Can artificial intelligence (AI) be pulled in to achieve zero-touch? Possibly. However, creating, training, and launching an AI agent is very expensive and time-consuming.
Instead of focusing on what-ifs, this article covers how to turn zero-touch order fallout resolution into a reality. Benefits range from improved efficiency and quality to enhanced compliance and customer responsiveness. These advantages position companies to meet current demands and better adapt to future challenges and opportunities in the industry.
How to Achieve Zero-Touch Order Management
1: Streamline order management using business process automation
Business process automation (BPA) is the first step in achieving zero-touch order management. BPA can greatly improve the accuracy and efficiency of complex operational processes such as customer order processing, order fallout resolution recovery, service configuration, and provisioning.
The more you can automate the order management process, the more cost effective it will be. Reducing the dependency on manual labor and minimizing human error is crucial when speed and accuracy directly impacts the customer experience and your operational success.
2: Capture and analyze fallout
Fallout can happen for a number of reasons. By capturing and analyzing fallout data, you can begin to categorize and identify root causes. This proactive approach not only improves the overall quality of service but also significantly reduces the time and resources spent on rectifying errors.
3: Automate fallout resolution
Once you know why fallout occurs, you can begin to automate fallout resolution. This is a transformative approach to handling order discrepancies and errors.
Zero-touch fallout resolution automatically identifies and rectifies order processing errors. Unlike traditional methods that rely heavily on human oversight, zero-touch systems are programmed to detect and resolve errors in real-time. As a result, problems can be swiftly addressed, often before they impact the customer experience.
4: Integrate with other systems
Once you complete fallout analysis, you may find that to fully address fallout, you need to retrieve data from another system that isn't currently integrated, such as your CRM, billing system, and/or network management tools.
This integration, often using API integrations, keeps information flowing and operations synchronized for a consistent, high-quality customer experience.
We often find that companies need to upgrade their IT infrastructure, invest in compatible software solutions, and ensure robust data security measures first. The integration must also be flexible enough to adapt to evolving technologies and scalable to accommodate future growth.
5: Incorporate security and compliance
Incorporating security policies and regulatory compliance into an order management system is necessary to reach zero-touch automation. Once security loopholes are identified, you can greatly reduce the potential for security breaches by implementing corrective actions like software security updates and industry standard best practices.
Consistently implementing industry regulations and standards across the system will also keep you compliant with all requirements and industry best practices.
Challenges and Solutions When Implementing Zero Touch Fallout Resolution
Implementing zero-touch fallout resolution is not without its challenges. One of the primary hurdles is the complexity of order management systems and the multiple permutations of orders and services they handle.
Developing software that can accurately understand and address this complexity requires significant expertise, data analysis, and fallout categorization. You may need to upgrade your systems and software and thus allocate part of your budget for technology upgrades, software procurement, and possibly for training staff to work with the new systems.
To address these layers of complexity, companies can adopt a phased implementation approach, starting with optimizing simpler processes and gradually moving to more complex tasks. Collaborating with technology partners and vendors experienced in order management optimization can provide the necessary expertise and support. Furthermore, investing in staff training and change management is crucial for a smooth transition to a more streamlined system.
Tracking and analyzing fallout is another massive challenge. We find that many organizations don’t document the workflow with enough detail, so when fallout occurs, no one is quite sure where it happened.
The solution is simple but time-consuming: Diagram the workflow so each step is clear. During this exercise, you may find that subprocesses and expected outcomes need to be developed. Once you have this in place, you’ll know where and why fallout occurred.
Another area where the devil is in the details is process flow. If you lack detailed logging for orders and/or messages, analysis of inevitable fallout will be difficult. To analyze fallout, log where the order traffic enters a process step and what happens to it inside that step. Add checks to confirm the process works as expected and log when the order or message moves to the next step.
A clear and consistent set of business rules that are followed at the beginning of the process flow can help ensure that data entering the system is as accurate and complete as possible. This step alone can help eliminate fallout. For example, a business rule may state that an order must use specific abbreviations for a customer address (Street must be St., Boulevard must be Blvd.) because a downstream system uses that abbreviation during fulfillment. Business rules can catch and fix a problem early.
