• iCM | iQM

Xcelpros

A Global technology and consulting services
Agility in daily operations using the Power Platform
  • Xcelpros Team
  • No Comments

Agility in daily operations using the Power Platform
Agility in daily operations using the Power Platform 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Introduction

COVID-19 continues to test supply chain and manufacturing operations around the world. More than 18 months after exploding onto the scene, companies still have their hands full dealing with ill workers, limited working hours and uncertain supply chains. Businesses are evaluating how to improve efficiency, lower costs and increase operational performance. The immediate question on everyone’s mind is, “how are we coming out of this crisis?”

While employee safety is a top priority during this pandemic, mitigating the impact on the day-to-day operations is crucial to business leaders. CEOs and CFOs are facing the unprecedented challenge of pivoting product demands and preserving growing cash flow. Implementing a “do more with less” attitude while gaining a few quick wins in the process can build the momentum needed to keep companies moving forward.

Figure: 1 The Ecosystem of an Integrated Supply Chain

The Ecosystem of an Integrated Supply Chain

Pivoting the Plan

The role of the chief information officer (CIO) is critical in risk mitigation strategies. They can draft a plan to determine how the COVID crisis is affecting the company infrastructure short term. The plan must keep operations running smoothly while acknowledging that long term projects and roadmap budgets are affected.

One example is switching employees to remote work while maintaining operations. Software tools like Microsoft Teams and Skype let companies communicate with far-flung workers and managers while the interfaces similar to those in Office 365 programs eases the transition.

Keeping the Lines Open

Not all production and distribution employees work from home even when social distancing and masking restrictions limit face-to-face contact. Many workers are considered essential, causing some factories to switch from a single shift to running 24/7. These facilities are adding shifts and ramping up capacity, working hard to keep warehouses stocked with raw materials and finished products.

Since computer software and machines are now working longer hours, the companies that support them must do the same or risk losing clients.

Figue: 2 Microsoft Power Platform: An Integrated Solution

Microsoft Power Platform: An Integrated Solution

As companies move back and forth between remote and in-person workers, having the right tools in place can help boost communication between production plants and supporting vendors. One example of an effective toolbox is the Microsoft Power Platform. This “low-code, no-code” platform can be installed and running in a matter of hours to generate a quick win. A no-code solution is valuable when needing to make quick decisions while maintaining critical operations.

65%

of all app development will be low code by 2024

Source: Gartner

Get a consultation to learn how to make your daily operations agile using the Power Platform.

Get Started Now

PowerApps are a suite of apps, services, connectors and data platforms providing a rapid application development environment, Microsoft states. “Using Power Apps, you can quickly build custom business apps that connect to your business data stored either in the underlying platform or in various online and on-premises data sources, such as SharePoint, Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365, SQL Server, etc.”

Using custom-built apps connected to internet of things (IoT)-enabled devices, workers gain access and insights into machines that may be headed for trouble. Staff is alerted before shutdowns are required. This lets technicians replace worn parts before production unexpectedly stops.

Power Apps can connect to hundreds of business systems and databases. They make it easy to connect workers with the existing processes and data while working through Microsoft Outlook to keep key staff informed.

Power App benefits include:

1.Greater development agility Automate and simplify repetitive, time-consuming processes to launch faster while reducing errors.

2.Speed and savings Reduce time and cost building web and mobile applications, enabling companies to work through their development project list.

3.Achieve more while doing less Some Power Apps are fully functional out of the box. They have data presets using standard business logic and rules making them fully customizable to individual business needs.

Meeting the Demand

Before the coronavirus, businesses made supply chain forecasts based on the then normal business operations. Now, though, many firms are switching to a demand planning model.

Executives are continually evaluating sales and budget plans. Power Apps let them do it faster. For example, the sales and operations teams can hold “what-if analysis” scenario planning sessions. Using a consumption-driven model boosted by industry and customer knowledge, companies can lower their risk. Similar methods let major carmakers quickly switch their production lines from automotive parts to building ventilators for critical hospital patients and then move back to normal operations when the situation changed.

One such app is Microsoft Power Automate. It automates tedious manual analytic processes when quick decisions are required. Automate provides a creative, cost-effective strategy for businesses to connect their existing legacy systems.

An example is activating workflows for approvals in a matter of hours instead of days.

As workforces become a hybrid of remote and on-site team members, Power Automate can reduce the time spent tracking down approvals and keep things moving.

When companies combine a smaller, leaner workforce with greater demands and less time and then add more government regulations, they increase pressure on managers to make the right decisions quickly or risk falling out of compliance.

Another essential Microsoft Power Platform app is Power Bi, which “bridges the gap between data and decision making.”

The business analytics service delivers insights helping business leaders make fast, informed decisions now and when developing future emergency response plans.

Power Bi:

  • Transforms data into stunning visuals for sharing to any device
  • Exploring and analyzing data in one view
  • Permits sharing customized dashboards and interactive reports

Staying Ahead

In addition to machine maintenance, following federal and state coronavirus guidelines is critical to keeping operations running and employees safe. The Power Platform has several new tools with the pandemic and other emergencies in mind.

  • Crisis Communication- A sample Microsoft Power App taking 20-25 minutes to set up, Crisis Communications combines Microsoft Power Automate, Microsoft Teams and SharePoint. It lets companies coordinate information sharing and team collaboration under evolving conditions. Employees can report work status and make requests. System administrators can use the app to push updates and news including web-based really simple syndication (RSS) feeds from the World Health Organization (WHO), The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), local authorities or emergency contacts. The information can go to different locations that are accessible on the web, mobile or in Teams.
  • Power Virtual Agents Crisis Response Bot- The Power Virtual Agents team released instructions to build a Virtual Agent Crisis Response FAQ Bot. The no-code program helps staff get company-specific information they need quickly using a question and answer interface you can embed on your company website.

Power Apps Drives Business Transformation

A recent Forrester Consulting study shows how businesses reduced development costs and increased overall efficiency using Power Apps. Results are for a composite organization based on interviewed customers.

The Total Economic Impact of Power Apps study, March 2020 states:

  • 188% return on investment over three years
  • 74% reduction in app development costs
  • A savings of $4.9 million in application development and management cots
  • Replacing two external applications with a single Power App saved $742,449

Summary

No one knows how long the coronavirus crisis will last. Taking the time to plan how to function in these uncertain times is essential. Using software tools like the Microsoft Power Platform and its many apps will help companies continue to operate in rapidly changing conditions.

Pharmaceutical Quality Control : Improving Methods & Systems
  • Xcelpros Team
  • No Comments

Pharmaceutical Quality Control – Improving Methods & Systems
Pharmaceutical Quality Control – Improving Methods & Systems 700 500 Xcelpros Team

By the Numbers

Ensuring pharmaceutical products meet regulatory quality standards is critical for business success, especially now. Companies that consider quality an afterthought do so at their peril. Companies meeting those standards are finding more of them approved at a faster rate than ever before.

