Category: Blog

The Technology Crystal Ball webinar series is back with its 5th episode – “Garnering traction for early-stage B2B SaaS”. This will cover several key topics related to how to attract and retain customers in a crowded and competitive marketplace. The key areas to discuss include –

Areas of interest include –

1. Accelerating product-market fit
2. Building blocks for a $ 100M company
3. Establishing the model
4. Understanding and acquiring customers
5. Setting up for scale!

The hosts, Vinay Mahajan and Abhimanyu Diwaker are being joined by an internationally reputed B2B sales expert Shiladitya (Sunny) Ghosh, founder of Brewra Ventures to share his expert thoughts on how early stage B2B SaaS companies can garner traction.

Here are some of the things you can expect to learn from such a webinar:

Defining your target customer: One of the first steps to attracting traction is understanding who your ideal customer is. The webinar may cover strategies for researching and identifying your target customer, such as through customer interviews, market research, and data analysis.

Creating a compelling value proposition: Once you know who your target customer is, you need to create a value proposition that speaks to their needs and pain points. The webinar may cover best practices for crafting a clear and compelling value proposition that resonates with your target customer.

Choosing the right channels: There are many different channels through which you can reach potential customers, from content marketing and SEO to social media and email campaigns. The webinar may cover strategies for choosing the channels that are most likely to reach and engage your target customer.

Building an MVP: To test your value proposition and traction channels, you may need to build a minimum viable product (MVP) that allows you to gather feedback and iterate on your offering. The webinar may cover best practices for building and testing an MVP.

Creating a growth strategy: Once you’ve validated your value proposition and traction channels, you need to develop a growth strategy that allows you to scale your business. The webinar may cover strategies for acquiring and retaining customers at different stages of the customer lifecycle, as well as tactics for increasing customer lifetime value.

Overall, a webinar on garnering traction for early-stage B2B SaaS is going to provide practical advice and actionable insights for founders and entrepreneurs who are looking to build and grow a successful B2B SaaS business.

WEBINAR DETAILS

Topic – GARNERING TRACTION FOR EARLY-STAGE B2B SAAS

Date: 31st March 2023, Time: 12 Noon EST

REGISTER NOW – https://bit.ly/3T0w72G

Recruitment can be a challenge and most of the time recruiters and hiring managers end up regretting after the hiring is over. They might discover the candidate is good only with communications and not hands-on with practical job work. How to then evaluate the professional for right fitting them into the job and avoid regretting a hiring decision.

There will be 2 parts to it, pre hiring evaluation and post hiring follow-up of performance management.

Let’s see if these steps help you:

Pre-hiring evaluation, interviewing and on-boarding –

• Define clear job requirements, responsibilities, and expectations. If possible create a candidate profile as well.
• Source diverse candidate pools using various methods (job boards, social media, employee referrals, etc.).
• Thoroughly screen and interview candidates. Conduct thorough and consistent interviews, using behavioral and technical questions.
• Verify references, credentials, and past work experiences.
• Assess skills through tests or projects. Use pre-employment assessments such as aptitude or skills tests.
• Assess both hard and soft skills. – This hold true in both Pre and post hiring of the professional
• Offer a fair salary and benefits package.
• Evaluate the candidate’s fit with company culture and values.

On-job evaluation

• Provide a positive onboarding experience and continuous support for the employee.
• Have a trial period to observe the candidate’s work.
• Decide based on objective criteria and not just personal bias or gut feeling.
• Continuously evaluate and provide feedback and coaching to the hire to ensure mutual satisfaction.
• Set clear performance expectations and regularly provide feedback. Establish clear performance goals and objectives. Use objective measures, such as key performance indicators (KPIs), when possible.
• Document performance throughout the year.
• Use a variety of performance metrics and evaluation methods. Ensure a thorough, fair and impartial performance review.
• Encourage open and honest communication and two-way feedback by actively listen to the professional’s perspective.
• Assess both hard and soft skills.
• Consider both individual and team contributions.
• Allow the professional to self-evaluate.
• Make sure evaluations are conducted objectively and free of bias.
• Regularly gather feedback from colleagues and customers.
• Provide specific, actionable feedback and offer opportunities for growth and development.
• Consider both the individual’s strengths and areas for improvement.

