for the users to stay connected through the internet to a remote physical system, and conduct web-based technical experiments. Students can extend their depth of knowledge in areas of control systems, programming, database, various other web-based applications, tools, and technologies. 

Virtual labs are also extremely beneficial to run experiments that are normally too expensive, unsafe to run, or unavailable.  They also allow students to repeat an experiment multiple times,  giving them the opportunity to see how changed parameters and settings affect the outcome without wasting resources.

The Internet of Things

The number of devices that will be a part of the Internet of Things (IoT) by 2025 will be around 75 billion in number. The rise in IoT is going to further improve the e-learning experience. Already we see how mobile learning allows learners to access E-learning courses with absolute freedom of time and place. In the future, we are going to see more content in the form of images and videos.  24X7 access to the internet across a number of wearables will make teachers redesign assessment from “remembering and writing down”, to “evaluate and elucidate concepts on the go”.

If you’re thinking of using these technologies to your advantage to build or improve your E-learning systems and solutions, reach out to the expert technology consultants at Black Rock IT Solutions. blackrock has built spectacular EduTech platforms for organizations across the globe – with our years of experience and know-how in the latest technologies such as AI and AR/VR, blackrock is certain to deliver the best solution with minimum time investment.

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From governments closing the borders and enforcing lockdowns to businesses struggling to meet the supply and demand, the novel coronavirus is changing the way businesses operate, collaborate and compete. Traditional business models are on the verge of being wiped out by their digital counterparts. Digital Transformation is something that has been predicted by leading analyst firms as the way forward for years now, and certain organizations have already implemented it, with a fast-tracked future now becoming a reality.  In this current scenario, the first movers will have the upper hand in the long journey ahead, and unfortunately, the laggards will struggle to tackle the situation. 

This article takes a predictive look at how various industries will flourish post COVID-19.

Healthcare

Unlike any other industry, COVID-19 has affected the healthcare industry the most. The current situation is an opportunity for healthcare stakeholders to utilize the available tools, software, and technologies such as AI, ML, IoT, Data Analytics, etc to offer better solutions.

Mobile healthcare, IoT, Virtual Assistants, and Robotics are some of the leading areas that healthcare providers can look into. Mobile apps to get in touch with doctors at your convenience, sensors/IoT devices to monitor real-time patient data, virtual assistants to guide healthcare professionals with complex procedures remotely, machine-learned robots to assist doctors in patient examination, etc. are some of the areas where digital transformation is going to make its mark.

Ultimately, new business models will emerge, as all healthcare providers need to rethink their current business strategies and pave the way for the vast opportunities that will come along with this pandemic. 

Retail 

With people staying inside their homes and practicing social distancing, the impact of COVID-19 on retailers will be severe. Leading retailers have started adopting omnichannel digital transformation strategies rapidly to win the customer pie. Most traditional retail customers, who once swore by the in-store experience, have now been forced to experience the convenience of digital purchasing, and are likely to continue with the trend even once this phase of being locked in is over.  

Brick and mortar stores have noted reduced footfall during this situation.  In order to stay afloat, they must now look into newer and more innovative ways to do business – be it through online platforms or even just becoming available on social media platforms to take orders. We are yet to see how the retail industry will evolve post-pandemic but surely, COVID-19 has dramatically accelerated the digital transformation in the retail industry too. 

InsurTech

The insurance industry thrives on predictability and the uncertainty that COVID-19 has caused is unprecedented. Most of their customers will be devastated with the fear of losing their jobs, their businesses and even their lives and they will rely on the insurance industry to be a ray of hope. 

Collaboration with various governments and other industry players to collect data from all possible sources should be the priority. Be it in the form of sensors, IoT devices, weather reports, and drones, they must generate meaningful insights in real-time to offer pro-active and personalized solutions. Coupled with advanced data analysis, they can come up with data models that predict possible future outcomes like this. 

InsurTech players must lead the digital transformation journey in terms of leveraging the latest technologies, optimizing the processes, personalizing the solutions, and bringing in automation to reduce costs and improve efficiency and effectiveness. All the players in the ecosystem must embrace digital transformation at the heart of their strategy to be the front-runners in the new insurance era. 

FinTech

With people being asked to remain indoors and governments and central banks announcing economic relief packages, everyone is looking at FinTech to help implement their ideas.  The current situation brings a new sense of urgency to the need to examine ‘going digital’ by accelerating the rush to digitization. Digital payments have become an integral part of everyday life across the globe, opening up new avenues of innovation and business opportunities in the coming future. 

Digital onboarding, omnichannel retailing and eWallets will likely grow to new heights. Financial institutions must utilize these opportunities and go digital in their offerings. Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and big-data analytics will play a crucial role in formulating FinTech strategies in the digital-only era. 

EduTech

The global learning population has been keenly impacted by the spread of the C0VID-19 virus. Though the infrastructure in terms of internet access, data costs, etc are yet to catch up with the rising requirements, the time is ripe for EduTech companies to make their mark. This will be the point of transition in the adoption of the online medium against the traditional educational model. 