  • 209 new drugs were approved by the FDA from 2000 – 2008
  • 302 new drugs were approved by the FDA from 2009 – 2017
  • 59 new drugs were approved in 2018, an all-time record
  • 53 new drugs were approved in 2020, #2 all-time
  • FDA review times decreased from more than three years in 1983 to less than one year in 2017
  • Between 2011 – 2015, the FDA approved 170 new drugs compared to 144 for the European Medicine Agency, while also doing it 60 days faster
  • The FDA approved 168% more drugs in 2018 than in 2016 because companies met quality standards

Figure: 1FDA Approvals for Pharmaceutical Products

FDA Approvals for pharmaceutical products

Introduction

Quality plays a pivotal role in the success of any business. Shipping delays now are often caused by products not meeting mandated quality standards. This adds stress to production environments and can potentially impact a company’s public perception. For example, 2018 saw 73 drugs subjected to FDA recalls, market withdrawals and safety alerts.

Companies saying yes to sub-standard products to the market are finding the results can be catastrophic. Some of the damage can be irreparable.

Those embracing modern-day Quality Management by supporting technology initiatives are finding success. These firms ensure that the right systems are in place to allow a product to pass all quality checks.

Continuing to embrace changing technology can help manufacturers in highly regulated industries leveraging it to stay ahead of their competition.

Figure: 2Classification of Quality Management

Classification of Quality Management

The Evolution of Quality Management

Today, quality management has evolved from being an afterthought to a rigorous self-discipline that most modern manufacturing companies embrace. Quality control in the 1960s has evolved to become today’s “total quality control.”

The US FDA is tightening its norms to ensure higher quality standards before approving medicines for sale. Pharmaceutical manufacturers are responding to such challenges by increasing their quality standards as shown in the graphic below.

Figure: 3 The Evolving Definition of Quality Management

The Evolving Definition of Quality Management

Process Improvements in Quality Control

Improvements always start by understanding departmental issues. Some typical activities in a pharmaceutical company’s Quality Control department are highlighted by:

  • Managing quality control tests
  • Managing quality control specialists and their workload
  • Allocating and calibrating test instruments
  • Establishing appropriate test methods
  • Documenting test specifications
  • Performing tests in priority order
  • Accurately recording test results

Following up on this involves analyzing trends and quality data plus running stability studies on batches. This is just a quick and simplified view; in reality, all of the activities listed above have many details involved. Ensuring that all processes and procedures are handled with precision ultimately reflects on how well a company maintains its quality standards.qc pharma

Get a consultation to learn more about Improving Pharmaceutical Quality Control and Systems.

Schedule Call

Processes in the Quality Department

A typical day in the life of a Quality Control department could start with lab analysis and paper requests to perform quality tests on a sample batch. There could be multiple batches for different products produced in-house or received from third party manufacturers.

The quality lab prepares test instruments for each test. It accurately records the test results along with any digital signs-off recorded for each work order. Taking a quick view of what is involved in “getting it right,” an understanding of all essential requirements for an optimal quality process could change.

“Use cases with digitization and automation have demonstrated a more than 65% reduction in deviations and over 90% faster closure times.” The Future of Quality Control, Pharma Manufacturing

Achieving optimal quality requires precisely following standard—and possibly regulated—operating procedures. Deviations are not allowed unless the “method to deviate” is clearly spelled out.

Getting staff to meet the optimal quality goal is challenging without a stringent system in place. For example, using a paper-based system requires adding laborious tasks with corrections and piled up paperwork. Every time an audit occurs using this system requires digging through stacks of paper to find the right answers.

Figure: 4: A Central Filing System to Manage Documents and Information

>A Central Filing System to Manage Documents and Information

Quality Control Systems

Pharmaceutical companies that are implementing an electronic system need to decide how tightly to build their system. Some users may be uncomfortable with various systemic restrictions or uneasy when user errors are found.

People could start feeling anxious about making mistakes since every change has a digital stamp tying the person modifying the data. Fixing errors can become cumbersome especially when using a controlled and validated system that is 21 CFR part 11 compliant.

Effective QC systems replace discomfort by getting users to develop good habits. This starts by providing them with clear, accurate and thorough information about how the overall system works. A well-planned training plan can help users move from discomfort to being champions promoting the process in the organization.

People with a basic understanding of compliance prefer an electronic system for its strength and ability to capture real-time data. Instead of continuously fixing errors, workers proactively do it right from the start.

When the goal is to boost efficiency throughout an entire organization consider evaluating a reliable process that can be quickly adapted by the QC department.

Elimination of up to 80% of manual documentation work will improve productivity. The Future of Quality Control, Pharma Manufacturing

What Plant Managers Look for in Quality Management Challenges

Plant Managers have specific views of the business since they oversee the overall plant operations. Key concerns plant managers or general manager address include:

  • Quality Management
  • Compliance with evolving regulatory standards
    • Taking control of documents such as Certificates of Analysis (COAs)
  • Safety
    • Corrective and Preventative Actions management (CAPA)
    • Location directives
    • Raising flags when two reactive chemicals are placed in proximity
    • User adaptability and training to conform to the new Quality standards

These concerns are typically addressed by:

  • Efficient Document Management. It allows you to centralize documents into a secure repository that is seamlessly accessible. This ensures quicker decision making and effective change management. It also helps in ensuring document visibility, enhances product traceability by tracking amendments and documents safety with revision control features.
  • Addressing non-conformance. Meeting this requirement can be done through a unified platform to log non-conformance, noting the quality of incoming raw materials plus reviewing complaints, delays and other issues. This helps in addressing compliance at an early stage, paving the way for corrections and registering them in the system.
  • Corrective & Preventive Actions. Having software that documents these while adding built-in advanced analytical features built in helps companies learn from past actions. Registering a non-conformance incident into the system initiates a workflow for corrective measures. This system learns from past incidents and recommends preventive actions to prevent or reduce similar incidents from occurring again.
  • Implementing the right kind of tools and technology such as can help with process automation and reduce data entry errors while also tracking process efficiency.

Identifying the right system to help make the most impact is the first essential step to moving in the right direction. After crossing that hurdle, it’s important to build a “to be” mindset instead of worrying why the system doesn’t perform as it did in the past.

Evaluate how stringent you want your process to be based on your company’s needs and then accommodate a well-defined method that is native to the application.

Key Takeaways

Quality management is no longer an afterthought. It has evolved to become a discipline in most prosperous manufacturing organizations. Once considered a business function that hindered speed to market and product launch, quality management now embraces modern technologies – fueling innovation, adding efficiency, eliminating the scope of incidents within a plant, and offering better predictions for the future.

  • Pharmaceutical companies that evolve to modern, automated quality control systems are able to empower their workforce to rapidly adopt process improvements and optimize all the functions in the department.
  • Adopting better tools in one department typically sets the standard for the entire ecosystem. It includes functions such as regulatory compliance, procurement, demand management, research & development plus inventory and warehouse management.
Leveraging the cloud for a connected supply chain
  • Xcelpros Team
  • No Comments

Brochure Leveraging the cloud for a connected supply chain
Brochure Leveraging the cloud for a connected supply chain 400 400 Xcelpros Team
Helping your company fit into the-bio-economy banner
  • Xcelpros Team
  • No Comments

Helping Your Company Fit into the Bioeconomy
Helping Your Company Fit into the Bioeconomy 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Introduction

The term “bioeconomy” has begun gaining steam but many executives don’t know what it means or how it might affect their business.

Brain-biotech.com defines bioeconomy as producing renewable biological resources and then converting them plus waste streams into valued-added products. These include food, animal feed, bio-based products and energy, including fuels.