We discussed this topic in another blog titled, “How to find the right candidate?“

There are many factors to consider when looking for the right candidate for a job. Here are a few tips to help you find the right person:

Define the job role and responsibilities clearly: It’s important to have a clear understanding of the job role and responsibilities before you start looking for candidates. This will help you filter out candidates who may not be suitable for the job.

Determine the necessary skills and qualifications: Make a list of the skills and qualifications that are required for the job. This will help you narrow down your search to candidates who have the necessary skills and experience.

Use a variety of recruiting methods: Consider using a variety of recruiting methods, such as job posting websites, employee referrals, social media, and networking events, to reach a diverse pool of candidates.

Review resumes and cover letters carefully: Carefully review resumes and cover letters to identify candidates who have the necessary skills and experience. Pay attention to the language and tone of the cover letter, as it can give you insight into the candidate’s personality and communication style.

Conduct phone or video interviews: Use phone or video interviews to get a better sense of the candidate’s personality and fit for the company culture. During the interview process, ask questions that relate to the specific skills and experiences that the job requires.

Consider using assessment tools: Consider using assessment tools, such as personality tests or skills tests, to further evaluate candidates and ensure that they are a good fit for the job.

Schedule in-person interviews: Once you have narrowed down your list of candidates, schedule in-person interviews to get a better sense of their fit for the role and the company.

Consider using reference checks to verify the candidate’s past job performance and skills.

Take your time to find the right candidate. It’s better to wait and find someone who is a good fit for the job than to rush and hire someone who may not be a good fit.

AI enthusiasts and entrepreneurs discussing the Future of Work with AI

On the 9th of September 2022, NAM hosted two very interesting AI enthusiasts as part of the Technology Crystal Ball series of webinars. Vinay Mahajan, NAM’s President & CEO engaged with Animesh Samuel, CEO of a fast growing AI firm, E42 who graced the occasion the platform for a second time and the Milita Datta, Co-founder of Monami. The ensuing discussion which had a packed audience discussed about how AI is Revolutionizing the Future of Work. While the intention was to restrict to 5 ways how AI is impacting but the conversation starting touching on more areas. Below is a recording of the same.

Organizations today are faced with the challenge of finding people who bring new skills and value addition to the table. Companies want to build their talent pool and, in the process, they are finding new ways to improve internal mobility, providing employees with growth opportunities, setting up training programs, and reducing biases in HR decisions.

However, companies like ‘Light’ are using AI platforms like E42 to revolutionize the future of work. This simple AI platform take in unstructured data in text format and structured data like ERP and CRM, and help in operations like creating process documents, policy manuals, and product manuals. It can also connect using API’s, define workflows, and perform multiple actions to make an organization’s working more efficient. The best thing about using AI platforms like these in workplaces is that it is customizable and easily deployable.

Post COVID-19, the future of work has been rendered unpredictable. Technology is making huge waves in workplaces, across the world. In this article, we’ll be discussing five ways in which AI is revolutionizing the future of work.

