The New Normal: Cooking is a Business Process Too!
Kiara Walker • June 25, 2020
In spending the last few months working from home and adjusting to the new normal, this newfound time has granted us the ability to pick up on projects and fine-tune skills more than ever. As someone who usually reaches for her phone to order out lunch or dinner, I decided to challenge myself to do the exact opposite and invest time and effort into home cooked meals. But, as our ‘chief everything officer,' Nicole Laurier phrased in it in her original version of this blog post nearly a decade ago- cooking is a business process too!
One of the first things needed to carry out this process is to set down a plan your attack. I’d often look toward online recipes and cooking shows for ideas that best suit what myself or my guest are craving or just aim to try something new altogether.
After compiling my grocery list, it’s time to head to my favorite store and pick out all the ingredients I’ll need. As a Florida native, Publix will always be my go-to spot and thankfully I know the store like the back of my hand, so this process doesn’t take too long. Whatever Publix doesn’t have I can stop at Bravo or Sedano’s to substitute.
Upon returning home, I lay out all the ingredients I plan on using to prepare my desired dish as well as get out all the pots and utensils needed too. Unless it’s a dish I’ve made before, I usually have the recipe and directions pulled up on my phone or tablet nearby for quick reference and then - I begin cooking.
Once the food is finished and the table is set, the only thing left to do is enjoy the meal I’ve made with family and friends.
So how exactly does the process of cooking play into the intricacies of business? Well, our CEO Nicole explained it best in four simple steps:
- Well the first step of cooking was deciding what to cook or in business what process you wish to automate.
- The second step was gathering all the ingredients needed through visiting various stores for different items. Many businesses have disparate systems, Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management, Marketing and Email Automation systems, Websites, etc., so in many cases all of these disparate systems need to be connected together to completely automate your business process forcing you to go to more than one place to get the information to build the process.
- The third cooking step was preparation, for business process management that would be using the tools to build the process which you have defined in the earlier steps, just like in cooking using the ingredients to create the meal.
- The final step of cooking is sitting back and waiting for your guests to arrive. With an automated business process, your task is built, tested, and put into production so that you can forget about what is happening in the background. The automated process will be doing the heavy lifting for you!
Do you know what process you want to automate? Do you know how to define that process? Do you know once you have defined your process how to find the information in your systems? Do you know what you want to automate? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, then Fisher Technology has the tools available to resolve the problem. All that’s left to ask yourself is- what do you want to automate?
Software is supposed to make tasks more efficient, but far too often businesses are burdened by the inefficiencies of systems that do not talk to each other. Schedule a consultation today with the Fisher Technology Team!
It seems like everywhere you turn—from coffee shop conversations to boardroom meetings—artificial intelligence dominates the discussion. As someone who's spent years in the technology industry, I've watched this wave of Ai enthusiasm with both excitement and a healthy dose of realism. The AI Conversation Everyone's Having There's no denying that Ai has captured our collective imagination. Social media feeds are flooded with ChatGPT screenshots, businesses are scrambling to integrate AI solutions, and investors are throwing money at anything with "Ai-powered" in the pitch deck. The enthusiasm is infectious, and frankly, some of it is well-deserved. Working in technology, I've been hearing countless questions from colleagues and partners about how they can leverage Ai to transform their operations. The questions range from the practical "Can Ai help us automate our customer service?" to the almost magical "Can Ai solve all our efficiency problems?". This spectrum of expectations tells a story about where we are in the Ai adoption curve—somewhere between realistic optimism and unrealistic expectations. Ai's Real Role in Technology Here's the thing about Ai that I wish more people understood: it's incredibly powerful, but it's not omnipotent. In the technology industry, Ai serves as an amplifier of human capabilities, not a replacement for human judgment and creativity. The most successful Ai implementations I've observed across the industry have been those where Ai addresses specific, well-defined problems. For example, companies are using machine learning to optimize supply chain logistics, reducing waste and improving delivery times. Others are leveraging it to automate quality control processes, catching defects that might slip past human inspection. Many businesses are also deploying Ai-powered phone systems to handle initial customer inquiries and schedule meetings, eliminating the need for expensive answering services while freeing up employees to focus on higher-value client interactions. A Powerful Assistant, Not the Whole Team This brings me to my main point—Ai is an assistant. It’s sophisticated, intelligent, and powerful, but not a standalone solution. Too often, I see businesses approaching Ai as if it's the missing puzzle piece that will magically solve all their operational challenges. The reality is messier and more nuanced. Successful Ai implementation requires the same fundamentals as any other technology project: clear objectives, quality data, proper infrastructure, and ongoing maintenance. You need to understand your current processes before you can improve them with Ai. Most importantly, you need humans who understand both the technology and the business context to make Ai work effectively. Looking Forward Realistically As we continue to navigate this Ai revolution, I encourage business leaders to maintain a balanced perspective. Embrace the possibilities that Ai offers, but approach them with realistic expectations and solid planning. At Fisher Technology, we're excited about the future of Ai and its potential to drive innovation across industries. But we're equally committed to helping our clients understand that Ai's greatest value lies not in replacing human judgment, but in augmenting it. The conversation about Ai will undoubtedly continue to evolve, and that's a good thing. As the technology matures and our understanding deepens, we'll find even more creative and effective ways to harness its power. Just remember: Ai is a powerful tool in our technological toolkit, but like any tool, its value lies in how skillfully and thoughtfully we use it.
