Processes automation in the control center: the answer to maximize efficiency and productivity
Productivity, efficiency and effectiveness. Three words that define the same objective: profitability.
If there is something that all companies have in common, it is their search to achieve the best results with the minimum effort and the least expenditure of their assets, but once the appropriate processes have been established, the adequate tools have been implemented and the precise orders have been given, little else can be done for asset maximization. Thus, the corporations themselves are left without ideas or resources to increase the effectiveness of the tasks carried out by employees or the processes already established, so they settle and assume that they will not be able to advance to reach 100% of their executive capacity.
But, is it possible to go one step further and achieve goals never before imagined? Perhaps not with the known tools that the market offers, but with new advanced technologies that allow the automation of processes that, in many cases, are more tedious and less profitable.
When resources are scarce, one of the most common options that companies resort to improve their profitability is the reduction of recurring tasks that take up the most time for workers, usually thinking that they do not offer any benefit. However, this can be a mistake since it can have a negative impact on general operations and report more expenses than savings. New cutting-edge technologies allow the automation of these tasks, providing improvements in the company's productivity by directing the most valuable resources -the people- to other tasks. In this way, the commitment to cutting-edge technology will always be synonymous of success for the company.
If it is thought about the organization of any company, any department or any area, there is a large number of internal processes that can be automated both fully and partially, saving costs in those areas and allowing new challenges to be addressed with greater agility and skill. For example, in the case of the finance and accounting department, it can be considered automating the expense system, transportation or accommodation reservations, and even invoice management, also being able to obtain more accurate budgets and avoid financial inconveniences in a more agile and efficient way. This will cause resources to be allocated to other tasks that do require human logic for their development at that precise moment.
And in the control center, how is automation applied?
Control, management and action times in a critical environment are essential for maximizing effectiveness in the response to any event. In these cases, reducing the execution time of certain actions by automating orders on previously defined scenarios, which would otherwise be given by operators, would be crucial to allocate human resources to other more unexpected scenarios.
The configuration and parameterization of the scenarios or events that cause these changes in the work environment is very simple using advanced tools such as GESAB's APITool, since, unlike other applications on the market, it does not require programming knowledge to establish automatic orders. Without the need of a specialist technician, a system administrator with the minimum training provided by the GESAB team could carry it out through the user interface itself. How is it possible? Because the actions that will occur in the environment simply have to be connected with the triggers that will cause them. The automation of procedures that consume the time of operators that they could dedicate to other more operational tasks will be defined by those responsible for the control center who will include it in the tool.
Thus, in a control room that manages emergency situations where changes in the environment are defined, having automatic executions based on behavioural patterns helps to optimize processes and for operators to function more agilely, dedicating attention to the aspects emerging in these critical events and not in the usual ones.
For example: in a customs or airport control center it can be set different alarms caused by the metal detector, automate the validation of a type of documentation that will lead to the opening of doors or integrate automatic alarms with the fire department. And motion sensors can be integrated into an industrial security control center that will cause alarms if detected.
Automation as a synonym for profit
In companies where there is maturity in repetitive processes and documentation or detailed knowledge of them is available, the use of an automation application will be synonymous with benefits for their results. Due to specific situations where many of the tasks are carried out by people will be optimized, human resources will be allocated to less repetitive and more beneficial tasks for the company.
Any business scenario in multiple business areas can be reproduced and optimized, with GESAB's APITool being a tool that supports in a simple way and with a friendly interface the possibility of seeking efficiency by adapting to changes to address new business challenges.
Although not only the automation of processes and tasks is essential for optimizing the efficiency of the critical environment, having a universal management platform will be essential. A manager that saves predefined sessions based on the position, allows control of a multitude of sources, facilitates the generation of various grids according to the needs of the operator's position or manages alerts and notices as a priority will maximize the productivity of the control center and, therefore, consequently, profitability.
The appropriate selection of advanced tools will lead to reaching 100% of the capacity of any critical environment, or of companies in any other sector, by optimizing the tasks of workers, as well as their effort and concentration, being able to ignore those events that, due to repetitiveness, are managed automatically.