A related but different concept is the circular economy, “where the value of products, materials and resources is maintained in the economy for as long as possible, and the generation of waste minimized,” the article states.

Both concepts share the goals of increasing resource efficiency and lowering demand for new petroleum resources while creating more jobs. Tying into both of these is “cascading,” which promotes recycling and remanufacturing. An example of cascading is using fresh wood to build furniture. When the main product’s life ends, part or all of the wood is used for something else such as a different piece of furniture or a planter.

“The circular economy includes all kinds of material streams with different utilization routes. Organic recycling, which equals biodegradation, and even the capture and utilization of carbon dioxide from industrial processes or the atmosphere are included,” the report states.

One way the bioeconomy affects industry is by producing renewable carbon compared to fossil carbon such as oil and other fossil fuels. The bioeconomy and circular economy have a common goal: creating a more sustainable world with a low carbon footprint. Both avoid using fossil carbon. Using sustainable resources helps achieve climate targets, brain-biotech states.

Among the stated goals of the bioeconomy and the circular economy are:

  • Reducing the use of fossil fuels
  • Wiser management of natural resources
  • Continually reusing minerals, metals, and biomass from agriculture, forests and the seas
  • Creating biodegradable and compostable products
  • Generating ways to capture and reuse carbon dioxide in the Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) process
  • Reducing greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO2)
  • Reducing waste, especially anything going into landfills
  • Promoting research across disciplines and borders
  • Creating more jobs in rural and urban environments

Impacts of the Bioeconomy on the Financial Economy

Features unique to the bioeconomy include creating new products and better utilization of agriculture and forestry, Brain-biotech states. Among its examples are using genome editing to create products with lower toxicity and new functions plus more nature-compatible (i.e., biodegradable) and healthier consumer goods.

So where can we see the bioeconomy? “The U.S. bioeconomy is all around us: new drugs and diagnostics for improved human health, higher-yielding food crops, emerging biofuels to reduce dependence on oil and biobased chemical intermediaries,” the 2012 White House’s National Bioeconomy Blueprint is quoted as saying in youmatter.world.

Youmatter.world connects the bioeconomy and circular economy by referring to the circular economy as “the what” as in what are desired outcomes. The bioeconomy is “the how” as in how biophysical processes can be enhanced to achieve the expected result.

Transforming the U.S. economy from one based on hydrocarbons (i.e., fossil fuels) to a bioeconomy, will have the most dramatic effects. These effects will be felt most strongly in the energy, agricultural, chemical, industrial and consumer products and transportation industries, attorney Neil Belson wrote in 2016.

Among Belson’s conclusions are, “an economy that runs primarily on renewable, domestically produced bio based raw materials is inherently less vulnerable to disruption than one which relies on or is heavily influenced by the availability of foreign fossil fuel energy supplies.”

Among the biofuel resources are corn stalks and wheat straw, animal manure, household and industrial organic wastes containing carbon and dedicated fast-growing energy crops.

Belson also suggests a major target of opportunity is the $164 billion U.S. organic chemical industry.

By the Numbers

After several years of declining revenue caused by low fossil fuel prices, the Organic Chemical Industry is expected to resume growing in 2021, reports from IBISWorld state. Among the highlights are:

  • 13.2%: The 2021 increase in market size estimated by the Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry (OCMI).
  • $106 billion: The 2021 market size measured by revenue of the OCMI
  • 1,107: Number of organic chemical businesses in the US
  • 75,441: Number of people employed in the organic chemical businesses in the US

Current top products and related manufacturing activities are producing:

  • Ethyl alcohol
  • Cyclic crudes, coal tar, wood chemical and intermediate products
  • Basic organic chemical products
  • Fatty acids
  • Synthetic organic alcohols
  • Synthetic flavor and perfume materials
  • Bulk pesticides

This list does not include forestry-related materials such as major wood products.

According to the Government

The US Department of Agriculture released the 128-page “An Economic Impact Analysis of the U.S. Biobased Products Industry” in 2015.

Using 2013 numbers, the US Biobased Products Industry:

  • Contributed 4 million jobs
  • Added $369 billion to the U.S. economy
  • Created 1.64 more jobs for every 1 biobased products job
  • 20,000 products in the BioPreferred program database not including traditional textile fabrics or forest products. The true number is closer to 40,000, the report states.
  • 300 million gallons of petroleum replaced by biochemicals and natural-based products replacing petroleum products such as Styrofoam.

Get a consultation to learn how to get your company ready for the bioeconomy.

Get Started

Areas of Opportunity

Figure: 1Number of Installed Ethanol Biorefineries in the US

Number of Installed Ethanol biorefineries in the US

Statista states that in 2019, the US had more than 200 ethanol biorefineries. In 2015, the USDA listed 213 such refineries. Audi, BMW, Porsche and Volkswagen make diesel vehicles that can use biodiesel blends, edmunds.com states. As of 2014, most biofuel came from soybean oil. The US Department of Energy states that the B20 biodiesel blend contains 2% – 6% biodiesel mixed with petroleum fuel.

Adding biodiesel improves fuel lubricity making vehicles easier to start and reduces ignition delay. It also reduces premature wear on moving parts even in concentrations as low as 1%, the Alternative Fuels Data Center states.

Chemical and pharmaceutical companies, take note: Modor Intelligence estimates the market for biochemical reagents will grow at a CAGR rate of 9.1% between 2020 – 2025. This market is defined by products such as cell and tissue reagents, electrophoresis and others plus geography. Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market while North America is the largest.

Chromatography reagents have the greatest demand with their use in many pharmaceutical processes such as separating chemicals and biomolecules, diagnostics and protein purification.

Market Research Future’s report on the Global Bio-Based Chemicals Market states the top products between 2019 – 2025 will be bioplastics, bio-lubricants, bio-solvents, bio-based acids, bio-surfactants, bio-alcohols and others.

Let Technology Help

What chemical wastes currently costing the company money to be shipped to a landfill can be reused to boost profits? Companies using technology like Microsoft PowerBi and Microsoft Dynamics 365 to organize their data can organize waste into its core components. Some of it might be easily converted into biofuels. Others might be broken apart with components becoming biodegradable solvents.

Another way tech can help is by looking at existing customers in growing markets and suppliers in areas where key crops are grown. Are they ways to piggyback shipments and reduce transportation costs while also cutting air pollution? Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management can combine and crunch data. While helping a business run much more efficiently, it can also offer insights into new ways to use existing products.

The Bottom Line

The bioeconomy is here to stay, as is global warming. Companies entering bioeconomy markets should look at new ways to use plant-based materials to replace petroleum products, like the chemical and pharmaceutical industries using plant-based solvents to develop new medicines because they are less toxic and better for everyone in the long run.

Alternate fuels, fibers, chemicals made from plants and other biological sources are just a few of the many potential products whose demand will continue to rise.

Using cutting-edge enterprise resource planning software can help a company more accurately evaluate its own products and resources. Who knows, there just might be the materials to build some bioeconomy products already sitting on a warehouse shelf. With the right tech, you will know what you have.

Revamping Your Cloud Data Strategy
  • Xcelpros Team
  • No Comments

Top Reasons To Revamp Your Cloud Data Strategy
Top Reasons To Revamp Your Cloud Data Strategy 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Introduction

More and more companies are moving to the cloud for easy data storage and to boost technology innovations. Modern businesses understand the strategic competitive advantage and availability of customized applications to suit their needs. Especially during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, many companies are considering letting go of their onsite infrastructure and hardware, opting instead to store their data on remote servers, a process known as cloud storage.

