Category: RPA

THOSE WORKING IN THE RPA SPACE ARE USED TO SPOTTING GOOD OPPORTUNITIES FOR APPLYING AUTOMATION. HOWEVER IT COMES THROUGH EXPERIENCE AND IT’S NOT AS EASY AS IT LOOKS. SO, WHERE DO YOU START WITH RPA?

Skore’s Process Improvement Platform enables you to identify potential opportunities for RPA. However, often organisations are reluctant, the response being “we’ve tried that before but it didn’t really deliver the return we’d hoped for.”

If we look at statements like this more closely it’s actually because the processes in question are complicated. They are selected for a number of reasons; multiple systems, numerous copy and paste activities, repetition and high levels of human interaction. Most importantly these are considered low risk in case anything went wrong.

However whilst low risk they are clearly of low importance too. Only a vague scope is agreed before the team go to work developing automation ideas.

Teams may initially be pleased that the amount of copy and paste they previously did is greatly reduced and the volume of items they can handle has increased. However, the number of exceptions start to increase too, at a higher rate than the volume increase. In addition, there is an increase in rework… items that didn’t make it successfully to the end of the process and need to be redone, often manually.

In other words organisations fix one problem but create new ones. On balance there is only a small return on investment and the whole RPA initiative runs out of steam before it’s begun.

So, how do you avoid these common mistakes? Where do you start with RPA?

Understanding which processes are right for automation is essential for success. Every organisation will have a different view of what’s important. Time and cost savings are obvious benefits but you must consider the impact on customer and employee experience. 

Therefore the first thing you should do is start to capture and analyse your end-to-end business processes. You need to get people aligned and identify everything that needs to be improved before applying automation. This drives out the requirements and other improvement opportunities.

Remember capturing business processes doesn’t have to be time consuming, using process mapping it can be achieved rapidly, with high levels of engagement and immediately outputs a report of what to automate and when. Skore’s Process Improvement platform was designed with this in mind and also produces a robust business case for each process. This helps you prioritise them into a pipeline of work.

If you want to get the most out of RPA you need to pick processes that are easy to automate and return high value benefits in the shortest time. At least until you’ve established your RPA capability and are able to scale it. Using process discovery will help you identify those processes rapidly and prioritise them efficiently.

Craig Willis is one of the founders of Skore, the Process Improvement platform that enables everyone in your organisation to read and understand your processes.

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Are we postponing the inevitable with RPA and storing up problems for the future?

When applying RPA to a manual interface, between an old legacy system and a company’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, often the instinct is to rip out the legacy system. To replace it with something more modern and efficient with the ability to integrate directly. However what is an issue today may be an advantage or opportunity tomorrow and vice versa. In other words, businesses need to be more agile so they can understand the nature of problems they face today and adapt and change for the problems they face in the future.

Making businesses agile is where RPA, and tools such as Skore’s Software platform, really come into their own. With mapping and analysis tools, an organisation can rapidly understand the current situation, align teams and get everyone on-board. It’s a completely different approach to traditional methods of discovery.

Image taken from Skore’s Robotic Assess Software Platform

Undertaking a major systems implementation may seem like the right answer today, for example, replacing a legacy system. However if it takes 12 – 18 months how can we be sure that it will be the right solution long-term?

This is where Process Discovery and RPA are so effective. Process capture workshops are fast, engaging and result in an agreed set of processes in a digital and shareable format.

Furthermore, process capturing should really be more than just ‘processes’. While a process acts as a framework for understanding how the organisation works, a mapping and analysis tool should allow you to augment the process with other information such as; roles, systems, data, duration and costs etc.

It allows you to create a more complete picture of how the organisation works. Enabling you to focus on what’s important right now.

This is why mapping and analysis fits so neatly with RPA. Robotic Process Automation allows you to quickly implement changes to, and vastly improve the performance of, how work gets done. There’s no need to run an 18 month implementation programme before you start seeing benefits. Benefits identified during process discovery can be implemented and realised with RPA within weeks or even days.

We recognise that many organisations are still using traditional methods of discovery to feed their RPA initiatives. But don’t be surprised when there’s a collective groan from your colleagues. If you really want to become truly agile you’ll need to abandon the old ways and marry your RPA programme with Digital Discovery. Only this way will you ensure that your RPA initiative is not just hiding problems for the future.

Skore has developed Robotic Assess, a Saas software solution that enables you and your organisation to rapidly discover and agree business processes, identify RPA opportunities and create a robust business case with clear ROI analysis. Find out more about what our Software Platform tool can do for you.