Automation has become essential for organizations seeking efficiency and competitive advantage. BPA (Business Process Automation) Platform provides powerful tools that streamline operations across departments, empowering employees at all levels to accomplish more with less manual effort. Warehouse Management Transformation Warehouse operations rely on precision, speed, and real-time visibility—BPA Platform delivers all three by seamlessly integrating with your existing warehouse management systems. By automating inventory tracking, order fulfillment, shipping notifications, and stock reconciliation, the platform eliminates tedious manual processes and reduces the risk of errors. Additionally, it can trigger automatic reordering when stock reaches critical thresholds, synchronize picking, packing, and shipping to cut down fulfillment time, and generate actionable performance analytics to identify bottlenecks before they disrupt operations. With BPA Platform, your warehouse team can focus on value-added tasks and exception handling, driving both efficiency and customer satisfaction. Support Ticket Resolution Acceleration BPA Platform empowers customer service teams by automating key aspects of support ticket management. Through intelligent routing based on predefined rules and content analysis, tickets are automatically assigned to the appropriate specialists, reducing response times and ensuring consistent, high-quality support. Issues are prioritized according to customizable business logic, while automated status updates keep customers informed every step of the way. The platform also integrates with knowledge bases to suggest solutions for common problems, enhancing both agent efficiency and customer satisfaction. With comprehensive performance reporting and pattern analysis, BPA Platform not only improves resolution times but also delivers the insights needed to continually refine support operations. CRM Enhancement for Deeper Relationships When integrated with CRM systems, BPA Platform empowers sales and marketing teams to build deeper, more personalized customer relationships. Automated data enrichment pulls insights from multiple touchpoints, creating comprehensive customer profiles and enabling precise segmentation. Timely alerts for follow-ups and renewals ensure sales teams never miss an opportunity, while intelligent lead scoring streamlines qualification efforts. Marketing campaigns benefit from behavior-triggered communication flows and synchronized data across departments, resulting in a unified customer view. The outcome: improved conversion rates, stronger forecasting, and more effective, personalized engagement at every stage of the customer journey. ERP Integration for Operational Excellence BPA Platform transforms fragmented ERP systems into a unified, agile ecosystem by seamlessly connecting data across departments like finance, HR, procurement, and production. By eliminating duplicate data entry and automating key workflows such as financial reconciliation, reporting, and approval routing, the platform reduces errors, improves compliance, and accelerates processes like financial close. With real-time data flowing between modules, leadership gains comprehensive visibility and actionable insights to drive smarter, faster decision-making. Transform Your Business Today with BPA Platform Don't let manual processes hold your business back any longer. Fisher Technology can help bring the full power of BPA Platform to your organization, customized to your unique processes and integration needs. Contact us today for a personalized consultation and discover how our automation solutions can drive efficiency, reduce costs, and position your business for sustainable growth in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
When your business uses different tools and softwares that don't communicate, critical information can get lost and workflows can break down. This blog explores how Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) solves this problem by connecting your essential business applications. We'll cover why iPaaS is the best choice to help businesses overcome common challenges, the key benefits of implementing an integration platform, and a look at BPA Platform's specific iPaaS capabilities. Keep on reading to discover how the right integration strategy can transform scattered data into a powerful, unified business resource. Why iPaaS? Data visibility across an organization is crucial for improving efficiency, seizing new opportunities, and identifying potential threats. In the past, businesses operated within a single system, but today, the vast array of available software has led different departments to adopt applications tailored to their specific needs. While these tools enhance departmental efficiency, they also contribute to data silos, where critical information is stored in separate locations. This fragmentation can disrupt sales and accounting processes, hinder collaboration, create inefficiencies, and increase the risk of data errors. Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) provides a cloud-based solution that seamlessly connects, automates, and manages applications, systems, and data across business environments. By replacing traditional middleware with a standardized approach, iPaaS delivers cost-effective integration capabilities. How does iPaaS work? iPaaS is a cloud integration platform that creates a centralized ecosystem for managing data workflows. The platform offers pre-built connectors and automation tools that seamlessly link applications, services, and databases. With iPaaS, businesses gain a unified view of their integration landscape, allowing them to control and modify data flows across their infrastructure. As organisations grow, iPaaS scales effortlessly; new systems and services can be connected without significant cost, and custom functionality can be implemented to meet evolving business needs. The Advantages of iPaaS Reduced costs: Saves costs by automating integrations, reducing manual processes, and improving operational efficiency, which minimizes IT expenses and resource allocation. Reduced resources: Reduce the amount of time and number of personnel concentrating on system integration and data migration. Improved scalability: Easily add new applications and tweak business processes as the business grows. Centralised management: Once central ecosystem to manage data, integrations, processes, and workflows. Improved decision making: With access to real-time data across an organisation, employees and management can make better decisions to help improve efficiencies. ROI: iPaaS can help businesses drive company revenue and go to market quicker. BPA Platform’s iPaaS Solution BPA Platform’s iPaaS tool capabilities include: Drag and drop integration between cloud-based and on-premises systems and applications so that system integration steps are visually represented within a wider automated process. Innovative transformation functions that can be dragged onto the mapping area to change the data between inputs and outputs. RESTful web service integration by removing the need for bespoke development. SOAP web services integration Support OData and SData services Transform Your Business Integration Strategy with iPaaS As businesses continue to navigate the complexities of digital transformation, iPaaS solutions stand out as essential tools for maintaining competitive advantage. By breaking down data silos and creating seamless connections between applications, iPaaS empowers organizations to harness the full potential of their data. The result is not just improved operational efficiency, but also enhanced agility to respond to market changes, better customer experiences through integrated data flows, and ultimately, accelerated business growth. Ready to eliminate data silos in your business? Contact Fisher Technology today to learn more about how BPA Platform's powerful iPaaS capabilities can transform your integration challenges into competitive advantages. Don't let disconnected data hold your business back!