1. Job Applications: A large pool of applications for any role is thrown away due to the number of applicants competing for the same job. However, platforms like LinkedIn use AI softwares to put a cap on the number of applications they receive. This makes it more efficient for recruiters, who have to sort through hundreds of applications otherwise. At the same time, a recruiter may review 10-20% of the applications they receive in a day and even those can have biases towards applicants from Ivy League campuses, passive candidates from competitors, or employee referrals. While discussing applications, diversity biases should also be considered. AI can look at the skills and competencies of the applicant by crunching the data it receives and give companies the best data to eliminate hiring biases.
2. Quality of Hiring: AI uses the data it crunches and screens applicants. By doing so, AI has the power to weed out fake profiles and find particular profiles with web scrapping tools. AI can also send candidates messages on behalf of the company and take a virtual interview to see if what each candidate has written in their resume matches what they answer in the interview, before scheduling a human interview. At the same time, AI can set up platforms along with proctoring mechanisms for candidates to take technical evaluation tests while seeking jobs.
3. Employee Experience: Companies can improve their employee experience by engaging with them from the moment they receive their offer acceptance. AI platforms can help with that by sending out CEO videos, compliance training sessions, benefits tutorials, and more. It will not only engage the employees with the company but also allow companies to predict a new employee’s commitment and interest towards them. AI allows organisations to manage their branding through review sites like Glassdoor and send it to new hires to enhance their understanding of the company.
4. Quality of Work: What takes humans ages to complete, AI can finish up with ease. AI can be trained to complete mundane jobs quickly, freeing up space for HR to assign people to analytical and creative jobs within the company. Recruiters can also do analytical jobs to understand the nature of the candidate applying for a post instead of going through hundreds of resumes and screen them. Deploying AI platforms is a sign that companies prioritise giving their HR and employees an adequate work-life balance and essentially push humans up the value chain.
5. Employee Retention: More than 47 million people resigned in 2021 and one of the biggest reasons for it was that people want better career development opportunities. AI allows companies to capture feedback and feed it into the prediction system to better understand how to retain employees and improve processes like leaves, records of employees, and more. Similarly, AI can be developed to quantify employee progress through methods like mentorships. It provides inputs on how companies can improve skill, communication, and leadership development. It can check on employee well-being efficiently, from time to time and provide confidential reports from them on how the organization can improve, while maintaining anonymity and removing personal biases. Essentially, AI gives companies a 360-degree view of retention strategy and improve the employee’s relationship with the company.

Most of us think of AI to be a fantastical kind of technology that has outer-worldly powers. Our brains conjure up images of robots taking over the world and rendering people jobless. However, current trends prove that AI is already in use all around us, from our search results to the way we shop, and to the way organizations operate. And we are just getting started. Aspiring leaders should ride the wave and use the technology at hand to foster a good working culture for their companies and accelerate their organization’s growth.

A decade ago, nobody could have concretely imagined concepts like AI or hybrid workplaces but today, companies are met with the important question: how can we create meaningful spaces of communication and collaboration in the changing faces of working environments?

Technology has come a long way in providing solutions for companies to support its various functions. While it is not the only solution, it acts as the catalyst companies need to transition into the emerging new world order.

The metaverse is one such aspect of the technological revolution we are seeing today. It has the potential to join forces with every aspect of our workplaces, including the HR department. The term ‘metaverse’ was coined by Neal Stephenson in his novel ‘Snow Crash’ in 1992, where a virtual-reality setup replaced the internet. To understand its importance in modern usage, individuals are replaced by digital depictions in a virtual world, allowing people to come together regardless of their location or time zone.

With the rise of AI and Big Data, companies are beginning to adopt the metaverse into their operations, to improve their functioning. When you consider the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and its travel limitations, the metaverse becomes a strong tool to bridge the physical boundaries between people. It opens up a space for companies to develop game-changing ideas and smoother operations.

What can the metaverse do?

But the ability to do so is just one aspect of what the metaverse can do. One of the other aspects of it is the capacity to look into resource allocation and employment. A good HR would plan strategically for the future of its workforce, in terms of management and planning. Once an HR comprehends the power of the metaverse, it would not only improve the functioning of the workspace but also cut down on the losses companies have faced during the pandemic with remote work.

At the same time, the metaverse would prove useful in employee inductions, information sharing, aptitude tests, employee training, performance reviews, team building, company events, and more. It provides a space for an immersive work environment, where the tasks of a physical workspace can easily be replicated in virtual reality.

How can the metaverse be used?

What if the metaverse enters the HR space? How will it impact your workplace? Let’s understand the implications of a metaverse in your company’s HR space through this article.