Cloud storage makes sense for business survival, pushing all enterprises to move faster. Going forward, more and more companies will need experts who understand what cloud computing is and how it can help their business. These same people monitor and implement an organization’s end-to-end cloud computing journey.

Now more than ever cloud migration is imperative to avoid glitches in infrastructure, as the market is trying to survive the pandemic.

Figure: 1Key reasons companies are switching their operations to cloud

Key reasons companies are switching their operations to cloud

In an Aug. 2, 2021 report, Gartner compared worldwide public cloud services end-user spending and 2022 forecasts, which suggest:

  • $171,915 million for Cloud Application Services (SaaS)
  • $121,620 million for Cloud System Infrastructure Services (IaaS)
  • $100,636 million for Cloud Application Infrastructure Service (PaaS)

Many companies are looking at how they can focus on their technological and process reengineering needs. Why consider revamping your cloud strategy and what steps should you take to successfully complete the reboot?

Figure: 2Factors that drive a cloud transformation

Factors that drive a cloud transformation

5 Reasons to Revamp Your Cloud Strategy

There are five main reasons to revamp your cloud strategy today:

  1. 1.Becoming more agile in terms of the ability to adjust to customer orders
  2. 2.Better position to adopt next-generation software
  3. 3.Monitoring the transition in terms of equipment and people
  4. 4.Improving data security
  5. 5.Building a skilled worker base

Get a assessment to learn the best ways to revamp or adopt cloud strategies.

Get Started

Becoming more agile

Every organization has a specific roadmap layed out to fulfill the big picture of their IT landscape. Being agile lets your company quickly change the pace at which it adapts the transformative–and at times, disruptive—process of moving into a cloud-centric architecture. By restructuring your cloud strategy, IT departments can move from slowly delivering big, single-origin and rigid applications to rapidly deploying flexible, smaller applications. Some people call this process, “byte-sized transformations.”

Revamping your cloud transformation also affects your software development lifecycle. Making changes helps make the company and its staff more nimble. It can conduct continuous development (CD) and continuous integration (CI) using the DevOps model to boost your overall business.

Better position to adopt next-generation software

The future of cloud computing is all about speeding up the process of application development. Companies are adopting cutting-edge technological advancements like artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), data analytics and machine learning (ML). An organization’s strategists must determine if their IT roadmap can access and use these cloud-native solutions.

In today’s virtual world, everything is connected. A rapid innovative delivery model is needed to predict future customer demand after analyzing historical data. Your company IT team can achieve its goal with better accuracy by starting with cloud transformation and ending at the ultimate goal: full optimization.

Cloud technologies like Microsoft’s Azure, and Power Platform efficiently handle day to day business operations while also letting your company work toward its long term strategic vision.

Monitoring the transition

No matter what solutions your organization decides to employ, the changeover needs to be watched carefully. Implementing a cloud strategy affects the organization and its people. The entire update needs intricate monitoring of the transformation through:

  • An infrastructure supporting the organization’s cloud journey.
  • On-boarding experts who train workers while implementing the upgrades, boosting the staff’s digital skill levels.

One way to achieve your goals is a willingness to alter your implementation strategy so it aligns your roadmap with a comprehensive cloud transition plan.

Figure: 3Companies are expecting a holistic development in operations from hybrid cloud

Companies are expecting a holistic development in operations from hybrid cloud

“Through 2022, at least 95% of cloud security failures are predicted to be the customer’s fault.”Source: Gartner

Improving data security

The instant data moves online, companies start worrying about security and data privacy. Backing your cloud strategy with a robust infrastructure like Microsoft Azure ensures the security, authenticity and longevity of your organization’s data, processes and applications is not compromised. The Azure platform is continually evaluated and updated automatically to protect against potential security threats.

Building a skilled worker base

Moving away from in-house technology to the cloud can impact roles, responsibilities and accountability across a company’s organization. Having a strategic plan to make the move should also include making sure workers are able to take advantage of the new technology.

Especially when it comes to Customer Service, the relationship between companies and their customers is more than just “order to shipments.” Solutions like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance use artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to more accurately forecast customer behaviors and needs.

Steps to Revamp Your Cloud Strategy

While every organization has its set of challenges and requirements when it comes to strategic rethinking of its cloud journey, some pointers to remember are:

  • Build and update your employees’ skills to ensure your organization’s cloud migration is successful. A comprehensive, organization-wide training plan is an integral part of any migration.
  • It’s ok to make the change one step at a time to make it easier to move from older programs to newer ones.
  • Take advantage of predictive data analytics to preempt the expected technical and operational glitches.
  • Define your cloud milestones before starting your migration. Stick to them. Your strategic roadmap to cloud reboot is going to be as unique as your requirements.
  • Create a blueprint of the cloud revamp and let it guide you at the pace of your employees’ ability to accept the changes.
  • Hire highly-skilled subject matter experts to make the end-to-end implementation of a new cloud strategy as smooth as possible.

Revamping your cloud strategy may sound unnecessary but following these suggestions will benefit your organization. Taking in a broader, “30,000-foot view” of the core of your cloud journey makes it easier to create your transformative blueprint.

Figure: 4 Strategies to successfully complete the cloud transition

Strategies to successfully complete the cloud transition

Key takeaways

  • Cloud infrastructure is a comprehensive and disruptive technology that helps businesses operate more efficiently.
  • Rethinking your cloud architecture helps you achieve your cloud computing goals.
  • Ensure your transition is compatible with cloud-native solutions such as IoT, AI and machine learning.
  • Moving to the cloud works better when your staff knows how to get the most out of it.
  • For added security, many organizations take advantage of products like Microsoft Azure.
 
How Microsoft's ERP System works with the Retail Industry
  • Xcelpros Team
  • No Comments

How Microsoft’s ERP System works with the Retail Industry
How Microsoft’s ERP System works with the Retail Industry 700 500 Xcelpros Team

The Changing Retail Industry

With the rapid pace of changes in the retail industry, especially some of the more dramatic changes that have emerged over the past few years, it’s become increasingly important to have full control over your business. Now more than ever this means investing in software that supports the changes seen across the retail industry in recent times, and into the future.

Today’s retail consumers are much more informed, and looking for a safer, more streamlined experience regardless of purchases made online or in-person at brick and mortar locations, which are still very much in demand. The omnichannel shopping experience is quickly becoming a key point to longevity in the retail industry. This means offering a safe and consistent shopping experience, integrating your CRM, ERP and eCommerce systems for a more unified view of your customers, and being able to quickly scale and adapt to support new applications and services as they develop.

96%

of emerging businesses that excel in their respective industry rely on some form of ERP solution.

Source: Aberdeen Group

15%

of executives believe AI could fundamentally change which companies win and lose.

Source: UST SmartOps, 2020

36%

Small businesses with ERP systems can make decisions with 36% less time than they did without the solution.

