ncet tech bite - keith anderson, office automation - august 2015

Trinity Applied Internet PHONE: 775.473.9857595 Double Eagle Ct. 2001www.trinity-ai.comReno, NV 89521

Leveraging Automation in your Business

NCET Tech Bite Presentation from Trinity Applied InternetWednesday, August 26, 2015

Keith Anderson | [email protected] | @keith_anderson

mailto:[email protected]


Keith Anderson

Web Developer (Since 1997)

Love to cook

Father of three

All around geek


IntroductionTrinity Provides:

Custom eCommerce Websites

Online Product Catalogs

Product Inventory Databases

Product Configuration Applications


Automation?


Tools for defining processes and identifying problems.

Simple automation services.

Examples using simple automation.

Tips for implementing change.

What Are We Going to Cover?


Six Sigma ConsultantLean Manufacturing Expert

Researcher

Business Process Automation (BPA)The strategy a business uses to automate processes in

order to contain costs.

Entrepreneur

Web and software architect

Years of learning from clients

Practical Experience


Then VS Now15-20 Years Ago

Data siloed.All integrations were custom.

Now (<3 years)

Data more available.Integration frameworks available.

PurchasingMarketing

SalesOperations


Application Programming Interface…a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. An API expresses a software component in terms of its operations, inputs, outputs, and underlying types.

…programming instructions and standards for accessing a web-based software application. A software-to-software interface, not a user interface.

What is an API?


• What is your process?• What is the real problem?• Let’s get to the technology!• Remember:

Process


Examples of States of Process

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Success!Step 4 Step 5 Step 6 Step 7

Successful (Manual) Process Defined - WIN



Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Success ?Step 4 Step 5 Step 6 Step 7

The Process Gone Awry (That Keeps You Up at Night)



Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Success!Step 4 Step 5

The Limited Intervention* Process

We made a small change to impact efficiency here.

*My own term, there are undoubtedly many others…


Goal: Increase Rotary Club Member RetentionObjective: Send Reminders to Members Who Miss Meetings.

Steps:1. Take attendance. (5 min.)2. Make list of missing members. (5 min.3. Find addresses of missing members. (15 min.)4. Hand write out “we miss you” postcards. (30 mins.)5. Mail postcards. (5 mins.)

Total time: 1 hour

Result: Members reminded that we are thinking about them.

Simple, Effective Manual Process


Goal: Increase Member RetentionObjective: Send Reminders to Members Who Miss Meetings.

Steps:1. Take attendance using excel spreadsheet with member names

and addresses. (5 min)2. Push list of missing members to label printer. (1 min)3. Label and sign “we miss you” postcards. (10 mins)4. Mail postcards. (5 mins)

Total time: 21 minutes.

Result: Members reminded that we are thinking about them.

65% increase in efficiency.

Limited Intervention Improvement


Identifying Failure


Where Should I Start?


Where Does It Hurt?

Start with the problem.

Talk with your customers.

Talk with your team.

Review your metrics.

Role-play your transactions.


Your Team

Ask for help – Go to for advice – Listen - Acknowledge


Addressing the Problem

You are right!

Big

Expensive

Scary

Difficult

Impossible


That order was two weeks late.

It sat on my desk for 12 days.

No one else knew about it.

Order notifications go only to me.

I don’t know how to change that.

Need some Help Desk support.

Time for the “5 Whys”


Rinse and Repeat

Why does that challenge exist?

Focus on the issue

Dig Deeper

What don’t we know?

Biggest Challenge

Break Down the Problem


New releases for products are always late.Delays in manufacturing, product data flow blocked, packaging delayed. It takes us forever to update the product spec sheets.

Each one has to be created individually.

They are built in InDesign.That is just the way we do it.

Only 15% of the data is unique from product to product.

Example: Big Problem


Are there parts that happen before our process?What happens after our process?What is a process map? A graphic understanding of a process, which can be followed like a roadmap.

Define the Process

Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5Step 1

Each step could have its own process map.


Example Process Map


Finally – Solutions!

Where do we need a solution?

What is our solution?

How do we implement?


Evaluate and Refine: Make it Better

Plan

Implement

MeasureAdjust

Implement

Cycle must have a timeframe.


Roadblocks You Don’t Expect

Bad Data Broken Processes Waste

New Ideas

Resistance


Integration Tools: API Automation & More


What is wrong?It is taking too long to respond to leads.

Old Process:1. Lead calls, leaves voice message.2. Variable amount of time passes.3. Sales rep calls him/her back…4. Possible: Sales rep adds lead to CRM.5. Possible: Sales rep shares lead with other

reps.6. Possible: Sales rep schedules meetings.

Example Sales Automation Integration


1. Lead calls, virtual assistant takes message.

2. Message emailed to sales rep.

3. Email filter labels message and places it in a special folder.

4. Zapier checks folder, if it finds a message:1. Posts message to sales channel in Slack.2. Posts message as lead in CRM.

5. Member of sales team calls lead back right away.

6. Team member adds notes to lead in CRM.

New API Assisted Process


1. Lead calls, virtual assistant takes message.

2. Message emailed to sales rep.

3. Email filter labels message and places it in a special folder.

4. Zapier checks folder, if it finds a message:

Posts message to sales channel in Slack so everyone can see it. Posts message as lead in CRM. Texts sales team via GroupMe.

5. Member of sales team posts in Slack sales channel with a reference to the @schedule Slack bot.

6. @schedule Slack bot checks the team member’s calendar, blocking out two possible times/dates for meetings, and direct messages the dates/times to the team member to suggest during his/her call.

7. Member of sales team calls lead back right away and schedules meeting.

8. Member of sales team adds notes to lead in CRM.

Phase 2 API Assisted Process


More Examples/Inspiration

Get Legacy Data Out of Its Silos• Mount AWS s3 Storage as a drive to your old system server.• Use the s3 API and Zapier to grab it and push it to email, Google Docs, your website.

Dynamically Offer Cart Suggestions Based on Your CRM Data• Consumable product is ordered.• Order is logged in a CRM (like Infusionsoft.)• After a set amount of time, a marketing automation tool (like Active Campaign)

automatically adds a flag to that customer order in your CRM.• Next time the customer logs in, your website queries the CRM API, and offers a

discounted refill.

Submit Materials Orders via … DropBox• Local coffee shop runs out of blueberry muffins.• POS System API (Square or Shopify) pushes via Roost a “0” count inventory

notification to Dropbox.• Bakery’s IfThisThenThat checks DropBox at 4pm daily, sees order and adds it to the

next morning’s order.


Questions?

Questions?


Thank You!

ncet tech bite - keith anderson, office automation - august 2015

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