Functions such as HR, F&A, and IT exist in companies across industries, and pretty much any company in any line of business can benefit by looking at automating these horizontal processes.
HR processes typically involve lots of manual processes such as form filling, data gathering & updating, request processing and so on, providing a fertile ground for productivity improvement through robotic automation. Processes that can be automated in part or whole include:
F&A processes are full of automation opportunities. As an example, RPA can cut the cost of invoice processing by as much as 60%. Typical F&A process areas that are ripe for automation are:
Modern companies are heavily dependent on IT. While many aspects of IT are complex and require human intelligence, it is estimated that nearly a third of IT Services comprises of low-level system admin tasks that can be automated away, such as:
The complex coordination between suppliers, warehouses, manufacturing facilities, transporters and customers is typically rife with inefficient, manual, and un-coordinated processes. Supply chain issues can be responsible for a 20% erosion in value in many companies. RPA can be applied to supply chain processes such as:
Customer service related processes offer a rich hunting ground for RPA use cases.
Most companies have call centres and service desks to deal with incoming customer calls. In today’s multi-channel environment, customers can get in touch with a company through many different channels – phone call, mobile app, online, email, chat applications etc. A customer might call to place an order, make a query, seek information, update personal details, track or cancel and order, raise a complaint and so on. Typically, call centres use a number of different systems and applications to service these requests. The agents carry out a high volume of low complexity repetitive tasks, involving accessing, translating & updating information across different channels & systems while executing the required actions. This process can be slow, inaccurate and irritating. RPA can be used to create Virtual Customer Service Agents and thus automate, speed-up and improve the quality of the entire customer experience.
As a result of multiple organic and inorganic growth factors, many companies are run in a non-integrated, siloed manner. RPA can fix these problems.
A typical business process might run across disparate systems with manual or semi-automated hand-offs. Data is siloed across multiple systems and applications that may or may not talk to each other. Ad-hoc end-user computing systems (typically spreadsheets) are used extensively. RPA is the ideal solution to eliminate organisational inefficiencies arising from such silos.
Today’s businesses collect data from multiple sources, such as web pages, invoicing systems, emails and excel spreadsheets. This requires individuals to log in and out of multiple systems, and copy & paste data between different sources and formats. RPA can be used to automate these high-volume, low complexity tasks.
Examples of use cases are:
Manual, time-consuming, repetitive & monotonous tasks exist in every industry. Software robots, who don’t mind doing boring stuff, don’t get tired, and don’t make mistakes, are inherently better suited to perform such tasks. Robots save humans from drudgery, freeing them up to do more creative things. They also increase the organisational productivity and cut down the operating cost substantially.
Here are some examples of RPA use cases in different industries:
Hardware and software testing/ test automation, application integration.
Collecting and consolidating data from client phones, backing up information from client phones, uploading data, extracting data about competitor pricing, extracting phone manufacturing information.
ERP automation, automation of logistics data, data monitoring, product pricing comparisons.
Filling subcontractor forms, automating verification processes, integrating legacy systems, automating reports.
Patient data migration and processing, reporting for doctors, medical bill processing, insurance data automation and claim processing, triggering emails from medical billing systems, claim status and eligibility automation, and patient record storage.
Order processing, data entry, resolution consulting, claims processing, FTP automation, incentive claims processing.
Competitor pricing analysis, guest data processing, data verification, payment processing, user account creation.
Extract product data from manufacturers websites, automatically updating online inventory and product information, importing website and email sales.
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