Big gains from workflow automation

EARLIER this year, employees of Tacam Steel - a homegrown steel door manufacturer - had to contend with a mammoth Excel spreadsheet every time a new client or project came on board. If a client wanted 2,000 steel doors made - as did Changi Airport for Terminal 4, recently - the spreadsheet would sport over 2,700 rows (with one row per door), and easily 100 columns.

Says Tacam Steel general manager, Brian Wong: "It's not like the 2,000 doors are of the same type or size. There are many variations per door, such as the materials used, what kind of handle it has, or whether it's soundproof or fire-rated."

In fact, in the Terminal 4 project, the resulting spreadsheet sported over 2,700 rows.

The gigantic spreadsheet would then be passed through different departments within Tacam Steel - starting from salespeople, to technical drawing specialists, to inventory managers, to the billing team - all for just one project.

Seeking a solution

In fact, this captures but a slice of Tacam Steel's day-to-day operations, since multiple ongoing projects would mean multiple spreadsheets.

Given the labour-intensive process and its high propensity for human-introduced errors, Mr Wong was keen to find a way to digitise the firm's workflow. After all, even the slightest error (in door measurements or materials, for example) could prove costly; they could jeopardise the manufacturing process or even on-site safety.

Mr Wong found his solution in Enhanzcom's Fitprise software - a custom-built Web-based enterprise system that easily creates business management systems.

Since its implementation in March this year, Mr Wong has seen the following gains: "We have been able to reduce the amount of hardcopy paperwork, gain easy access to up-to-date information, as well as mitigate human errors. This has resulted in about 30 per cent savings in time and resources."

More than the manpower savings, employees are also freed from time-consuming and repetitive tasks, such as manual data compilation or report generation, and can focus on more value-added work. For instance, Tacam Steel employees now spend more time doing research and development, which in turn allows them to solve customers' pain points better, and faster.

Still, customising Fitprise to suit Tacam Steel's needs was no easy feat. It required "a lot of soul-searching", says Mr Wong, who estimates that his firm spent two months conducting internal discussions to suss out what features would be needed. The company then went through another three to four months of discussions with Enhanzcom, before the specs were finalised and the software was ready to go live.

Careful consideration

Mr Wong recalls: "We took the time consider what we really wanted out of the system. Each department really had to take responsibility and ownership for their module, so that when the software went live, it was everything we wanted. It couldn't end up being just something that's thrown at us, and we accept it as it is."

In fact, Tacam Steel had tried off-the-shelf enterprise software previously, but found that it didn't solve the firm's specific needs. Fitprise, in contrast, was fully built around Tacam Steel's work processes. It cost the firm around S$60,000 after grants - a "very reasonable" sum to Mr Wong.

"When businesses think of enterprise software, they'll think of SAP and Microsoft. But those are really in the six digits; they cost at least S$100,000, and that's even before customisation," says Mr Wong.

Edwin Seah, Enhanzcom's chief executive, agrees: "At the end of the day, SMEs want something that they can effectively use, help transform and improve their operations, and can be expanded or scaled to changes in market or business directions."

Mr Seah estimates that in Singapore, only 10 to 15 per cent of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have automated their operations using enterprise software.

"One of the main challenges is to bring the ideas, solutions, know-how, and benefits to the companies rather than expect them to come to us. In order to create a culture of innovation, SMEs must first be aware of the solutions available in the marketplace that can help them," says Mr Seah.

To that end, Enhanzcom's Fitprise software is available on Tech Depot - a government-led multi-agency initiative that highlights tools that can help SMEs shore up their productivity gains.

As for other SMEs looking for ways to automate their processes, Mr Wong's advice is simple: "Get to know what's out there - attend roadshows, do your research. It will be worth it."

TECH DEPOT

SMEs looking to adopt ready-to-go solutions to enhance productivity and transform their businesses can visit the Tech Depot (www.smeportal.sg/techdepot), a multi-agency initiative by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Info-communications Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) and SPRING Singapore.

Over 40 solutions have been made available on the Tech Depot to help local enterprises transform and grow in 10 areas including customer, finance, and human resources management, as well as data analytics.

Brought to you by LED Taskforce. www.mom.gov.sg/leds