BPM is not going anywhere, It is here to live and conquer the enterprise - Part II

Continuing our discussion from the last post, here is what I think is the fundamental difference between a BPM and a RPA

RPA is a short term solution to readily integrate new or old technologies at greater speed and lower cost while you continue with your BPM initiatives which can be thought of as incremental steps delivered in frequent and small doses, as opposed to "big bang" technology changes.

Basically, RPA implementation can be a part of your ongoing BPM strategy, where you are able to cut costs till the time your BPM initiative goes live.

Let me explain this using an example.

Suppose there is an Insurance company who wants to improve and optimize their Claims Settlement Process. After assessing their existing claims settlement process they find that a "Clerk" receives intimation of claims in an excel sheet from different branches everyday in the morning. What he has to do is open the legacy system and data enter those claims. Once data is entered, he has to trigger a mail to branches with the same excel sheet populated with the Claim Numbers generated in the legacy system. Once claim number is generated it is sent for further processing.

A BPM tool will integrate with the email server and legacy system to initiate the process, then provide a workflow to manage end to end claims settlement process. Developing such an application might take some time and will also be dependent on the organizational dynamics e.g. project governance, interaction between different teams, change management etc.

But in the whole process we can definitely reduce the work of that "Clerk" by replacing it by "Bots" provided by RPA. What that Clerk does is just a redundant and mundane work without need of a subjective judgement. Using RPA tools we can automate this task and go live in no time. And when our BPM application is ready we don't need that  "bot" or say the "Clerk" as BPM would take care of integrations and initiation of claims along with other activities.

When an organization implements a BPM, they are kind of trying to change the way people work in their daily lives. People are introduced with new applications, new tools which help them manage their daily work in a better and efficient way. e.g. A good claims process in any insurance company can replace the old physical files on desk with a digital application which makes it easier for an under-writer to route it to proper channels (fraud department, medical check etc) for further inquiries and get a feedback before taking any subjective decision. This will enhance the quality of decision making, speed up the claims settlement time and finally provide a better experience to the customers of the company. More or less that is what a BPM does, enable people to do quality work. Developing such process takes a significant amount of time as it involves identifying the process, defining it, streamlining it, choosing the right tool to do it, identifying the integration points and finally develop an application around it. Once the development is done there is also a need of user training and change management and once introduced, it might be a disruptive change for the users as well as the IT Systems.

However, when an organization implements RPA, what primarily they do is find out what are the redundant and mundane work done by a "human" in the existing process, what are the tasks they perform daily which are based on rules rather than subjective judgement. If they are able to identify such tasks they take help of RPA to create  a "Virtual Workforce" (bots) to perform them in a non-disruptive way. i.e. as an organization you are still following the processes defined by experts, only change is while defining the process you take automation into the perspective, you try to identify the areas which are redundant and/or can be done using robots.

As we all know human resource is costly and they should be engaged to do what they do best like solving unstructured and new problems, interacting with customers. It is better to replace non-human activities with bots thus taking robot out of a human.

In the end I would say both these tech are exciting ones. Irrespective of the differences that exists, I am sure in future both of these will converge to a single technology just like it has happened for "BPM" & "Workflow" in past.

I hope my post helps you get some insight into BPM and RPA both.

BPM is not going anywhere, It is here to live and conquer the enterprise - Part I

Recently I joined a big organization (read fortune 500 company) as a BPM/BPA consultant. As a BPM/BPA consultant, my primary job is to improve efficiency of existing business processes, streamline unstructured processes and make fundamental changes to how the users work in their day to day life.

Throughout my career I've implemented numerous examples of BPM/BPA. I've seen how a good BPM/BPA implementation can cut down operational costs, give managers better control of their processes and reduce wastage of human resource and a bad BPM/BPA implementation can become an overhead on top of existing human resource & create chaos across the organization.

However, this post is not about the pros and cons of a BPM implementation. It is about what will happen to BPM in a post RPA world?

