Despite these obvious advantages, operating at scale can also lead to inefficiencies, poor communications, hidden expenses and costly delays. Large organizations with multiple constituencies are particularly vulnerable, especially those providing the products and services we rely on in our daily lives.
That’s why process optimization on a continual basis is so important in the effort of scaling up (and maintaining scalability). Intelligent automation is the key to maximizing efficiency and productivity in internal processes. Since its introduction in 2012, robotic process automation (RPA) has rapidly become a strategic enterprise capability, with leading companies combining RPA and intelligent automation to accelerate value realization, master scale challenges, and conquer complexity in ways that weren’t previously possible.
Nevertheless, there’s a broad perception of automation that claims it doesn’t bode well for employees. RPA means the integration of digital workers into a company’s operations, which can be seen as a threat to the relevance of existing employees. But it doesn’t have to be that way; combinatorial innovation can bring everyone together and enable process optimization at scale.
Here are 5 examples that demonstrate how digital workers can help re-invent legacy models and improve processes to make life better and more productive for employees in a range of industries:
1. Easing the burden on fraud investigators
In the energy sector, customer identity theft is a huge issue. A Blue Prism 2020 report found that an electric utilities provider, operating large-scale fraud detection efforts, simply couldn’t handle the volume of potential cases.
They introduced automated screen processes using RPA and machine learning (ML) to identify and target the most likely cases for human “investigation.” This saved the company $3 million in its first year.
For employees, it eased the screening burden on fraud investigators, freeing them up to focus on the minutiae instead of concentrating on administrative and sorting tasks. These benefits are easily transferrable to other sectors and roles; RPA can drastically reduce time spent on tasks and increase productivity in important areas, making everyone’s life easier.
2. Protecting revenue in the retail sector
A similar case arose with a UK online retailer that was experiencing fraudulent orders made under existing customer accounts. This was impacting revenue and leading to negative customer reviews, as well as complicating tasks for couriers.
By integrating RPA and intelligent automation with analytics tools to identify fraudulent orders and intercept goods before delivery, the retailer was able to prevent erroneous orders and help their courier services to communicate more effectively. The key to driving value was the speed and accuracy with which the digital workers could contact couriers identified for each item.
This kind of combinatory innovation demonstrates the level of agility digital workers can assist employees with, taking care of background analytics and helping deliver more positive customer feedback.
3. Streamlining end-to-end customer experiences in financial services
Without intelligent automation, the processes of onboarding new customers and accessing resources to serve online requests would be next to impossible. There are simply too many and too many varied requests for a manual workforce to handle efficiently.
The Blue Prism report highlights a North American financial services provider using RPA to integrate a blockchain-based platform with natural language processing (NLP) tools and artificial intelligence engines to transform the customer experience at scale, completely digitizing its online customer interface and enabling customers to select and set up their desired services directly.
This innovation has dramatically reduced turnaround time for customers—with up to 99% improvement—while greatly improving data accuracy and quality. It enabled workers to become more accurate and productive in satisfying customer requests.
4. Making pharmaceutical distribution easier with automated processes
The process of developing and delivering new medicines from laboratory to patient is complex and challenging, involving development and distribution on a global scale. A global pharma company applied imagination and combinatorial innovation to read, verify and structure the raw clinical data. The digital workers then invoked multiple graphic tools to render and deliver the data visually, with tables, charts, graphics and pictures, enabling quicker approval processes.
They also helped with the process of getting medicine to patients. The digital workers now use computer vision to convert import documentation, extract key data fields, and highlight discrepancies to notify local teams of any mismatches or gaps, making a complex and fraught approval process simple for patients and pharmacists alike.
5. Supporting high-volume workstreams in media services
We all love to relax by watching and listening to the wealth of entertainment available through various platforms. The work that goes into making these platforms available is complex and involves an array of different processes, from distribution infrastructures to ad sales and royalties.
The combination of documentation required in these processes makes media service processes extremely data intensive. A large media company used intelligent automation to redesign and simplify their payment processing, building new end-to-end processes supporting high-volume workstreams and easing the burden on workers across departments.
A brighter future
In these seemingly disparate examples is a common lesson. Far from making employees redundant, digital workers help make them more productive and valuable to their organization. By learning to connect with digital workers, employees can free themselves from time-consuming administrative tasks to focus on more meaningful work, carry out their processes and tasks with greater accuracy, and concentrate on career and professional development.
Intelligent automation has fast become an essential tool in process optimization, delivering excellent results in all sectors. By bringing employees into the mix for combinatorial innovation, companies can go one step further in their scaling journey, and employees can grow alongside their organizations. With so many smart tools available at the click of a button, the future is bright for any business or individual with ambitions to achieve more.
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