Source: Aberdeen Group

This has become a great opportunity for retailers to modernize and streamline their operations which can lead to greater long-term profitability as the industry continues to evolve. For this, businesses need a complete solution like Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Commerce, the evolution of their Dynamics 365 Retail product line, able to offer a complete and unified solution across different channels with maximum scalability.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce

One of the first words when it comes to enterprise planning, Microsoft has been developing their Dynamics 365 products for many years, and the latest version of Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Commerce offers unparalleled access to a lot of cutting-edge technology for businesses in the retail industry.

Microsoft’s newest retail ERP solution helps streamline many different areas like merchandising, inventory and order management, warehousing, financials and more. In fact, the exact same technology powering Dynamics 365 Commerce has been driving Microsoft’s storefronts around the world for years to deliver a secure, scalable, compliant solution that offers a world-class shopping experience.

Book a Consultation to get started with no-obligation trial of Microsoft 365 Commerce.

Book Now

These are just a few more ways Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce supports businesses in the retail industry.

Figure: 1Microsoft Dynamics 365 Retail ERP Solutions

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Retail ERP Solutions

Omni-channel shopping experience

With today’s consumers focused on quality, the right software helps ensure the experience is the same across different devices online and in-store with the ability to offer more increasingly popular options like Buy Online Pickup In-Store (BOPIS), curbside pickup and next or same-day shipping. These trends are becoming staples for many looking to avoid long lines and queues.

Powerful customer insights

Even now, customer data has become extremely valuable for driving AI and ML solutions to create personalized experiences designed to boost sales and increase customer retention. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce is built with AI and ML in mind to further enhance customer engagement along with the ability to integrate to other Microsoft products like Dynamics 365 Customer Insights and Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection.

Warehouse and inventory management

Growing to be equally important is the ability to more accurately predict and manage product stock levels along with up-to-date pricing. Today’s customers don’t want to chase phantom stock counts from store to store when they can easily give their business to another retailer, right from the comfort of their home.

Powerful Integrations

Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 products have always been highly adaptable and configurable, able to integrate with numerous existing applications and services offering a unified experience across different platforms. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce is no different, able to directly connect to a multitude of modern and legacy systems for reporting, compliance, and more to help protect your investment in previous systems.

What’s Next

As emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Augmented Reality (AR) continue to advance, the retail industry will continue to be fraught with the challenge of trying to keep up – including providing modern, personalized shopping experiences to today’s savvy consumers to help retain loyalty across different channels. More and more businesses in the industry are looking for technology partners that understand their challenges and can offer support for modern solutions.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce is a scalable solution that can be made to work for anything from SMBs to larger multi-brand or multi-company organizations helping Increase your revenue and brand loyalty with better engagement. Better focus your operations to reduce costs and boost efficiency over your entire supply chain.

Overview of Chemical Distribution in Microsoft Dynamics 365
  • Xcelpros Team
  • No Comments

An Overview of Chemical Distribution in Microsoft Dynamics 365
An Overview of Chemical Distribution in Microsoft Dynamics 365 700 500 Xcelpros Team

At a Glance

Chemical distribution companies have several requirements when facing challenges in today’s business world. They include:

  • Needing an overview of end-to-end supply chain processes including solutions to increase operational efficiencies
  • Getting an overview of planning and inventory management for bulk chemicals and packaged chemicals
  • Understanding best practice depictions of typical chemical distribution processes

By the Numbers

Chemical distribution companies today are focusing their efforts on optimizing supply chains, warehouse and floor operations. They function as a supply chain partner, anticipating customer needs and helping them stay ahead of their competition.

  • The chemical distribution industry is on a massive growth curve. Grand View Research states the industry’s value was $247.1 billion in 2020.
  • The expected compound annual growth rate from 2020 -2028 is 4.0 percent.
  • There’s a growing need to set your processes straight and streamline your supply chain with sufficient controls in place to keep up with the pace of the market.

4 Key Processes

There are 4 key processes that matter to a chemical distribution company:

  1. 1.Order-to-Cash: The ability to take a customer order efficiently and deliver it by the customer’s deadline.
  2. 2.Procure-to-Pay: The ability to manage purchase orders and receiving departments efficiently, optimizing spending on procurement to avoid high capital inventory spending.
  3. 3.Inventory Management: Inventory Management: Maintaining optimal inventory levels without excessive capital spending.
  4. 4.Break Bulk Operations: Break Bulk Operations: Breaking down bulk shipments such as tankers and large shipments of individual products into smaller pack sizes.

User Story: Warehouse Chaos

Survival in a highly competitive world requires chemical distribution companies to efficiently organize and design their warehouses. Internal routes must be optimized to let manned and robotic pickers grab inventory for break bulking, repacking or outbound shipments. Inventory storage needs to be precisely planned, especially while handling hazardous chemicals.

Too familiar is the chemical customer with multiple warehouses. They store bulk and packaged chemicals stocked in rows, racks and bins spread across multiple aisles. Some of these chemicals require temperature controls. Many have hazardous condition restrictions.

It’s common for companies to focus on meeting the basics and storing things wherever they fit. No warehouses are organized, making it difficult to track where incoming product was stored and gathering items to fill customer orders.

Making matters worse are poor operational practices. For example a high volume order involved taking some contents from a 55 gallon bulk chemical drum. Operators move the drum to Staging, remove what order the order required and then leave the drum at staging. No effort is made to record the location or remaining quantity. At best, inventory numbers are manually written on a tag attached to the drum, not entered into the computer system.

This method creates many inefficiencies later in the production process. They include:

  1. 1. Inefficient use of space. The Staging area was already small. It was made worse by leaving drums and totes for break-bulk orders, causing Staging to grow continually.
  2. 2. Inefficient use of time. The system showed the drums were at their primary inventory location. Operators unable to find items there had to manually check each tag. Some operators eventually knew to look for inventory in the primary or staging locations. Other workers wasted time looking for the items.
  3. 3. No inventory tracking method.
  4. 4. Inaccurate inventory counts. Inventories were constantly adjusted for missing or untraceable inventory. Lack of accurate counts meant ordering more supplies to fulfill customer demands.
  5. 5. Over ordering meant not having enough space to store the extra bulk material.

The chaos caused by not returning bulk items to their designated location can make conducting a physical count a Herculean task. With missing inventory placed at unplanned staging locations, it added to the warehouse imbalances.

An Ideal Journey

Organizing any operation-chemical manufacturing or distribution—starts with analyzing its operations, growth initiatives and business goals for the next five years.

Ways to make warehouses more efficient include:

  • Review existing warehouse storage and design in terms of locations and inventory groupings.
  • Using federal, state and local safety guidelines based on chemical properties, create procedures stating where chemicals must be stored.
  • Number locations by aisle, row, rack and bins.
  • Place the fasting moving items close to the shipping area.
  • When receiving bulk containers, label them with a scannable barcode.
  • Label the put away locations and staging locations so checkers can quickly and easily count quantities in a specific location.
  • Provide workers with mobile devices that let them scan barcodes providing real time work details and order status updates.

Processes and Procedures in the Chemical Industry

Chemical manufacturing and distribution companies have many similarities in terms of receiving, inventory, planning, shipping and warehouse management.

The basic processes within the chemical distribution industry are centered more around warehouse management, inventory, planning, repacking, light manufacturing, shipping and receiving. Chemical manufacturing adds route operations, resources and work in progress (WIP) testing.

Inventory management processes in a chemical distribution company start with Purchasing and Receiving.