Let me start with the definition of RPA to make it easier to understand this tech. RPA stands for "Robotic Process Automation". What RPA primarily does is take the robot out of human i.e. it automates the redundant work done by you and let you concentrate on more important work. Sounds cool, right? Yes it is, it definitely is a cool thing and the data suggests it is currently saving many million dollars across the industry (Nasscom Blog)

Recently, the company got involved with few vendors who were offering RPA. People who are directly dealing with this tech seems to be very enthusiastic about the implementation and the possibilities which comes along with it. This has created a lot of noise around the technology and people have starting raising doubts on the survival of old systems as well as cutting of jobs across the organization due to the RPA implementation.

Last week we were on a team lunch and one of the colleague asked what will happen to BPM post RPA world. The question seems to be valid from his point of view as much of the work done in this company is driven by the BPM tools and most of the processes (including invoicing, vendor management, payments, procurement etc) are already following best practices of a BPM and are pretty efficient. If RPA comes, these processes are going to be obsolete or at-least automated and no or very little human involvement will be required to do an invoicing or to process a payment.

At the first glance, it does seem that RPA is going to disrupt BPM tech, making is obsolete in the near future. However, if you look closely, you will find it is not true, it can not replace BPM, it can not offer what BPM does, in-fact, RPA is going to support & strengthen BPM and eventually it will become a sub-set to BPM.

Since RPA is still a very new technology for enterprise and many people doesn't have any idea what exactly it does, people often get confused between the fundamental different between an RPA and a BPM.

To Be Continued...

Note:
BPM: Business Process Management
BPA: Business Process Automation
RPA: Robotic Process Automation

In search of the cheapest international calling plans from Malaysia

After spending almost an entire month in searching for this, I am finally giving up on my dream of finding an unlimited International Direction Dial calling (IDD) plan from Kuala Lumpur. But in the process I've got enough knowledge to educate different options available for IDD. So, this post is dedicated to the telecommunication industry of Malaysia.

There are primarily five Mobile operators in Kuala Lumpur (KL) region, and none of them (mind it) has full coverage in the entire of KL. Call drop, Signal loss are common for all the networks. Sometimes it is due to the location (basement of a mall, metro station, at higher levels of buildings e.g. at 78th floor in twin towers) and sometimes it is because of the poor network.

Apart from the mobile operators there are many options of VOIP calling as well. After my research I found there are two types of VOIP calling available. In one you need to have an internet or wifi connection to call a mobile phone in India, while in another you don't need wifi or internet, just a phone with local calling facility. It seems they re-route the call from some local number to the international numbers. But given that even the local calls in Malaysia are not cheap, second option becomes pretty expensive.

Following table summarizes all the options and their calling rates to India

	Provider	Rates (RM)	Rate(Rs/Min)
	Mobile Operators
	Maxis	0.58 RM/240 sec	2.17
	Digi	0.08 RM/60 sec	1.20
	Hotlinks	0.06 RM/30 sec	1.80
	Umobile	0.06 RM/30 sec	1.80
	Celcom	0.64 RM/60 sec	9.60
	Xpax	0.06 RM/30 sec	1.80
	Yes 4g	0.44 RM/60 sec	6.60
	Voip Providers
	Viber Out	0.10 RM/60 sec	1.50
	Google Voice	0.01 USD/60 sec	0.65
	Skype	0.015 USD/60 sec	1.00
	Vonage	0.05  USD/60 sec	3.21
	GrooVe	0.02  USD/60 sec	1.00
	1-voip		NA
	Phonepower	0.031 USD/60 sec	2.00
	Voipo	0.02 USD/60 sec	1.30

From the table above one can clearly see that "Google Voice" is the cheapest option available as of now. As soon as I found this out, I purchased the credits for Google Voice and till now, I am quite satisfied with its service. I'll dedicate a seperate post for Google Voice later.

Google My Maps - An awesome product with endless possibilities

Wouldn't it be exciting if you were able to put events, places, people along with their timeline at one place or diagram? It will be a thousand times more understandable than to read it out on the text book and then remember all of them.  From my childhood days I've always wondered if it would be possible to learn history along with the actual location where those events have occurred.

