Overcoming 3 Key Operational Challenges During the Pandemic
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Ahead of his upcoming session at the 9th Shared Services & Outsourcing Week China, we spoke with Yuqi Zhan, AECOM's Former Head of Process Excellence & Transformation. In this interview, Yuqi talked us through the key survival tactics and growth objectives being deployed to maintain service delivery and to excel through the disruption.
Yuqi's interview is also featured in recent report The Future of Flexible Work in China’s Shared Service Centres.
Q: Hi Yuqi. Can you tell us about AECOM's approach to tackling the disruption over this past year in China, and how you plan to futureproof your operations?
A: Many difficulties arose for businesses because of the pandemic. Below are some key issues we encountered and how we reacted vs our digitalisation solution:
Problem #1: Fewer people working on routine and time-sensitive tasks, such as closing.
Solution: 30+ RPA robots were implemented to cover most of the high-volume, tedious and transactional base processes. We anticipate that over 6000 hours could be saved per year.
Problem #2: Less face-to-face contact, reducing the effectiveness of communications.
Solution: Standardising more processes and automating them end-to-end – but only the ones that were logical and meaningful in terms of generating a return on investment. For example, an automated timecard adjustment tool was implemented, which streamlined whole processes including data consolidation and validation, and report generation.
Problem #3: Offline process rely on hard copies to walk through the whole process.
Solution: We designed and implemented and online tool similar to Power Automate/SharePoint. This eliminated the need for all hard copies used for applications and approval.
Q: And how do you envisage the future of flexible work within both Chinese and global shared service centres?
Flexible work will be surely the trend to keep talent and maintain employee satisfaction rates. With the right setup and infrastructures in place, staff can now work from almost anywhere.
- Most tasks of a transactional nature will be done by robots, meaning less requirement to be on site. This makes human ‘working from anywhere’ (WFA) more acceptable and feasible.
- Teamwork will be more advanced, smarter and cheaper, makes it easier and more effective.
- Circumstances surrounding culture, family, status, age and many other factors can now be accommodated for as work becomes more flexible.
Keen to hear more from Yuqi? Join him and many other key speakers at the upcoming 9th Shared Services & Outsourcing Week China - click here to register.
