OmPrompt is another interesting player in the emerging business process automation (BPA) space.
Run by CEO John Wakeman, a former Symantec exec, OmPrompt has a sharp vertical focus, an impressive client list of big names like Kimberley Clark, Diageo, Nestle and Unilever; and a solution targeted specifically at the order-to-cash (O2C) process.
OmPrompt’s technology aims to automate ‘manual workarounds’ that occur in the O2C process when data has been keyed in incorrectly or is out of date. Its cloud-based service aims to avoid the need for repeated rekeying by automating the change across multiple formats (EDI, web, email, fax), and entering it into the order into the O2C system.
These problems are widespread, and happen when customers don’t keep their master data up to date, or simply want to carry on doing things their own way. Wakeman uses the Marathon/Snickers example to explain the problem as often retailers will still order Marathon bars today, even though they were renamed Snickers years ago.
Customer service personnel are often diverted onto these manual workarounds, which is costly for the business, onerous for the employees and can cause customer service to suffer. The UK Trade and Industry (UKTI) invited OmPrompt on its first Web Mission to India in February 2013 to showcase the technology. And new opportunities are now emerging with some of the big India-based service providers. Definitely one to watch.