Instead of focusing on replacing mundane administrative and managerial roles, which unfortunately most providers are doing right now, they must embrace and accelerate the digital transformation of education itself. EduTech companies need to collaborate with traditional universities and schools and offer an online-offline system. They must leverage the latest technologies such as online video-based learning, artificial intelligence, machine learning, advanced analytics to personalize the learning experience and ensure a more engaging and valuable offering to the user.

The change here must come from the educational institutes as well, as they need to take the step towards embracing this change – but the current pandemic has only proven that it is high time they understand that this is the future of education. 

Transportation & Logistics

Transportation and logistics players globally are trying to fix things with whatever resources they have because they are the lifelines that make sure the logistics of essentials stay in place. With limited manpower and severe restrictions, they must leverage technologies to overcome this hurdle. 

This is an opportunity for them to rethink their business practices. Instead of working and relying on outdated legacy software systems, they should embrace digitization and automation to stay competitive within the industry. They must accelerate their digital transformation process and partner with technology companies to develop tech-driven solutions to offer streamlined and personalized end-to-end services. They must harness the power of “digital” to handle any unforeseen events in the future. 

The challenges that COVID-19 poses cannot be generalized as it varies from industry to industry. Post epidemic, organizations should revisit and reinvent their business strategies with more focus and weightage on innovation, research and development. Inevitably across industries, digitization shall be embraced with an urgency more than ever before. 

Survival and recovery of core operations should be what organizations focus on post COVID-19. Collaborating with digital technology consultants like Black Rock IT Solutions can help you get the kick-start you need to successfully restart your businesses.

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Businesses achieve resilience through digital transformation. Putting it simply, the first step to business resilience is admitting that digital transformation is the answer to the toughest challenges faced by businesses operating in an environment of uncertainties. 

Here is a beautiful thought explaining digital transformation for businesses in one sentence.  

The biggest part of digital transformation is changing the way we think. – Simeon Preston

So, the next step is to understand how to use digital transformation to make business resilient; continue reading to find out! 

1. Brand Management
   

   At first glance, connecting branding to digital transformation would appear a bit strange. But, after going into the intricacies, we can understand that business resilience depends a lot on brand value. And, to create a great brand image, you need to manage your brand with the use of digital transformation techniques. 

   The activity of brand management starts with building an excellent website that can attract users, engage them, and convert them into customers. Various digital marketing techniques can help you engage with the target audience through multiple digital platforms, including social media and third-party websites. 

   Last but not least, digital transformation assists you in maintaining the brand reputation by supporting your customers and engaging with them through all possible channels such as messengers, email lists, social media, etc.

2. Automation
   

   Automation is the most crucial factor in business resilience. Automation has reduced human intervention in so many processes, making them efficient and productive. 

   The automated processes can continue tirelessly, unlike the human-dependent ones. Also, there is no possibility of human bias in automatic processes. These are relatively error-free and faster. Moreover, automation can even be used in processes that are risky for humans to engage in. 

   What are the prominent business processes that must leverage automation? You can automate almost all business processes starting from the basics such as data collection, business communication, to the more complex ones like procurement, customer support, time tracking, supply, and even decision making! 

   Identify the areas relevant to you and implement digital transformation in stages. You can objectively evaluate the order of your priorities.   

3. Flexibility & Scalability
   

   Digital transformation makes processes better. Process optimization involves extensive use of technology for improving process speed and reducing process time. Streamlining complex processes makes them less vulnerable to risks, damages, and delays. Flexible processes can accommodate uncertainties so that productivity is unaffected even in adversities. Digitally transformed processes are easily scalable as each part of the process adapts to circumstantial scaling in no time without affecting the coordination between the previous and next stages. 

4. Customer Centricity

   Every business revolves around its customers. They are the ones who will decide the success or failure of your business. So, most smart businesses aspire to be customer-centric. But, being customer-centric is not easy. Right from thinking from the perspective of the customers, to going that extra mile for the customer, everything requires effort, time, and intelligence, apart from intentions. 

   Digital transformation helps businesses revamp their systems and processes to make them naturally customer-centric. So, the system is designed to make it responsive to customer needs. 

   With better access to customer data, customer profiling is easier. There is a standard common source for all the customer information which can be used by business across levels and departments. 

   So, everyone in a customer-centric business understands the customer needs and preferences equally well. They can thus synchronize the efforts across the organization to offer personalized services to the customer. 

   Also, no matter what channel the customer approaches from, he is always directed to the right front with the use of technology-driven smart processes. 

   To summarize, digital transformation helps businesses improve customer experience. It also enables omnichannel customer support. With the use of bots and virtual assistants, the process is faster and more consistent. 

   When you are so customer-centric, you will have more satisfied customers who will refer you to their network. And, you can expect to build strong and long-term customer relationships.  

5. Business Intelligence
   

   Business owners suffer from strict time constraints. And risky decisions have to be taken in no time. No matter how capable humans are, it isn’t very easy for humans to assimilate so much data, and analyze it to make the right decision in a strict time frame. 

   Digital transformation has a significant contribution to business intelligence. Decision making is not just risky but also very time-consuming. It also involves a lot of data, and so, the data has to be accurately gathered, appropriately stored, and efficiently used. 