I've always believed that a sense of direction and place gives better understanding and helps you remember the facts quickly. I've always liked Geography. It was my favorite subject in childhood but somehow I was not able to pursue anything in the field. I couldn't imagine how easier it would have been for me to learn Geography if I would have google maps at that time. It is a proven fact that when you learn by visualizing, you tend to remember it longer.

Recently I came across My Maps and I can't imagine the endless possibilities it gives you to learn and explore in a visual way. I created a simple route map for the famous Dandi March. I've added just one layer for the route, we can add another layer where we can specify the timeline and then another layer for people who joined at a particular place. I mean you can just take the whole story from the past and create a visualization on the maps. What could be a better way of looking into the History with a visual map? Have you ever learned History that way? Wouldn't it be easier?

History is just one of the numerous examples where you can utilize My Maps. Take another example, lets say you want to understand the public transport system in an area, what will you do? Go to wikipedia and read all of it. Will you be able to remember the number of lines or the major stations or say the kind of transports available? Certainly not.  I tried to understand the railway network of Kuala Lumpur using my maps and created a Rail Route map for KL. Instantly this map gives lot more information than the static maps or the text readings on wikipedia.

The possibilities are endless, we just need to figure out where and how to use this product. If you haven't came across this, do give it a try.

Happy Mapping :-)

How Vodafone's Advertising campaign depicts beauty of a middleware platform

Recently I got Tata Sky installed at my home and yes Television is a big distraction, its eating up more than 2 hours per day from my 24 hours. But, Of course I wanted it. :-)

The point here is not Tata Sky or the television, but the stuff I saw on the television last weekend. Browsing through the channels, I came across an advertisement by "Vodafone". And as a middleware and  ESB enthusiast it just amazed me how well that campaign fits into our world of Information technology, where business are struggling to have the kind of setup Vodafone has shown. Have a look on the ad first...

The message is simple, this guy had a few instruments which he was able to play separately one by one in the village, but nobody noticed his talent. He might have been good at all the instruments individually, but all of those has lost their charm for the villagers. Finally he decided to revamp the whole idea and converted those instruments into a single set-up, which can be played together, result?? beautiful music came out of the set-up. Villagers started listening to the wonderful music and he got money for his living.

This advertisement finds a perfect analogy for the businesses running around the world. The GUY is the business user (or say business) who has to work on different processes (instruments) or say on multiple screens, (e.g. SAP, HRMs, Legacy Systems)  on any ordinary day. It was becoming increasingly difficult for him to work on them separately and for his customers (Villagers) it was adding no value.

What he did was "Integration" i.e. integrated all the chunks (instruments) using some mechanism (middleware) and created a consolidated view (one single instrument) of all the processes which enabled him to attract the customers (Villagers). Basically he increased the efficiency of all the processes by putting them together in a single set-up.

Being a BPM & ESB consultant, I felt good. Definitely we are adding some value to our customers and even Vodafone says that :-)

i wish...

i wish i would be an artist,
i could portray your beauty on my canvas..
and look at it when u r not around..

and color your life just as my sketchs...



i wish i would be a poet
i could write my feelings in a poem..
and whisper it to you when u r alone..

and capture the echos of your heart forever...



i wish i would be a singer
i could sing a song for our dreams..
and bring u back to our world of innocence..

and let symphony of my voice kiss away your pain...



i wish i would be a joker
i could prank myself when u r sad..
and give u some of the happiest moments...

and cheer u up for the rest of your life..



i wish i would be the GOD
i could anticipate ur desires..
and never let you resent me..

and make ur every wish come true...

Tirupati Tour : Andhra Pradesh Tourism Package

Just came back from Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams. Here goes my travelogue :-)

Recently my parents were in town, I wanted to take them to the famous Tirumala Temple situated in Tirupati. It is around 650 Kms from Hyderabad. Initially it was quite confusing, as everyone was giving different suggestion on how to go, where to stay etc etc. I was totally confused on what to do as there were no tickets available for the temple, even the bus tickets prices were high. I did not have any idea of the lodging and food in Tirupati. But Finally the trip was a success, thanks to APTDC.

