Intelligent automation (IA) technology is evolving from operational to highly strategic. The end results are even more impressive.
A Forrester Consulting study of SS&C Blue Prism published in April, which compiled a composite of organisations representing five interviewed customers, concluded that over three years, IA had delivered significant results, from increased productivity to avoided compliance costs to improved employee experience and retention – equating to a net present value of $53.4m (£42.5m) per customer.
But this may just be the tip of the iceberg. Dan Segura, enterprise sales manager at SS&C Blue Prism, said one healthcare client has realized more than $140 million in overall savings in cost avoidance and recovery, a conservative estimate. Another healthcare client achieved a use case where the bot recovered overtime pay for nurses and staff during the pandemic, a benefit it claims is $43 million in alone.
“They built it in an afternoon,” Segura explains. “It's a perfect example of being in the right place at the right time, with the right skills and technology in place.”
Many of the technologies that make up intelligent automation have been around for a while, such as classic RPA (robotic process automation) and OCR (optical character recognition). One part of the latter, SS&C Blue Prism's document automation, is described by Segura as a “game changer.” “There are a lot of these processes, whether they're robotic or human,” Segura says. “First of all, you need to get the data out of the document.
“With the introduction of AI and generative AI, automation is no longer just about performing simple tasks,” he adds. “It's now about understanding how to drive or complete a process, whether that's evaluating information from a document, evaluating information from a message, or structuring something that's semi-structured or unstructured.”
Meanwhile, Segura describes broader business process management (BPM) and process orchestration tool Chorus as “one of the world's best-kept secrets.” At least, that's true: In November, analysts Everest Group named the tool a leader and star performer in its PEAK Matrix for process orchestration products.
The tool is also finding use outside of the traditional world of finance and insurance. “Millions of transactions and tasks are being driven by it every day,” Segura said. “We’re seeing adoption happening now. [elsewhere] “Automation allows us to orchestrate work, providing end-to-end coordination, visibility and improved efficiency to handle any workload that comes our way.”
So how do use cases come to fruition? Often it's a mix of inspiration and hard work. That's where SS&C Blue Prism comes in: to, in Segura's words, “help our customers capture that inspiration.” “We've all been in that situation of, 'Oh, if I were running this place, I would do it like this,'” he says. “Intelligent automation gives you the opportunity to rethink processes and change the way you work. Once the switch is flipped and the initial use cases are built, that's really the secret sauce for SS&C Blue Prism: recognizing and understanding what intelligent automation can offer.”
“We're always learning from our customers,” Segura adds. “They know their business and processes better than anyone else, so that's what they dictate. When you combine their business expertise with intelligent automation and the transformative power of their digital workforce, that's when the magic happens.”
Segura argues that there are change agents and citizen builders waiting to be found in every organization, regardless of industry. Don't think this is a misnomer; the word is definitely “builders.”
“When you hear about citizen developer programs, you often hear, 'We have 500, 1,000 citizen developers,' you don't hear, 'We have an army of citizen developers and we've accomplished this,'” Segura says. “On the other hand, I have some clients where they have two people who are essentially citizen developers and they're taking a more robust approach.” A $43 million healthcare single-use case is a good example. “That's the mantra at SS&C Blue Prism,” Segura adds. “We're designed to pursue more value chain automation that can have a tangible impact on some of the company's core objectives.”
You have the idea, the value proposition, and the capabilities to make it happen. So how do you make it stick? Every organization is different, but if your company has a continuous process improvement department, that's a good place to start. Segura likens it to the offshoring process. “You can't just say goodbye and never think about it again,” he explains. “At the end of the day, it has to work.
“It's not just 'digital shoring' [automation] And it will be primarily handled digitally. Someone has to continually improve the process. Someone has to keep an eye on changes to business rules and regulatory compliance. Someone has to be responsible for making sure those changes are maintained in an agile way.”
SS&C Blue Prism's combination of rapid capture and a strong internal culture around automation has a long-standing customer at a large U.S. retailer. The company has 72,000 employees, with 60 “digital workers” running over 150 automations. One such automation uses OCR technology to automate the processing of customer orders received via digital fax.
The overall result has been 6.2 million transactions processed so far and 250,000 work hours returned to the business. But there's one more ingredient that's needed, especially for larger enterprises: discipline.
“It took them a while to reach that level of maturity,” Segura explains. “They’re very central to the intelligent automation team. [but] Remember, one of those processes is your supply chain, which regularly reviews 4.2 million purchase orders, manages 50 million cases of inventory, and looks at 2 million SKUs across 8,000 suppliers.
“It’s a very iterative process, but it’s one that has a lightning rod for understanding requirements and gives people who aren’t necessarily technical a platform and a methodology to iterate closely with the intelligent automation team,” Segura adds.
SS&C: Think of Blue Prism's initiative as giving superhero capes to people who don't have a chance to be in the spotlight. That's the message the company is hoping to get across at its Intelligent Automation event in Santa Clara on June 5 and 6.
“SS&C Blue Prism opens the door for citizen builders to really make an impact and deliver strategic benefits to their companies,” Segura says. “They're not just playing around with pilots. They're not just tinkering with stuff. They're really committed to the strategic objectives of the company.”
Photo by Tara Winstead
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