“Ngern Tidlor” is strong in its leveraging of cutting-edge technology to propel the organization forward swiftly and efficiently. Everyone within the organization must be prepared at all times to keep pace and accelerate ahead while finding ways to enhance operational efficiency to match the organization’s rapid growth.
The Business Support and Central Service (BSCS) team is an example of a Smart Execution team which follows the philosophy “Smart Execution: Do More with Less”. The team is always prepared to learn and adapt to new technologies. The team's responsibilities include handling data and documents, creating reports by gathering them from various sources through repetitive processes.
This requires team members to spend hours on these tasks. The team's main role is backend support to ensure smooth operations of both branch and headquarters, including managing office equipment, overseeing branch expenses, and taking care of operational aspects related to vehicles for both branches and headquarters. These tasks are primarily administrative and involve repetitive processes. With the rapid expansion of Ngern Tidlor’s business and the continual opening of new branches, the workload for the BSCS department is inevitably escalating.
“As the workload increased, we wanted technology to help us work faster and more efficiently. However, the IT team was already overwhelmed with tasks, so we had to strive to develop ourselves and the team by exploring technologies that could be of assistance. Through initial research, we found that Robotic Process Automation (RPA) seemed to meet our needs. The A&D team then helped us by recommending instructors to teach our team.”
Working as a Team, Learning, and Experimenting Together
After completing a two-day basic training, the BSCS team began experimenting and learning by trial and error to write commands to create a BOT that could perform predefined tasks automatically with just one click.
“Each of us had regular tasks to handle, so we had to sacrifice our evenings or weekends to practice writing commands to become proficient. For example, dragging this icon and placing it here to make the BOT work in a specific way, or trying different commands to achieve different results. The first transaction we programmed the BOT to handle was rental payments, which usually involve around 2,000 transactions per month.”
The BSCS Team also told us about their experience of brainstorming together, leading to the conclusion that multiple heads are better than one.
“At the beginning, our ideas didn't align at all. However, the advantage was that when one person faced a roadblock, another would shed light on a solution for the team. For instance, suggesting a change in the icon placement allowed us to see different perspectives and methods for creating flows from others. Each flow could be written in various ways.
For example, my flow had 15 steps, while another person's had only 10, which might have missed some details. When combined, we ended up with a flow of around 12 steps, reducing some of my steps and incorporating commands from another person, resulting in a flow that addressed errors on all fronts. This made the BOT operate smoothly.
If we hadn't been open to accepting opinions of others or constructive criticism, the outcome might not have been as good, and we might have taken longer to create a fully functional BOT.
Another crucial lesson we learned is that making mistakes is okay because Ngern Tidlor permits us the license to fail. On the other hand, we are also encouraged to learn from those mistakes. The best way to learn is by 'trying.' If there are mistakes or errors, we fix them until the BOT operates smoothly.”
Finally, the BSCS team achieved impressive results. Within just half a month, they had their first operational BOT. Since then, they have been able to create a total of 24 BOTs, assisting in tasks ranging from checking product stock, extracting daily report data, managing office rent, receipts, electricity costs, transportation costs, and more. These BOTs have successfully reduced the working time by up to 5,340 minutes per month in just 11 months.
Ready to Move Forward, Building the Future with the Organization
“RPA has shown us the real benefits of technology in our work. It has made us more efficient, reduced time, and minimized errors. This has led us to start exploring other technologies such as ChatGPT and other AIs to further enhance the efficiency of our team. We won't stop here. ”
After talking with the BSCS team, it became clear that the success behind developing efficient BOTs and software doesn't just stem from determination or good insights. It also involves a well-planned journey and strong support from the organization that allows space for trial and error and the opportunity to learn new things.
Because no matter how advanced the technology is, without smart implementation, development, or innovation, that technology may not be beneficial.
AHA Moments from BSCS Team
"Writing a BOT is like teaching a person, but the difference is that when we successfully teach a BOT, it continues to work for us from the moment we finish teaching. It will never get sick, take leave, resign, or quit. We then transition from being someone who does the work to being the ones controlling the BOT to do the work for us, and continually developing it to become even more skilled.” Supachok Sangnorasri,
"I encourage everyone to dare to learn and use technology. Don't be afraid that it will replace our jobs, and someday if our work changes, we can teach it to change along with us.” Ananya Thulmala
"Don't think that what existed is the best. In the past, we thought using Excel was sophisticated, but once we opened our minds, we discovered there are things that make our work even more comfortable and efficient. There's always room for improvement.” Sugunya Pongchay
"The BOTs we created came to life because everyone opened their hearts, dared to think, dared to try, and dared to move forward.” Ekapach Sithitriwat
"RPA is just a starting point which helped us realize that we can do much more than we’d thought.” Tharintara Saetae