Increased productivity

The metaverse allows people to telecommunicate, where one can conduct their daily activities within the space. Be it meetings, live conferences, or client engagement, this technology has an impact on communications that otherwise take ages to establish. Moreover, organizations can manage their workforce more efficiently, as the metaverse allows for seamless communication channels.

Enhanced recruitments

The metaverse can also be applied to your company’s recruitment processes. Organizations will no longer be restricted by geographical boundaries. HRs can look for talent across the globe, or at least within their countries. By usage of this technology, candidates applying can learn about the company’s working culture and see for themselves, its efficiency of it while applying.

Learning and Development

The metaverse has the promise to transform the learning and development outcomes for employees. Organizations can use the virtual space to create opportunities for employees to take part in remote training sessions. The use of the metaverse for onboarding and training will give learners a chance to obtain hands-on work experiences like problem-solving and customer experiences. It gives employees a set of transferrable skills that are essential for their career progression.

Performance Management and Rewards

Should HR design an AI-driven process to collaborate between stakeholders, the metaverse can set up a continuous feedback mechanism for employees, which can lead to improved employee performance. Furthermore, the same AI-driven mechanism can be programmed to incorporate digital rewards, that will be rewarded on the basis of past performances, needs, et al.

New Skills

As AI takes over mundane tasks, insights to drive the technology will become crucial for organizations. The metaverse will need unique human skills to enhance its progression. It opens avenues for various new roles like designers for digital depictions, and digital travel agents to make easy communications across different metaverses, security officers, developers, and more. It opens companies up to new talent and profits in the longer run.

In an era of rapid technological progress, the metaverse is a significant breakthrough and can be extremely useful for various organizations. If HR prepares itself to optimize the metaverse now itself, it stands a greater chance to reap its benefits in the future, when virtual reality becomes the new workplace norm.

Also read: Artificial Intelligence, Human Brilliance – Co-work for Better Outcomes

An interesting read on Metaverse supporting Mental Health

When you plan a trip and look for accommodation in your destination city, you know there are certain words that act as a kind of code: “CBD” means it’s about the location targeting a business trip, “beach stay” means a holiday trip, and “Suite” means you are looking for a very comfortable stay.

The HRs and hiring managers struggle to see some words in a similar way pop up visibly in a certain style of language.

In general, these words are vague and jargonish as to practically mean nothing. These words at best will suggest that you are padding your CV or profile because you are running out of things to say; at worst, they suggest you haven’t achieved much of anything in your career worth talking about.

Replace them by heeding that ages-old writing adage to “show, don’t tell;” use active words and concrete examples instead of these tired terms:

1. Strategic thinker

Before putting something like this on your CV, ask yourself how you would demonstrate it if asked to in an interview. It’s difficult to back up. If you have a concrete example, use it instead.

2. Team player

This sounds as if you are trying to fill in words, as though you couldn’t come up with anything better to say. “I don’t have any actual accomplishments, but I’m a team player!” If you want to convey that you work well in groups, again, give specific examples.

3. Responsible for…

This is a blanket statement when describing your job duties, it tells nothing about what you did. One of the prime words to avoid, it tells that you are someone just doing the bare minimum to get by. It would be better to use active verbs like created, achieved, improved, or led.

4. Obsessive

No matter how passionate you are about your work, saying that you are (or, in fact, being) obsessive is not a good thing. Passionate can be a good replacement word here.

5. Problem-solving skills

Problem-solving does not reflect an accomplishment. Instead, list an accomplishment that demonstrates your problem-solving skills.

6. Detail-oriented

Imagine a spelling mistake in your resume and this statement becomes false. If being detail-oriented is a key trait for the job you want, put it into practice by paying particular attention to details when you submit your application and during the interview.

7. Intelligent

Being intelligent and saying that you’re intelligent are two different things. Putting it on a CV or saying it in an interview can come off as egotistical or awkward. (This also goes for words like successful, likable, humble, etc.) Instead, talk about the way you think or approach a problem with words like logical, quantitative, or synthesize.

