How Software Automation Replaced LOTTE Mart’s Manual Data Processing for Seamless and Speedy Results

Hurried employees and strained eyes are no longer a common sight at the LOTTE Mart headquarters in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. When much of the computing work was done manually, furious keyboard taps pierced the silent office every morning as employees scrambled to finish their data reports early in the morning, before 9 A.M.

It was a constant race against time for employees to complete their work by the deadline. These data reports were crucial for business planning and sales.

As one of the oldest supermarket chains in Vietnam, LOTTE Mart uses data to keep its finger on the pulse of consumers – offering them the best products based on their preferences. After all, providing quality products and seamless experiences is a core business tenet.

But tedious data mining and manual report writing sapped employees’ time and energy. More importantly, it meant the supermarkets were not always given the most updated information. LOTTE Mart turned to automation in January 2021 to realise their vision of “Innovation working way”, which aims to eliminate waste, increase work efficiency, and speed up its internal processes. This has helped to free up employees’ time, enabling them to spend more effort on enhancing customer service or conducting research on consumer trends.

But as with any change, there were some challenges such as initial resistance from employees who were fearful of going digital. But they were won over by the swift results. Tedious tasks like daily reports are now done by software automation, giving employees and the organization the time to recalibrate their business operations and focus on customers.

The result speaks for itself. Automation is now an integral part of our operations and many of our employees have expressed delight at the simple genius of using software automation in our work.

Hoang Ngoc Minh Nghia · Business Planning & Innovation Senior Manager, LOTTE Mart Vietnam

Automated data analysis for increased efficiency

What used to confront employees across various departments every morning was the arduous process of extracting, processing, and analysing data from the previous day’s sales – a task that took almost three hours.

Data extraction, in particular, involved many repetitive tasks – time that could be better spent on more meaningful work. With at least 14 reports, requiring more than 340 raw data files from across departments, due early in the morning daily, the organization’s technological infrastructure was also put under strain as employees rushed to churn out reports. The system sometimes lagged, further prolonging the report writing process.

But automation turned things around. With software automation, the process is shortened from 165 minutes to under fifteen minutes. The much shorter time taken to produce reports has allowed for greater efficiency – there are now staggered start times for each department’s report, with urgent reports getting priority.

With automation, data can also be analyzed round the clock. While employees are resting, software automation are mining the data and preparing the report – ready for employees once they arrive at work, further increasing their efficiency.

The automation has significantly boosted office productivity and given us so much more time to work on things that truly matter, such as improving touchpoints and expanding the business.

Hoang Ngoc Minh Nghia · Business Planning & Innovation Senior Manager, LOTTE Mart Vietnam

Instant solutions to administrative tasks

The Human Resource (HR) department, which oversees close to 3,000 employees, also faced several challenges with legacy systems that hampered productivity.

For instance, there was no salary disbursement function. Neither were there filters they could apply to narrow down or speed up searches when looking up employee details. They had to spend two weeks manually administering leave requests and overtime declarations every month.

With automation, these simple but time-consuming tasks can now be completed overnight. The software automation that HR employees successfully built now manages most of the department’s menial tasks.

This has given them more time to engage in high-value and creative work such as talent development initiatives and employee performance reviews to enhance overall operations.

Citizen developers: empowering others through technology

The initial success of automation has encouraged other departments to automate their respective processes, reshaping work processes and business operations in LOTTE Mart.

Some automation champions within the organization have gone a step further by proposing their own automation ideas. With the help of UiPath’s technical knowledge, our end users and process owners now spend time thinking about how they can automate their daily tasks rather than doing them manually.

This is in line with UiPath’s vision to inspire citizen developers, who are non-professional automation developers who build their own applications. Through a special design that requires no coding experience, UiPath’s low barriers to entry have given many employees the creative space to devise solutions to their problems at work.

LOTTE Mart has also gone beyond what UiPath initially set out to do, meeting its work-related needs through technology and app development principles.

Automation has not only taken the company to greater heights but also motivated our staff to take the initiative to learn and grow through this venture. As citizen developers, software automation has given us all a new skill that we can take with us to the future.

Hoang Ngoc Minh Nghia · Business Planning & Innovation Senior Manager, LOTTE Mart Vietnam

More automation developments to come

LOTTE Mart has expanded the use of automation from four to 15 distinct processes within 17 months and has plans to do more.

Although expert guidance is required to realize some of its ambitious automation blueprints, the organization is going ahead with projects such as creating a company-wide System Analysis Program (SAP) to accelerate big data processing and administrative work.

This unified state-of-the-art system will serve as a bridge between the various departments to promote better communication across the organization.

Automation offers infinite opportunities for us. As we learn more about automation, we hope to independently take on bigger projects to continually improve both internal operations and customer touchpoints so that we remain a trusted provider of quality services.

Hoang Ngoc Minh Nghia · Business Planning & Innovation Senior Manager, LOTTE Mart Vietnam

“Last but not least, digital transformation, particularly automation, is not something that can be done within several months, it is a journey. A journey of changing mindsets and introducing new approaches and a work culture that aligns with our vision – ‘Innovation working way’”, he added.

As more employees begin to see the benefits of automation, LOTTE Mart aims to champion automation as the way forward. This is a testament to the power of automation, and to UiPath’s efforts in transforming work – and the workplace.