When you can reduce your level of effort by 85%, why not try RPA?
The benefits of robotic process automation (RPA) are driving adoption in technologically savvy organizations, with the market expected to grow to nearly $3B by 2023. RPA is a powerful business tool, removing the need to integrate systems in order to simplify processes and communications across the enterprise, and enabling substantial productivity gains in a very short time frame.
So, with operational costs increasing year over year, one of the largest credit unions in the country chose to invest in RPA to improve the efficiency of their organization. Because this was their first foray into bot-driven processes, they needed help piloting the initiative and identifying the right processes to automate. They put their trust in Celerity.
Selecting and refining the ideal processes to automate
Celerity began by working closely with the credit union to understand their current processes and challenges. This discovery phase resulted in twenty processes that were candidates for automation and a benefit-effort matrix that helped prioritize them. The credit union worked with Celerity to select the processes that would become their first proof-of-concept for RPA.
Then Celerity prepared each process for automation by refining the manual activities, standardizing tasks and information, identifying exceptions and exception remediation steps, and documenting and illustrating current state and future state. After the process preparation, bot development began using Automation Anywhere and an Agile approach. Process analysts and bot developers then worked iteratively to refine and optimize the automated process. Additional takeaways from the initiative include:
- An established framework for process selection, process assessment, process improvement, and iterative automation that will drive future initiatives
- Full transparency into process status through bot logs and reporting
- Improved exception management and remediation through process preparation refinements and bot logs
- A deeper understanding within the credit union of the release process and requirements so they can prepare for broader implementations moving forward
Reducing the manual effort involved in processes by 85%
The RPA-enabled processes implemented by Celerity resulted in an 85% reduction of effort, saving time that could now be put toward more mission-critical initiatives. In addition, the RPA process enabled the credit union to accurately assess process gaps in their internal systems, spot deficiencies in their test environment and test data, and identify redundant manual processes, giving them greater control over subsequent automation efforts.
Ultimately, the proof-of-concept enabled the credit union to prioritize and focus their investments more effectively, opening up new possibilities for changes moving forward. Celerity not only solved the immediate issue; we gave the credit union valuable knowledge toward using RPA as an efficiency tactic within their organization in the future.
Before Celerity
Manual procedures with no RPA processes in place
Increasing operational costs due to time-consuming processes
No proven plan for processes selection, transformation, and automation
Unaware of the RPA process and the extent of its capabilities
With Celerity
Successful RPA pilot, automating processes
85% reduction in level of effort to complete processes
Established framework for process improvement and automation in the future
Deeper understanding of the release process and requirements, fueling future transformation
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