8. Proactive

This is an often-used business buzzword so much that it has very little meaning left in it. What are you meaning to say? That you are self-driven? That you can identify problems before they happen? Demonstrate this with examples.

9. “Experience working with…”

Experiences happen to you. They are passive. Instead, talk about achievements.

10. Salary negotiable

On a resume or in a cover letter, mentioning about salary just sounds desperate. Unless the recruiter specifically asks for your salary requirements in your cover letter, avoid it altogether until the interview. Do your research and have a specific number in mind when you get the question. It is mostly understood that salaries are negotiated, so saying it on your CV is redundant as well.

In a survey done by CareerBuilder.com asking hiring managers and human resources staffers to rank the best and worst words to use on a resume, the best words all had something in common: they convey action.

Avoid cliches, jargon, and passive terms in favor of active descriptions of your actual achievements, and your CV or LinkedIn profile will stand out from the crowd. 

What are your experiences with using specific words?

Also read – 5 tips to facing a tough interview

Our aim to share these interview tips is because we interview a lot of candidates every day. More than 50 % of the time we know if the meeting with the client is going to work on not. Hence do consider these interview tips for your next meeting. This is not a rule book so you are free to consider using these tips or ignore them.

Wear a shirt and tie

The first tip is to dress as if you were going to a real interview. If you dress as if you already have the job, then you will act differently and be more confident. This will also prepare your body for an interview. If you wear sweatpants, then your body will feel relaxed, your voice won’t project well, and your words won’t sound polished.

Wearing a shirt and tie makes it look like you are putting in the effort—and that can go a long way to getting hired at the company of your dreams!

Have your CV in front of you

In addition to having your portfolio or copies of your best work, it’s helpful to have a copy of your CV in front of you. Having quick access to details such as the dates you worked at previous jobs and the names of employers and colleagues can be crucial if the interviewer asks you an unexpected question.

Look them in the eye during the video interview

1. Look them in the eye (even if they’re not there)

Look at the camera. Even though this is a phone call, find a place where your camera can be placed at eye level and look in that direction while you’re talking. It will make you seem more friendly and open and it will help to ensure that you won’t be distracted by what’s going on around you during the call. Make sure to turn off the TV and keep young children out of the room with you (although sometimes we need to feed our kids, so if that happens, just pause for a minute and let them know why). If your voice begins to sound hollow or disconnected, walk around a little bit or sit on something other than your couch or bed so that your sounds are clearer.

2. Be prepared for technical issues

If possible, use headphones or earbuds so that any noise from outside doesn’t get picked up by the microphone on your phone. Also, use ethernet instead of Wi-Fi whenever possible; this helps improve connection quality and reliability for both parties on the call.

Read all the job descriptions so you know what they want

Take the job description seriously.

Sometimes you will see a job that looks so good for you and your experience, but this can be a bit misleading. It’s important to know what the employer wants before applying for the job, because if you don’t read carefully enough, it may not be possible to get an interview or even worse, get hired and realize that you are not able to do the work. The best way to avoid this is by reading over every word on the application or posting carefully and make sure that you understand exactly what they are asking for so there won’t be any surprises later down the road when it comes time for your interview!

Practice answers with friends

Practicing how you’ll answer questions is a crucial part of preparing for an interview. Interviewers tend to ask many of the same questions, so you can have your responses ready in advance. It’s helpful to practice answering both general interview questions (“tell me about yourself,” “what is your greatest weakness?”) as well as specific questions that relate to what’s on your résumé and application (if you’re applying for a job at a soccer team, be ready to explain why it says on your CV that you once played for the opposition). Asking friends and family members to play the role of the interviewer will help not only with your responses but also with other important aspects of an interview: body language, tone, rate of speech and enunciation, posture, eye contact, level of confidence while speaking. With enough practice, you’ll get comfortable with these factors and have more control over them when it comes time for the real deal.

Lookup the company online beforehand.

