Blog Spain

Automation after confinement. Utopia or necessity?

Raquel Noé, Head of Smart Process

It is essential to support people technologically to enable them to carry out their most essential work, at both a professional and a personal level.

The confinement caused by the health crisis has made us realise that, while many believed that the digital transformation of companies was already over and that it was evolving into something different, this is actually not the case.

The fact is that we have all been “hacked”, not only at a health level but also at a technological level.

It has shown us how many improvements are still to be made to survive professionally in isolation and for companies to remain profitable if a similar situation occurs again.

The stronger our company’s alliance with technology, the better we will be able to deal with any situation that may arise, whether it be everyday or unusual.

A key point to consider in this situation is freeing people from everything that does not allow them to carry out their most essential work, to think and to devise how we can improve our existence.

If we consider all the different sectors that employ members of society, it is clear that none of them have managed to escape the impact of COVID-19.

But we must use the impact of what we have suffered not only to find solutions, but also ways to improve for the future.

If we consider the healthcare sector, for example, once the emergency is over we must focus on providing this sector with the tools they need to make their daily work more bearable. We need to do what we can to avoid these professionals getting buried under a mountain of paperwork (recording patients’ data, management of benefits, admission forms, etc.) so that they can focus on the patient, and to do so from a human perspective, which is something that machines cannot offer. It is essential to tackle major catastrophes, but also to leave time to improve both patient care and management.

The more efficient the health system is, the more time it will have to continue preparing for whatever may come.

As far as the education sector is concerned, we have seen how far we have to go to catch up with the corporate world when it comes to technology. Evolution is not even being talked about. In most cases, the transformation is only just beginning.

Furthermore, it is not only technological instability that is a factor to consider in the public sphere, but also those who invest to make their lives easier.

The simple act of sending report cards to parents has become a mammoth task, taking up a lot of time because we do not have the tools designed for this purpose. It is true, however, that until now it hasn’t been necessary. Here is a great place where automation can help, by making use of the same tools already in place within the school but operate by a bot, thus freeing up the teaching staff.

And the problems don’t only affect the educational side of schools, but also the economic and financial side. The management team, for example, has no time to devote to supporting parents or to developing improvements for educational projects because it is immersed in tedious and costly work related to bureaucratic issues. Automating interaction with the government’s internal management tools will provide them with this availability.

Another area that has been particularly affected by COVID-19 in a technological sense is the legal sector.

While this sector already has a telematic relationship with administration, this can still be improved through automation. For example, if they partially automate procedures related to regulatory employment measures, they can concentrate on explaining in detail the economic causes that have generated said measures, instead of being bogged down with endless administration tasks. As a result, they will be able to focus their efforts on defending the interests of their clients.

In summary, as I said at the beginning, all sectors have been affected by this crisis, and automation will not only help everyone overcome the situation in a financial sense, but it will also make it easier to recover the previous rhythm of work and even improve it.