Why Triupati ?

Quoting wikipedia "The temple is the richest pilgrimage centre, after the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, of any faith (at more than INR 500 billion) and the most-visited place of worship in the world." i.e. to feel the rich heritage of ancient India one should at least go once to this place. And the story behind this temple is simply described in the following video

Booking the ticket

I booked a ticket from APTDC website on Monday and took the tickets for Wednesday. You've to register on their website and search for the packages available in "Enquiry/Reservation" section. Sadly there is no phone number given on the website for the enquiry but I was impressed with the chat facility (bottom right side of the page) provided on their website. It gives correct information about whatever you ask. I took 3 days tour package which was suppose to start from Hyderabad on Wednesday evening and drop me back to Hyderabad on Friday morning. Unfortunately, there were not enough bookings for Wednesday so they cancelled the tour and informed me on Tuesday evening further they gave me two options

1.  Cancel the trip and full money will be refunded to my account. 
2.  Go for the booking on next day I was made assure that they have sufficient no of bookings for Thursday, so there is no chances of cancellation. 

I opted for the second one. There are no phone numbers given on the website, so it might become difficult for you to contact them. The numbers I called for these bookings and confirmations etc is : 04066745986


Day 1 - Hyderabad to Tirupati :

We reached at APTDC's Kukatpally pick up location at 5:00 PM. There was nice seating arrangement to wait for the bus. Receptionist was polite and he confirmed my seat after checking my ticket. And yes, don't forget to print the tickets which will be mailed to your mailbox as soon as you book the ticket. At around 5:15 the Bus arrived, It was a Mercedes and in very good condition.

Bus started at exactly 5:30 and stopped at two more pick up location before leaving Hyderabad. At around 10:00 PM bus stopped at "Hotel Delhi Darbar" on the highway for dinner. The restaurant was good and the dinner costs 250 INR for three people.

Day 2 - Tirupati

We reached Tirupati at 7:00 AM next day, as soon as we entered the city guide "Mr. Reddy" hop on to the bus, woke us up and explained plan for the day. Guide was very good and patient while answering questions. Bus stopped at Srinivas Guest House, and rooms were allotted 2 person in one room. Since we were three we were given only one room, but later, I was given a separate room alone. Rooms were clean and tea facility was there, however they charge 10 rs per cup and some tip to the waiter.

1 hour time was given for to freshen up, after that, guide instructed us to keep all our luggage in the BUS except mobile/wallet/purse and have breakfast at a near by restaurant. It costs around 70-80 rs for the breakfast. We started at around 10:00 PM for Tirumala Hills by a local transport bus (Non Ac). View of Tirumala hills while the bus climbs up was awesome.

On reaching top, guide instructed us to keep our mobile/camera at a shop. It charges 10 rs per item (mobile/camera). You can carry your wallet/hand-bags with you inside the temple. Next, he asked if someone wants extra "Laddus". If you want extra "Laddus" you can give 50/- rs per Laddu to guide, which can be received along with the two free Laddus (which is included in the ticket) after the darshan. Guide arranges for the 300/- rs ticket (included in the package) and we went in a queue. Since it was a friday, we finished darshan within 1 hr and we were free by 2:00 PM. After darshan, we collected our mobile/camera did some photography on the hill top and then started for the Tirupati city to visit Padmavati Temple. Before visiting the Padmavati Temple, guide took us to a restaurant for the lunch. The restaurant was good with excellent food. They have Thaali as well as chiness and other indian foods. I ordered fried rice and Manchurian, which was tasty. Food costs around 150 rs per head.

After the lunch, we went to visit Padmavati Temple, and then we started our journey back to Hyderabad. In between the bus stops at APTDC's own restaurant for dinner. Food was cheap and good. It costs 200 for three people. We reached Hyderabad next morning 7:00 AM.