Purchased products are bulk or packaged chemicals, packaging items, labels and other supplies. These products normally come from an approved primary vendor or supplier.

Reporting and analytics shows two statistics that determine the effectiveness of the primary supplier:

  1. 1. The buyer’s decision to switch to an alternate vendor for a specific purchase.
  2. 2. The number of times this change occurs.

Vendor ratings showing the percentage of purchases delivered on time and in full is also important to buyers.

Figure: 1High-level Flow of Purchase Order-to-receive Process

High level flow of purchase to receive process

The next major process is inventory and warehouse management.

The most efficient warehouses are organized by aisle, row, rack, bin, lot or batch. They have pallet ID tags and box IDs. Materials managers seeking better organization find that using a license plate number for rows, racks, bins and pallets works best. Using scannable barcodes lets users with mobile devices easily retrieve inventory.

Using this method reduces lost inventory, incorrect counts and locations. It also makes tracking individual products faster and easier such as when repacking items.

Labeling all warehouse locations is also critical when streamlining operations. Two common methods are Serpentine and Standard. Most companies follow a four location naming standard with aisle, rack, row and bin.

Figure: 2Layout of a Typical Warehouse in a Chemical Distribution Company

Layout of a typical warehouse in a chemical distribution company

The third main process used by chemical distribution companies is capacity planning or master planning.

These companies should plan to break bulk and repack, changing labels at each stage. Master plans help track human resources, label printers, packaging machines and other devices.

Typical operations such as repackaging or breaking bulk require those stations and their operators. These functions cannot occur when either is unavailable.

Distribution companies seeing fast moving or express items require planning that is more agile. Agility requires operating on a net change mode instead of completely recreating set-ups every hour. Having that flexibility helps planners make key decisions and set priorities that optimize the work effort.

Figure: 3High-level view of Master Plan in Microsoft Dynamics 365

High level view of master plan in Microsoft dynamics 365

The fourth major process is production and packaging.

Production in chemical distribution companies uses light manufacturing operations such as repacking. A bulk container is opened and quantities required to fill an order are removed.

Typical work orders include operations such as filling, packing, labor, quality and Labeling. The yield provides the quantities and costs to produce each container.

Labeling is the fifth major process.

Labeling is an additional operation on the shop-floor. Including an integrated label management solution included in normal workflows ensures merchandise is properly tracked.

Figure: 4High-level Repack Process in Chemical Distribution

High-level Repack Process in Chemical Distribution

The last two steps are order management followed by billing.

Once inventory is available, warehouse pickers should select the fastest route that lets them gather all items to fill that order. Items are then packaged, labeled and wrapped. Typically, they include certificates of analysis, safety data sheets, a packing slip and a bill of lading. Smaller orders often include a commercial shipping service tracking number.

As soon as everything is packed and shipped, the final step is sending the customer an accurate bill.

Figure: 5High-level Customer Sales Order to Shipment in Chemical Distribution

High level customer sales order to shipment in chemical distribution

Get a demonstration of Microsoft Dynamics 365 for your chemical distribution needs.

Schedule Demo

What a Distribution Company Looks Like in Microsoft Dynamics 365

Below is a quick view of what a chemical distribution company would look like in Microsoft Dynamics 365 assuming all required raw materials are available.

01.Products

This information is maintained within the Product Information Management (PIM) module. For a chemical distribution company, it is the heart of supply chain and manufacturing.

At a high level, Product falls into these categories:

Item Group Type Defination
Item – RM Raw Material Ingredient Purchased
Item – INT Intermediate Produced as Part of the Formulation
SKU Finished Product Containerized Finished Product through a Formula
Label Package – Raw Material Labelled Raw Material
KIT Finished Product Packaged into 1 case with same SKUS
BOX Package – Raw Material Package Purchased
Container (Tote, Drum, Etc.) Package – Raw Material Package Purchased
Package (Cases, Kits, Etc.) Package – Raw Material Package Purchased
Services Services  
Supplies Expensed Packaging Material, Lab Supplies, Office Supplies, Etc.  

In addition, companies should define products requiring tracking by batch, location and license plate. These items may also require coverage settings, lead times and other attributes such as chemical properties and label elements such as hazard statements, pictograms and hazard symbols.

02.On-Hand Inventory

Having a detailed view of inventory by batch, serial number, site, warehouse, location and license plate number for each product provides an inventory snapshot. The data applies to multiple roles such as planners, buyers, customer service representatives and materials managers.

D365 can also produce an inventory value report. It shows inventory quantity and total value plus the physical and financial cost by unit. Having a view into on-hand inventory value for both inventory and WIP can then be reconciled back to General Ledger.

In Dynamics 365, there are many different ways of slicing and dicing inventory. One screen is an on-hand list view displaying all available inventory based on dimensions. Selecting the dimension displays the site, warehouse, location, batch and serial number.

On-Hand Inventory step 1

On-Hand Inventory step 2

03.Sales Orders

D365 is versatile in terms of orders for chemical products, kits or cases. In Microsoft D365, customers can have products shipped to them or directly to their customer.

This process starts when customer service creates a sales order with the customer’s PO number. They add the products being shipped to the customer. The order can include specific customer instructions and notes. Notes and attachments can be set for printing on specific documents such as the packing slip or bill of lading.

For distribution, Microsoft Dynamics provides a Distributed Order Management (DOM) indicator. It provides a complete picture of inventory across the warehouse and ensures the order processes correctly.

Sales Orders Step 1

Sales Orders Step 2

Sales Orders Step 3

04.Master Planning

Depending on how the packaged items are set up for planning (e.g., min/max, requirement or period) with lead times and calendar setup, companies can run a master plan in a regeneration mode. This mode displays all supply, demand, planned supply and forecasted demand or net changes since the last full master resource planning run.

Typically, companies run master planning for all items or items under a certain coverage group such as fast moving items.

Master Planning

05.Production of Kits and Cases

Microsoft Dynamics 365 has extensive functionality supporting all chemical distribution company production operations. The operations can be streamlined for simplicity or conform to current methods.

For example, setting a production order in D365 can include finished goods produced, work planned, tracking operations, routes, resource cost and job scheduling.

Different views are set based on security roles and privileges. These allow different sets of users to view the production order, picklists, route cards or job cards.

Production of Kits and Cases step 1

Production of Kits and Cases step 2

Production of Kits and Cases step 3

Companies can also use Gantt charts to visually see planning and job scheduling. D365 has a powerful visual planning and scheduling tool that comes handy when scheduling tasks for all sales orders planned during a day, week or a month.

Production of Kits and Cases step 4

Bill Of Materials(BOM) journals are used in the production process to add finished goods into inventory and to reduce the inventory components within the formula or BOM.

These journals help reduce the process time instead of using a full production order.

A BOM journal cannot perform functions like tracking jobs and operations. It also is not part of visual planning.

Production of Kits and Cases step 5

Note: Xcelpros earlier blog post on “Operational Challenges in a Chemical Company: Key Solutions” explains production and operations in more detail.

06.Shipments

International shipments add export documentation not required for domestic deliveries. Both shipment types use a common document set generated by D365.

Using D365’s advanced warehouse management functions, outbound work and a shipment wave is created to pick products and put-aways for packaging.