   Big data speaks volumes about your customers, competitors, market, trends, etc. Big data analytics is thus a significant source of data for business decision making. Big-data has also made it convenient for businesses to get access to large volumes of organically generated data. 

   Digital transformation has increased the availability of data to businesses.  But, decision making requires using the right data and interpreting it correctly to make decisions. So, the use of technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning are now helping businesses to make informed and data-driven decisions. 

   As AI improves with machine learning, the accuracy and relevance of decisions is very high and keeps increasing. Also, the processing of information is fast, and so the decision-makers can rely on business intelligence in situations of crisis. 

6. Overall Improvement
   

   Digital transformation brings a change in almost everything that you do. It helps you implement Kaizen, the concept of changing for better, continuously. 

   Digital transformation helps you prevent errors, increase accuracy, improve reliability, reduce risk, maximize output, minimize waste, etc. It also prepares you for risks and disasters in the volatile business environment. 

Wrapping Up!

So, now you know why digital transformation is vital in building resilient businesses. You are also aware of the various ways you can transform your business digitally to prepare it for any foreseen or unforeseen changes in the environment. But, it is easier to learn and difficult to implement as digital transformation means a complete overhaul in the way you think and work. Hiring professional digital transformation specialists can make it more accessible as they are experienced in change management. 

blackrock has helped Enterprises and early-stage companies be resilient, guiding their digital transformation journey leveraging the latest digital technologies. Experion’s team of specialists has enabled our global clients to handle dynamic business scenarios, enhance productivity, improve quality of service & offerings, and assisted them in intelligent decision making. To know more about Experion’s Digital Transformation Service offerings, drop a mail to sales@blackrockdxb.com.

Guest post by Jin Markov, Content Writer with GoodFirms, a research firm in the USA. 

The post Benefits of digital transformation for business resilience appeared first on Black Rock IT Solutions – Software Product Engineering Services.

Factors driving adoption of automation in transportation 

• High per capita cost of manual labor: Enterprises may find it challenging to find skilled labor, or they cannot meet the per capita cost for maintaining a large manual labor force. Because of fierce market competition, enterprises must keep their expenses to the minimum to win this race. Also, it is not an ideal solution to hire more labor to meet fluctuating demand and supply. To address this situation, enterprises can leverage automation as the best choice.
• Technical advancements: Technological advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning technologies, and IoT is redefining the entire ecosystem, and transportation & logistics is not spared. From planning until execution, AI will play a vital role such as automated transportation, order prediction, optimizing warehouse locations in line with requirements. However, lack of clarity on which technology will emerge as the winner may create some amount of confusion among the organizations to channelize and prioritize their investment in these technologies. 

How is automation moulding the future of logistics industry?

Automated warehouse

Warehouse automation is one of the first areas companies try to attend when it comes to investing in automation. On a bigger scale, it encapsulates the automation of existing processes to improve efficiency, reliability, enhance accuracy, and leads to improved ROI. Bringing inventory to the order picker to minimize his movements inside the warehouse, automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS), automated carrying vehicles, automatic conveyors, etc. are some areas where automation can play a significant role in a warehouse. 

On-demand Automated trucks

Consumers have moved from owning a product to avail its benefits- the sharing economy. Uber and Airbnb are classic examples of how taking away the ownership of privileged customers. Transportation & Logistics industry is also witnessing the same “shared economy” model in the form of on-demand automated trucks. On-demand autonomous trucking improves the efficiency of freight movement and reduces the increased cost of hiring and training drivers. The autonomous truck would work round the clock with double the work done by non-automated trucks. On-demand trucks remove the burden of enormous initial capital investments from the organizations, reduced transportation costs, and ultimately elevate customers with competitive prices. 

Real-time tracking

Consignment delivery has always been a significant concern for enterprises as timely delivery of goods is directly proportional to customer experience. Real-time monitoring can enable logistics providers to address demurrage and detention problems and take corrective measures such as informing the customers about any possible delays due to traffic or bad weather, resulting in reduced failed delivery instances and improved customer satisfaction. 

Automated Analytics Systems 

In this era of “Data is the new Oil,” T&L companies must leverage the power of data analytics to stay ahead of the competition. Those organizations who rely on traditional or outdated IT systems can’t drive insights from available data and hence fails to understand and meet customer preferences and market dynamics. T&L companies are sitting on a vast amount of data which is not explored for generating insights such as customer churn prediction, demand generation analysis, and supply shortage prediction.  Automating the entire system help enterprises to create actionable insights periodically and salespersons can act accordingly. Sales figures can directly be induced back to the system from sales POS, and the system can generate revised insights to best suit the current situation. 

Automation: Gateway to the future

Though Transportation and Logistics companies have been relying on advanced technologies to handle the complex network, they haven’t explored the commercial side of automation yet. When employed correctly, automation can substantially improve organizational efficiency, sales growth, performance, reduce the cost, and most importantly increased revenue.

At Experion, we have implemented several projects spanning across the transportation and logistics industry building future with digital. To know more about our offerings in the T&L industry, drop a mail to sales@blackrockdxb.com 

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