1. Look up the company on Wikipedia beforehand. In order to avoid looking dumber than you already are, it’s a good idea to at least look up the company and familiarize yourself with its claims to fame. Find out who the CEO is, what kind of field they’re in, where they’re based and any other information that might be useful. When you arrive for your interview, be sure to compliment them on the recent press release or product launch (that is if it was well-received; don’t bring up layoffs). If there have been any major shakeups recently, then make sure you know about them and have an informed opinion ready when asked.
2. Brush up on industry news at large. It doesn’t hurt to be aware of some recent headlines in your prospective employer’s industry as a whole. Don’t go overboard with this step — no need to spend hours reading through financial blogs — but it definitely wouldn’t hurt to seem like someone who pays attention and keeps abreast of current events relevant to one’s interests or career goals

Conclusion:

Looking presentable, doing research, and practicing will go a long way to doing well in an interview.

As a candidate, it’s your responsibility to do the research you need before your interview. Researching the job is crucial because you want to make sure that the right person gets hired and that the job is right for you. To accomplish this, read through the job description as well as any other information about the company online to learn about what it does and why you would be great for this position. You can also call one of their representatives to find out more information or ask when and where they are hiring if you’re not able to attend an open house in person.

At the interview, look presentable by wearing clothes that are appropriate for an office environment: business casual is normally fine (as long as there aren’t jeans or shorts) but dress shoes are always a good idea because most offices have rules about not wearing sneakers in their buildings. Also, remember that sometimes interviews might start at different times so be prepared to leave on time if they don’t seem as interested in seeing you once they realize how late it is getting. If possible, bring a book so that you can pass some time while waiting (and some extra copies of all your resume).

After the interview, give yourself credit for doing well. This means setting up a timeline with all of your interviewer’s contact info right away because by then you should know whether or not they are going to hire you! It also means sending them thank-you notes (both those who called back and those who did not). We hope these Interview tips help you prepare well for your next big meeting.

Click here for the latest job opportunities

Companies use acquisitions as a strategy for a various reasons. Some purchase others for tactical reasons like entry into new markets, products, or services. Others do it to obtain economies of scale, benefits, or portfolio diversification. Acquisitions can also be reactions to specific market changes to stay on top of the competition. Acquisitions tend to occur when the market starts offering new revenue opportunities and that’s why technological niches have a huge demand among every industry.

In recent times, the AI world has seen large-scale acquisitions within the niche. One of the latest ones being Microsoft Corp’s acquisition of the leading conversational AI Nuance Communications Inc. The AI is known to have intelligence across industries including healthcare, retail, financial services, and telecommunications, making it a huge acquisition.

And it isn’t specific to Microsoft alone. We take a closer look at other tech giants like Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple who have all adopted aggressive acquisition strategies in the last decade. Apple has made over 20 acquisitions since 2010, followed by Google which made 14 and Microsoft making 10 in what the world is seeing to be an AI race.

Google recently acquired the semiconductor IP company Provino Technologies, which develops interconnect protocols for consumer security appliances. Apple’s acquisition of the AI company RealFace led to the development of features like FaceID in iPhones. Facebook acquired a London-based computer vision start-up called Scape Technologies to build on its LiveMaps feature through an AI-driven AR and VR mapping. Amazon also acquired Zoox at an estimated deal of US$1.2 billion to develop on self-driving cars and revolutionise the company’s delivery infrastructure.

In fact, many of the products and services are being developed out of major AI acquisitions by the leading tech companies like Apple’s Siri and Google’s contribution to healthcare through DeepMind. Other top acquirers include crucial tech companies like Intel, IBM, Twitter, and Salesforce. That being said, these tech giants aren’t the only ones undertaking large-scale acquisitions in the AI world.

Since 2010, there have been more than 600 acquisitions by companies seeking to build on their AI capabilities. These large-scale acquisitions have been growing at an increasing rate, and it’s just the beginning. There is a growing diversity in acquirers. AI was once within the exclusive territory of the major tech giants but smaller start-ups are now becoming acquisition targets in the insurance, retail, and healthcare industries.