D365 enhanced with the power of Integrated Chemical Management (iCM) prints a documentation package including:

  • Warehouse Work: Displays sales order number, work number, product batch or lot number, license plate information and put-away location in barcode formats. Work is processed using a barcode device.
  • Packing Slip: Displays the sales order number, customer PO number, delivery method, ship date, product to be delivered, quantity delivered, unit of measure, batch number or lot number delivered, ship to address, ship from address, back-order quantity and other related information.
  • Bill of Lading: Displays ship to address, sales order number, hazard information, pallet information, number of boxes, master bill of lading number and related materials.
  • Certificate of Analysis (C of A): Displays product, company logos for private label customers; test specifications; test results including visual, fraction, integer tests; approver information; expiration dates or best before dates; and test dates.
  • Safety Data Sheets (SDS): Displays product label information, pictograms, hazard statements, warning statements, transportation and U.S. Department of Transportation required information by country and language, CAS number information, etc.
  • Shipping Labels: Displays company logo, ship to address and product information.

Shipments step 1

Shipments step 2

07.Invoicing

After shipments are done, Microsoft Dynamics 365 gives companies the ability to create invoices in a batch mode or mass select shipments for invoicing. The system also lets them print or email a specific customer email address.

Invoicing step 1

Invoicing step 2

Invoicing step 3

Key Takeaways

Chemical distribution company executives should compare what their firm looks like now and how it might look after migrating to Dynamics 365.

D365 allows companies to streamline processes with a robust, simple, easy to understand and powerful system. Its ability to integrate with other Microsoft applications allows your company to fully integrate and enhance efficiencies.

Power tools such as master planning and production Gantt charts provide the ability to plan and schedule your production operations.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 helps boost your business efficiencies through the “one Microsoft ecosystem” by working seamlessly with products such as Office 365.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 can address most chemical distribution company requirements without modification.

The Differentiator - one Microsoft ecosystem

What does your company look like in Microsoft Dynamics 365? Talk to us to take a test drive.

References: Why Specialty Chemical Distributors Need to Raise Their Game

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Customer Service Keys Benefits
  • Xcelpros Team
  • No Comments

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Customer Service: Keys Benefits
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Customer Service: Keys Benefits 700 500 Xcelpros Team

At a Glance

  • Customer support professionals face constant challenges trying to understand customer requirements while making connections on an emotional level.
  • Emotional connections with customers has become an extremely important requirement for companies looking to boost their bottom-line.
  • Artificial intelligence (AI) for customer support coupled with machine learning (ML) helps analyze large volumes of customer data using tools like Natural Language Processing (NLP) and advanced voice recognition, to generate.

Introduction

Today’s customers want more affordable, convenient services that cater to their unique needs. Significantly more business is transacted seamlessly across both physical and digital channels. This is a result of increased trust in day-to-day technology which has led to increased sales, along with an easy way for customers to recommend products and services to other people, creating a whole new network of promoters. To take advantage of this change in behaviour, more companies are working harder than ever to deliver better services and provide great end-to-end customer experience.

67%

of customers are willing to switch brands looking for a better customer experience.

Source: Forbes

A lot of brands fail to create a positive emotional experience which directly impacts customer loyalty. This dissatisfaction results in customers switching between brands due to a poor customer experience.

Companies that excel in customer experience can uplift their revenues by 4%-8%.Source: Bain

Understanding this, more companies are beginning to come around to the benefits of investing in AI-automated technologies, with some choosing to focus on boosting their revenue, and others favoring customer experience over price and quality. This doesn’t ignore pricing, but let’s companies place more emphasis on the user experience. Additionally, most of these systems can be automated, further increasing the benefits.

80%

of the customer interactions will be handled by AI eliminating the presence of human agents by 20202

Source: A Gartner Study

Enhancing the customer experience with AI

In a digital world where every minute is important, it doesn’t make sense to have multiple virtual customer service agents set up to manage small issues. Using AI-based solutions to answer simple questions can help control costs to your company along with offering a host of additional benefits such as:

  • Providing faster issue resolution
  • Answering customer questions 24/7
  • Sorting and routing messages
  • Ability to transfer to live support as necessary
  • Freeing of asset availability to manage high value incidents

This is accomplished by analyzing large volumes of data much faster than a human. AI also uses high-level voice recognition to identify the voices of customers, understand the problem and provide the necessary responses. This all allows for faster prediction of market requirements with much higher accuracy.

Another tool born of AI, Natural Language Processing (NLP), analyses human language to understand context and determine outcomes seamlessly, and often undetected. NLP works in a union with voice recognition to ensure faster problem resolution for customers, reducing frustration. These solutions are deployed as bots and can even be set up to transfer to a human assistant in the event the system is unable to assist. This is important to remember as AI isn’t a replacement for human interaction, just a tool that facilitates an improved experience.

Using AI for enhancing customer experience helps organizations achieve a number of sought after benefits including minimizing pain points, and reducing the number of hours spent by customer agents on simple tasks. AI driven automation with advanced machine learning helps empower your support agents to do their job more efficiently, creating more opportunities for up-sell and cross-sell activities designed to increase sales.

In today’s Age of the Customer, personal, emotive customer interactions play a critical role in bridging the gap for what disruption and digital innovation alone cannot solve. For brands to compete – and win – in CX in 2018 and beyond, service leaders must ensure their teams optimize processes and communication in ways that create positive emotional experiences for customers.

Dennis Fois | CEO of NewVoiceMedia

Harness the power of AI for effective customer services. Get started with a assessment.

Get Started Now

Exploring options – How Dynamics 365 can help

Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Customer Service insights let’s businesses leverage AI-driven insights to improve their customer service experience. Microsoft has included the following innovative features designed to help track performance across various channels

  • Dashboard Reference
  • Data Subject Rights (DSR) requests under GDPR

The dashboard reference comprises of various dashboards such as –

1.KPI summary dashboard This offers a macro-view of customer service experiences in your company, displaying topics currently generating the highest volume along with emerging issues.

2.New cases dashboard This is an overview of all the newly added customer cases in your system.

New cases dashboard

3.Resolutions dashboard This is a company-wide view of all case resolutions. AI helps identify the issues that impact resolution time.

Resolutions dashboard

4.Customer satisfaction dashboard Offers an overview of all the customer satisfaction scores in your company using AI automation to track the topics which have the highest impact on CSAT scores.

Customer satisfaction dashboard

5.Topic details dashboard This is a detailed overview of key performance indicators(KPIs) for specific topics using AI automation to showcase the impact by product and channel on customer satisfaction scores and resolution time.

Topic details dashboard

Aside from built-in dashboards, visual filters, and interactive charts that give an overview of operational data across all channels, Dynamics 365 also offers actionable insights based on critical performance metrics and emerging trends from your customer service system, highlighting areas that could benefit from improvement and could significantly impact business growth.

Dynamics 365 AI for Customer Service Insights provides a number of valuable benefits including

Improving customer satisfactionBuild brand loyalty by resolving issues before in a timely fashion. Gain a comprehensive understanding of CSAT scores used to calculate customer satisfaction.

Increasing operational efficiencies Streamline operations with insights from case resolutions, historical comparisons, and backlog trends to evaluate customer service agent performance. Monitor case volumes and expected support topics to optimize efficiency.

Enhancing visibility Dynamics 365 helps with effective visualization of customer engagement patterns, customer service operations using various AI-automated dashboards, machine learning capabilities and agent performance, and more. Discover and share critical insights using interactive charts and filters with AI for customer service.

