- Technologies for intelligent automation (IA) are evolving from highly strategic to operational. It’s even more remarkable when considering the bottom line.
An analysis from Blue Prism by SS&C,constructed a composite organization representative of five consumers questioned for a study done by Forrester Consulting and published in April. The study’s conclusion was that over the course of three years, IA had several major successes, including increased productivity, reduced compliance costs, and enhanced employee satisfaction and retention. This translated to a net present value per client of $53.4 million (£42.5 million) overall.
However, this might only be the beginning. The enterprise sales manager at SS&C Blue Prism, Dan Segura, mentions a healthcare client that, according to a “genuine estimate,” saved over $140 million in total through cost avoidance and recovery. A use case including a bot that recovered overtime pay for nurses and staff during the epidemic was presented by a different healthcare customer. The bot alone claimed a $43 million benefit.
Segura says, “They built it in an afternoon.” “It’s an ideal illustration of being in the right place at the right time, with the appropriate abilities and technology in place.”
Intelligent automation is made up of many long-standing technologies, such as optical character recognition (OCR) and traditional robotic process automation (RPA). Segura calls the document automation provided by SS&C Blue Prism, which is a component of the latter, a “game-changer.” “Many of these procedures, whether they are carried out by humans or robots,” he claims. “First and foremost, we need to remove data from documents.
He continues, “With the advent of AI and generative AI, automation is no longer limited to performing simple tasks.” “More comprehension is now present, whether it is in evaluating data from messages or documents or organizing semi-structured or unstructured data to advance or finish a process.”
On the other hand, Segura calls Chorus, a broader business process management (BPM) and process orchestration tool, “one of the world’s best kept secrets.” Or, at least, it was; according to analyst Everest Group’s Process Orchestration Products PEAK Matrix, the product was named a leader and star performer in November.
The instrument is currently gaining traction outside of the conventional insurance and banking industries. According to Segura, “it is how countless millions of transactions and tasks are completed every day.” “We’re seeing automation being adopted elsewhere in tandem with work orchestration to give them visibility, efficiency gains, and end-to-end work orchestration with whatever they’re working on.”
How then does a use case materialize? It frequently combines inspiration with sweat. As Segura puts it, SS&C Blue Prism’s role is to “assist customers in catching lightning.” “Everyone has experienced the thought that if they were in charge of this establishment, this is what they would do,” he says. “With intelligent automation, you can completely revamp your workflow and redefine how you do tasks. The realization and awareness of what intelligent automation can bring is essentially the secret sauce of SS&C Blue Prism, once that light switch is turned on and the initial use case is developed.
Segura continues, “We’re always learning from our customers.” They are in charge of it since they are the ones that understand their operations and business the best. The magic happens when you combine their business knowledge with the revolutionary potential of intelligent automation and its digital workforce.
Regardless of the business, Segura contends that every organization includes potential change agents and citizen builders. It is a clear definition of the term “builder”; don’t think otherwise.
“They’ll tell me, ‘here we have 500, 1000 citizen developers,’ when I hear about these citizen developer programs. “And with this army of citizen developers we’ve achieved this,” is what I don’t hear, says Segura. “However, with a more robust approach, I have customers where two individuals have essentially become citizen builders.” One example is the $43 million healthcare single use case. Segura continues, “That is SS&C Blue Prism’s entire motto.” “Our goal is to pursue higher value chain automations that can directly influence some of the company’s main goals.”
You therefore own the concept, the value proposition, and the ability to develop it. How can you get it to stick? Although every organization is unique, if yours has a department dedicated to continuous process improvement, it would be an excellent place to start. Segura compares it to procedures involved in offshore. He clarifies, “You don’t just wave it goodbye and never think about it again.” It still needs to work at the end of the day.
“You’re not just ‘digitally-shoring,'” meaning that automation will essentially be handled by digital. Someone must be in charge of overseeing the process’ ongoing improvement, keeping an eye out for changes to company regulations or legal compliance, and ensuring sure that changes are implemented quickly.
A well-established, sizable US retail client of SS&C Blue Prism combines such lightning capture with an appropriate internal automation culture. This organization employs 72,000 people in total, including 60 “digital workers” who carry out more than 150 automations. One such automation allows the business to process incoming customer orders received by digital fax automatically by utilizing OCR technology.
6.2 million transactions have been completed thus far, and the company has recovered 250,000 hours of labor. However, one more component is needed, especially for a large business: discipline.
Segura says, “It took them a while to get to that point in maturity.” “They do play a very important role in the intelligent automation team, but bear in mind that the supply chain is one of those processes. This procedure involves going through two million SKUs for 8,000 supply items, monitoring 50 million inventory cases, and routinely analyzing 4.2 million purchase orders.
“This is a highly iterative process, but it’s that lightning rod method to capture the requirements and provide a platform and methodology to people who aren’t technical to work closely with the intelligent automation team,” continues Segura.
Consider what SS&C Blue Prism accomplishes as giving folks who would not otherwise have the opportunity to walk in the spotlight a superhero cape. The corporation plans to deliver this message on June 5–6, at the Intelligent Automation conference in Santa Clara.
“SS&C Blue Prism provides an avenue for your citizen builders to effectively contribute and yield strategic advantages for the organization,” states Segura. “You’re really getting into the strategic objectives of the company; you’re not just fooling around with something or playing with a pilot.”