At the same time, the AI world is growing. The explosion of big data created a need for technology-based solutions to control, organise and analyse all the information that was beginning to collect. Companies thrive on huge amounts of data and acquiring AI deals allows for businesses to understand the data and make organisational decisions at a competitive pace.

Technological advancements are motivating tech giants and upcoming corporations to identify future breakthroughs to improve their goods and services for customers. Acquisition of AI is breaking through the barriers that otherwise held them back from reaching their maximum potential. The best tech minds are jumping at the chance to accelerate their product development, spanning their reach across billions of consumers and enterprises. As digital transformation accelerates, organizations across sectors are finding benefits in large scale acquisitions in the AI world and leading the AI race that the world is coming to see.

In my previous blog I concluded by saying, “In the new order of priority, automation is the way to empower people and move up the value chain.”

Continuing from there, the good news with anything that is good is that improvement is almost always round the corner.

Take Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for instance. It comes with the goodness of low cost, scalability, and the capability to process data at speeds that are far better than humanly possible.

However, RPA lacks cognition. RPA can only replicate pre-programmed, pre-configured commands and actions. And, in doing so, runs the inevitable risk of error magnification. Because RPA lacks the cognitive ability, it can, by way of repetition, amplify errors to the point where they become unmanageable and counterproductive.

The other limitation of RPA is that it is unable to read non-electronic, unstructured data inputs. This means, if you are trying to digitize paper-based documents, you would have to deploy other software and technologies that can work in tandem with RPA to scan documents before they can be processed using RPA.

This means evaluation, purchase, and implementation of a bridge software or technology that must be compatible with RPA and any other software that you may be currently using to digitize and structure data in a format that RPA can process.

Another drawback that one needs to be aware of is that RPA cannot read data that is disparate or in multiple formats. It will only read and process data in the one format that it has been trained to do. This can be extremely problematic and even unviable for, let’s say, a human resources department that wants to scan and shortlist hordes of CVs of candidates on the basis of a certain skill or pre-qualification or a pre-determined number of years of experience. RPA simply cannot do this because all the CVs would be in different formats and RPA is not suited to scan, read and process information that is in different formats.

The next time you click on a link to apply for a job and that link takes you to an elaborate and rather cumbersome form that contains multiple fields, dropdown menus, and restrictive formatting that feels like a labyrinth, and you are wondering why they just can’t let you upload a CV instead; this could probably be why.

A finance department would encounter a similar sort of challenge with RPA because for RPA variety is obviously not the way to go. Invoices submitted by vendors are often in so many different formats with relevant data fields to be found in varied places of the document. Invoices may also contain multiple line items. For RPA to read and process information of this nature, it must be in the exact same format with relevant data fields in the exact same spot. The only workaround to this would be to first determine and design a standard invoice format and then get all vendors and suppliers to toe the line by submitting their respective invoices in the same format. As impractical, long-drawn, and inefficient as this may sound, several organizations have actually designed and implemented these sorts of workarounds. In effect, it defeats the very purpose of automation and is counterproductive to cost and efficiency. Not to mention the nightmarish exercise that has to be undertaken each time a new vendor is on board or there is a process change.

All in all, RPA is a great tool to have in your armory if you are looking to increase productivity by automating routine tasks based on a set or sets of pre-defined rules. However, if you are looking for value that is to be gained by learning from experience, and not merely the power of voluminous repetition, you must look and think beyond RPA.

About the Author:

Bellinda D’Souza, Co-founder, and Chief Growth Officer, Finance Tech Unlimited.

Bellinda is a marketing professional with 20+ years of experience in content, B2B, and B2C marketing. As part of her role, she has been championing technology offerings for B2B and B2C target segments through her proficiencies of Digital and Non-digital platforms. She is passionate about AI and its possibilities to empower and offer a wide range of solutions, especially when combined with human brilliance.