The final challenge we commonly see is managing or planning for known or anticipated network outages. If an integrated system has scheduled downtime for system maintenance, any orders placed while the system is temporarily unavailable will fall out. Likewise, if an unexpected outage occurs with an interconnected system, orders will fall out.
The best way to prevent fallout during known downtime is having a system that will hold and queue orders placed during that time. When the system is back up, it can resume sending orders into the process flow based on the time they went into the queue. This can be scheduled or done manually when a system outage is discovered. Or, if there’s a blip in the network, a system that can automatically reflow orders without human intervention is a big plus.
Zero-touch fallout resolution is an ambitious yet achievable goal. The path to achieving this involves careful planning, investment in the right technologies, and a commitment to continuous improvement and innovation.
Feasibility Considerations
To determine the feasibility of making the leap to zero-touch order management, it is important to weigh various use cases that influence its implementation and potential success.
Long-Term Cost Savings: One of the most compelling arguments for zero-touch order management is the prospect of long-term cost savings. By optimizing order management processes, companies can significantly reduce the labor costs associated with manual order processing and error correction.
However, these savings must be balanced against the initial investment in analytical tools and custom software development. The calculation of mid-term savings (over three to five years) should take into account not just direct cost reductions but also indirect savings from improved efficiency and reduced error rates.
Efficiency Gains: Streamlining operations reduces the time taken from order placement to fulfillment. This efficiency is achieved through faster processing, elimination of manual bottlenecks and human errors, and the ability to handle larger volumes of orders without proportional increases in resources. These gains must be quantified in terms of order processing times, throughput, and the ability to manage peak demand periods.
Customer Satisfaction Improvements: In most industries, customer satisfaction is closely tied to the speed and accuracy of service delivery. Zero-touch order fallout resolution can enhance customer experiences by providing faster, more reliable service, and reducing the incidence of order-related errors. The impact on customer service operations and satisfaction can be measured through metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS), customer retention rates, and customer feedback.
Competitive Advantages: Zero-touch automation allows for more agile and responsive services, adapts quickly to market changes, and innovates in service delivery. The competitive advantage gained can be assessed in terms of market share, brand reputation, and the ability to attract new customers.
Calculating ROI of Human Intervention vs. Automation
A thorough ROI calculation provides a clear picture of the financial viability of this transition, supporting informed decision-making for companies contemplating these advancements to operations.
To calculate the Return on Investment (ROI) of transitioning from human intervention to automatic fallout intervention in order management, several factors must be considered:
- Initial Investment: This includes costs related to purchasing and implementing analysis and software technologies, upgrading existing systems, and training staff.
- Operational Cost Reductions: Calculate the savings from reduced manual labor, lower error rates, and decreased need for rework or error correction.
- Productivity Improvements: Consider the increased order processing capacity and the potential for scaling operations without significant cost increases.
- Quality and Compliance Improvements: Factor in the value of improved compliance with regulations and quality standards, which can reduce legal and operational risks.
- Customer-Related Gains: Estimate the financial impact of growth in customer satisfaction, such as increased customer retention, higher customer lifetime value, and potential new customer acquisition. Faster and reliable turnaround for customer grievances also increase customer acquisition, retention, and satisfaction.
The ROI can be calculated using this formula:
ROI = Total Benefits − Total Costs x 100%
Total Costs
In this use case, “Total Benefits” includes operational cost reductions, productivity improvements, and customer-related gains, while “Total Costs” includes the initial investment and ongoing planning and operational expenses of the optimized system.
Automation can deliver significant rewards
It is clear that while the journey toward complete automation is complex and multifaceted, potential rewards are significant.
We encourage you to consider how evaluating order fallout resolution ROI, particularly through the lens of "improved flow-through rate," can uncover the necessary balance between human costs and investment in BPA.
While achieving zero fallout resolution or entirely replacing human intervention may not always be possible or yield sufficient ROI, the strategic integration of increased automated order fallout resolution alongside BPA can propel your operations toward unprecedented efficiency and optimal customer service.
