So how do you do it all without a need for a huge investment and substantial business disruption? We believe we know how. Meet your digital workers!
Expert: Nigel Armstrong, Senior Account Director and Head of Wealth Management Solutions, UK&I, Blue Prism
Facilitator: Dave Edwards, Founder, Esperto Business Solutions
Key takeaways:
- RPA is not just about moving the data from one place to the next, it is about making sure that all the processes that go around that are also done and checked off.
- RPA can serve to attract talent, but training and support are an absolute necessity too.
- RPA has not necessarily replaced people. Instead, it has freed up people to do more added value tasks. This includes reducing the demands on the IT team as well as a reducing staffing requirement as a firm scales and evolves.
- Using the cloud and a SaaS model serves to accelerate progress. It makes implementation and adoption much easier.
Context:
Digital workers using Robotic Process Automation technology (RPA) allow organisations to do more with less. RPA gives firms the ability to free up staff time, add compliance efficiency, scale and speed, achieve their goals, scale and plan for growth.
What can RPA do?
RPA is not just about moving the data from one place to the next, it is about making sure that all the processes that go around that are also done and checked off.
There is often confusion over what RPA can do that an API or a batch processor cannot. There is an education piece that needs to be addressed.
The inherent tasks of the RPA are to, not only manage data and make sure it goes to where it needs to be, but also to understand processes and ensure they are followed and are complete.
RPA-enabled digital workers cover all the departments rather than doing it on a siloed department by department basis. They cover all the business workflows across departments and communicate across platforms as well as hosting a single version of truth in more advanced user cases.
Onboarding is a good example of how RPA can help in terms of data gathering and process management. It can manage the gathering of data and then take the necessary actions to make sure data has been received and in the correct format. It then feeds that data to the relevant teams and manages their processes too if required.
Integration with the business
RPA can serve to attract talent, but training and support are an absolute necessity too.
Having up to date and exciting technology can be a real attraction for new talent. It can also empower existing people within the organisation to learn new skills and gain experience.
A cultural shift to acceptance of RPA and for existing staff to adapt to its use is also needed. Unfortunately, there will always be some people who are unable or unwilling to do this and they need to be redeployed, if possible, to elsewhere within the organisation.
Leveraging previous experience within the company or that the provider can bring is important in terms of implementation as well as in terms of how to get the very best out of the RPA and all the tricks and tips.
An in-depth understanding of RPA enables people to leverage it to solve their own data problems rather than waiting for an IT fix. Knowing how to spot and fix problems is also important.
How to get ROI
RPA has not necessarily replaced people. Instead, it has freed up people to do more added value tasks. This includes reducing the demands on the IT team as well as a reducing staffing requirement as a firm scales and evolves.
Qualitative improvements are always harder to measure than actual ROI. Every business is different in how they will measure the benefits and whether that will be in terms of a monetary ROI or a more fluid value add.
Areas like reconciliation or onboarding, which are data and process heavy and potentially complex in terms of interdepartmental overlap, are where the efficiency and time savings are more easily measurable. They make an easy starting point.
Another way of looking at this is that, as the firm scales up, it does not need to recruit because the gap is being filled by RPA. Another approach is to decide that a certain portion of a given function will be done using digital assistance and work towards that.
Implementation.
Using the cloud and a SaaS model serves to accelerate progress. It makes implementation and adoption much easier.
Being in the cloud brings flexibility and scalability for when processes become high volume and/or more complicated.
Ultimately this is something that each firm will need to scope for themselves and shape the way the RPA can be put to work within the individual organisation and how best to leverage it.