Key Takeaways

While things like sales, pricing and quantity is often the main focus of businesses, it’s important to understand that developing good experiences with customers is just as important, sometimes more. Satisfied customers become extremely effective promoters of the brand simply by recommending your products or services to people they know. This helps businesses expand as loyalty leads to an emotional connection.

As we continue to see newer, more advanced technologies designed to simplify and enhance customer service experiences emerge, understanding the simple fact that people never forget how you made them feel will be even more important. The future of AI in customer service is indeed very bright.

Also Read: Artificial Intelligence in Insurtech : Reshaping the Insurance Industry

The Empower Process
  • Xcelpros Team
  • No Comments

Brochure The Empower Process
Brochure The Empower Process 400 400 Xcelpros Team
Challenges in Pharmaceutical Supply Chain due to Covid-19
  • Xcelpros Team
  • No Comments

Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Challenges due to Covid-19
Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Challenges due to Covid-19 700 500 Xcelpros Team

Introduction

Even while the United States and much of the world continues to vaccinate and protect its citizens from COVID-19, new variants of the disease continue to pop up around the world. Since its arrival, not only have millions of lives been lost and affected, problems caused by the disease continue to wreak havoc on the pharmaceutical supply chain.

As of May 2021, Google states nearly 3.4 million dead in 220 countries and territories worldwide, including over 587,000 in the US alone

Some of the more prominent short-term effects cited in a July, 2020 article on Springer include

  • Demand changes leading to shortages caused by panic-buying oral home-care medications
  • Supply shortages of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished products, especially those coming from China and India
  • Shifting communications and promotions to telecommunication and tele-health, resulting in a 70 – 80 percent drop in visits to physician offices and clinics
  • Change in the focus of research and development programs to dealing with COVID-19

More Long-lasting effects include:

  • Delayed approvals for non COVID-related pharmaceutical products, partially caused by the closure or semi-closure of regulatory agencies
  • Self-sufficiency and lower demand for APIs and finished products made in China and India caused by delays in manufacturing and disruption to shipping and logistics
  • Organization growth impacted by economic slow-downs around the globe
  • Ethical issues from poorly researched clinical therapies and products
  • Drastic change in consumer use of cleaning and health products

By the Numbers

  • 2x increase in investigational treatments in the U.S.
  • 100% – 700% increase in the use of medicines to treat COVID-19 in U.S. hospitals (January-July 2020)
  • Upwards of 24 million excess prescriptions have been written in the U.S. alone, for things like hypertension, mental health issues, respiratory problems, diabetes, and anxiety.
  • 156 clinical trials for COVID-19 in the Middle East and 140 in the EU
  • 70%-80% reduction in patient visits to doctors’ offices in the EU
  • 23% of patient interactions in the EU are now being done online

Source: Springer.com

Supply Chain Effects

A recent report by Deloitte about the impact of COVID on the pharmaceutical industry includes a look at Supply Chain Management. The report cites a number of key risks to be aware of in different functional areas, including the following

Procurement

  • Quality checks of received materials. Mitigation measures include increasing warehouse space for quarantining shipments from China.
  • Shortages of raw materials, APIs and solvents due to dependency, inadequate materials to complete BOMS/batch size processing. Prevented by boosting stocks of critical inventory, evaluating alternate sourcing of impacted materials and using government support policies when looking at investments in production plants.
  • Shutdowns of vendor plants. Solved only by identifying shutdowns from remote (i.e., Asian) sources and pressure testing supply chains for various scenarios.

Planning

  • Expiration of materials and monitoring for reassessments and quality certificates where the solution is submitting studies to the FDA with the longest agreeable expiration date.
  • Shutdowns from contract manufacturers, requiring sufficient communication regarding their ability to deliver products.
  • Additional quality control checks for contamination issues. This can be mitigated by having quality control personnel on-site and thorough sanitizing of all in-bound products, employees and equipment.
  • Contamination after final packaging. Requiring the disinfecting of shipments before delivery, possibly with photographic proof.

Transportation and logistics

  • Non-availability of local transportation to move raw materials and finished goods. Can be solved by locating alternate partners and getting approval to move essential drugs should a lockdown occur.
  • Contamination issues related to transportation or vehicles. Requires the disinfecting of all vehicles, plans for properly storing temperature-sensitive products in assigned warehouse space.

Export

  • Contractual compliance. This can be mitigated by ensuring the person collecting the order is aware of any regulatory restrictions.
  • Contractual terms with domestic and export customers. Preventing this requires seeking advice from insurance brokers and engaging early with clients to determine what could work if supply chain or personnel issues occur.

Figure: 1Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Areas Affected by Covid-19

Supply Chain Effects

Book a consultation to learn more about building resilience in the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Book Now

Lasting Effects

The effects from COVID have caused businesses to do whatever necessary to stay competitive, such as the repurposing of disposable components from single use systems to use in COVID-specific programs at the expense of other critical efforts. This is just one of the continuing effects on the supply chain cited by Contract Pharma in a recent COVID-19 Impact Report, as well as the following pointed out by other executives in the industry.

  • Kay Schmidt of Catalent said finding vaccines and target therapies for Covid-19 has boosted demand for their services. The increased demand, “has led to greater collaboration and innovation between partners, regulators and throughout supply chains to meet key milestones”. This boost to business requires additional planning and communication to ensure resource allocation for multiple programs.
  • James Rogers of Sterling said, “The impact of the global pandemic has exposed the fragility of the pharmaceutical supply chain.” He predicts that supply chain resilience and reliability will be given the same importance as price when developing future supply strategies.
  • Danita Broyles of U.S. Pharmacopeia is quoted by Contract Pharma as saying, “the decrease in on-site inspections has the potential to increase quality risks to the global supply chain,” adding pressure to manufacturers and suppliers to ensure the quality of their products.
  • Ben Wylie of ChargePoint Technology said that, “many governments are now pushing the industry to rethink its model to safeguard drug production.” He cited a program in India to reduce reliance on China for critical drugs and APIs.

Final Thoughts: The Impact of COVID-19 on Regulatory Practices

COVID-19 will continue to have an ongoing impact on regulations in the areas of clinical study trial design, clinical trial study development and post-clinical trial regulatory submissions, Dr. Ronan Brown of IQVIA wrote in an article on European Pharmaceutical Review.

Among the changes forced on drug manufacturers includes a more decentralized approach to collecting patient information and rapid access to regulators, Dr. Brown said. This includes pre-investigational new drug meetings with the FDA now granted in less than 30 days. The FDA has also taken steps to accelerate the review and start of new studies.

Flagging potential obstacles and safety concerns during these early meetings lets pharmaceutical companies move faster into human trials, he explained.

Decentralized clinical trials, which he expects will ultimately cost about the same as the traditional versions, will offer greater diversity in terms of patient cohorts along with increased mobility and convenience.

Thinking
Unlimited!

There is no box! We believe in the limitless possibilities of human potential powered by technology.

Subscribe Now

Chicago

1 Mid America Plaza, 3rd Floor Suite #226, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181

Phone: 630-869-0901

Bangalore

V4 Complex 2nd Floor, Krishna Kamala Enclave, Uttarahalli Hobli, Bangalore, Karnataka 560061

Search Services, Industries, Insights, and Products