Why A Digital Workforce Requires a New Mindset

Pascal BakerBlog

Previously we considered the questions: “What does your business do?” and “What are the goals of your business?” To follow these, a further crucial question must be asked: "Do your processes and goals align with the demands of your clients?" Whether your customers are internal or external, you will be delivering ‘outcomes’ to them. However, your business and clients evolve. ... Read More

7 Compelling Questions on the Business of Robotic Process Automation

David BrainBlog

During the 2017 SIG Summit in Amelia Island, Florida, Symphony COO David Brain took aseries of questions from the live audience right before setting out on automating a process liveat the event. The topics ranged from business case inquiries to industry-wide observations. Have a look at how David answered the most pressing questions. 1. You suggest errors are usually a result ... Read More

Do You Know Your Business Like the Back of Your Hand?

Pascal BakerBlog

If you asked both an executive and an associate what their company does you might receive surprisingly different answers. Executives, understandably, often have limited knowledge of the every-day business processes, (for example it is not a CEO’s job to know how many reports are run per day), but this gap in knowledge could be costing your business. The Key Assessment ... Read More

Shifting from Tactical to Strategic RPA: 10 Insights from RPA Experts

adminBlog

Yesterday, in an interactive webinar, Symphony Head of Strategy Ian Barkin and UiPath COO Guy Kirkwood, with IRPA President Raheem Hasan as moderator, discussed the differences between the reality versus the expectations of RPA.. Ian and Guy set out to address organizations at various stages of RPA exploration and implementation. Drawing from their wealth of experience implementing enterprise automation, they ... Read More

What is in Store for the Future of Work? 5 Takeaways on R-BPO

adminBlog

Last Friday, Symphony CEO David Poole, and Head of Strategy Ian Barkin got together with Phil Fersht of HfS Research and Johnny Ramondino of ADP for a fascinating discussion on the advent of Robotic Business Process Outsourcing (R-BPO) and it’s potential. As a main component of R-BPO, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has emerged as the go-to automation technology in today’s toolkit. ... Read More

The Emerging Opportunities for Automating Enterprise Businesses

adminNews

Symphony's CEO David Poole, who previously led multi-billion dollar outsourcing and shared-services firms, was recently interviewed by our partner, UiPath, as part of their Innovator Interview Series. David's thought-provoking interview addresses the most important facets of the automation landscape and where companies are going. Here are a few highlights: David begins with how his extensive BPO and shared services background ... Read More

Krakow Set To Become Near-Shore Automation Capital

David PooleBlog

Krakow Automation
It’s always a pleasure to visit the beautiful city of Krakow.  An historic and ancient city but surprisingly vibrant and youthful.   I have seen many changes over the past 20 years that I have known this city.  When I first visited, Krakow was a dreary and dark city still languishing in its post-Soviet misery.  Little did it know that it ... Read More

Andrew Burgess quoted in The Times talking RPA and BPO

Andrew BurgessNews

Andrew Burgess The Times RPA
Today (10th December) Andrew Burgess, one of our directors, was quoted in a supplement published in The Times newspaper in the UK. Andrew was interviewed by the newspaper to discuss the threat that RPA presents to the traditional Business Process Outsourcing industry. You can read the full article here. Share this Post

Why your mum was wrong when she taught you that ‘compromise is best’

Pascal BakerBlog

Future of Work
For many years I have believed that we are entering the age of the ‘Super Supplier’ or the ‘One Stop Shop’. I have sat through too many presentations where global software and services firms have presented their integrated service oriented platform aspirations,where the seamlessly integrated firm would promise so much more than the sum of the parts. Yet, we continue ... Read More

The Death of Outsourcing Advisory

Andrew BurgessBlog

Death of Outsourcing Advisory
A few years ago I wrote an article for Outsource Magazine claiming, rather grandly, that ‘outsourcing was dead’. My evidence was that Outsourcing (with a capital O) was no longer considered a ‘thing’ - back in the day people ‘did’ Outsourcing projects, but now they do ’transformation programs’ or ‘IT strategies’ of which Outsourcing is just part of the solution, rather than ... Read More

5 Reasons Not to Use BPO to Automate Your Business Processes (Part 2)

David PooleBlog

Reasons Not to Use BPO
In my first blog (5 Reasons Not to Use BPO for RPA (Part 1)) I suggested that the BPO industry is staring into the headlights of the emerging “as a service” economy and that the industry as we know it is approaching 20 years old but has never been faced with so many opportunities or threats.  I also covered three reasons why ... Read More

5 Reasons Not to Use BPO to Automate Your Business Processes (Part 1)

David PooleBlog

Reasons Not to Use BPO
The BPO industry is staring into the headlights of the emerging “as a service” economy.  This industry as we know it is approaching 20 years old but has never been faced with so many opportunities or threats.  There have been a number of challenges over the years including open architecture, software as a service, ERP, cloud and now RPA.  However, ... Read More

RPA at the NOA Symposium – 4 Lessons

Andrew BurgessBlog

RPA at the NOA Symposium
"Should the National Outsourcing Association be rebranded the National Automation Association?"The NOA Symposium is the industry’s annual get-together of the great and the good to discuss and debate the state of the outsourcing nation. It is meant to cover a wide range of topics that are impacting the sector, but it was clear from the very start that one subject was ... Read More

The Pendulum Swings – the Automation Spectrum and the Role of RPA

David PooleBlog

Automation Spectrum and The Role of RPA
Last week I had the pleasure of presenting at the Aspire conference in Krakow Poland. Aspire’s mission is to be the leading network of shared services, outsourcing and IT companies and practitioners within Central and Eastern Europe. I must say, they put on a wonderful show and I truly enjoyed myself. I wanted to share some thoughts from my presentation, ... Read More

Semiotics, or why Robots is a perfectly fine word, so get used to it

Ian BarkinBlog

robots
semiotics, se·mi·ot·ics, \-ä-tiks\ noun the study of signs and symbols, esp the relations between written or spoken signs and their references in the physical world or the world of ideas. One thing we’ve particularly enjoyed over the last year is the multitude of reactions to the word ‘robot’ as it relates to the automation of routine tasks, via software emulating human work. Love it or hate it, you can’t argue with the fact that ‘Robot’ gets the job done – it creates visual ... Read More

BPO = Business People Outsourcing

Ian BarkinBlog

Business People Outsourcing
The last two decades have seen a world become flat thanks to high-speed networks, system virtualization, and an appetite to reduce costs by tapping into a massive supply of low cost labor.  The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry benefitted from all of these trends, becoming, by some accounts, an over $400B a year industry. In the life of BPO, several ... Read More