Typically when people think of automation and customer service, they tend to think about experiences where humans have been replaced with machines, for example self-checkout at supermarket tills.

Here we are not talking about automation as a tool for replacing humans, but rather aiding them. RPA or Robotic Process Automation replicates desktop actions and allows a bot to carry these out at a faster rate, applying basic IF/THEN logic. The advantage of RPA is that it can sit on top of different systems and tie them together.

When applied to customer services; RPA can be directly tied into production planning systems and your email systems. This means it can go into an ERP system, look at a particular component, see its expected completion date, use simple IF/THEN logic to determine if the part is overdue. If the component is determined to be late then the bot can automatically log into an email, and generate a late notice to the customer.

You could also use automation to create live status reports, send delivery notes for documentation and follow up with automatic quality checks.

Bespoke problems require bespoke solutions. Each business has its own processes and way of doing things and so although below are some common ways in which RPA has been implemented into manufacturing firms the best way to find out if your process can be automated is simply to ask our team.