Daniel Holgate, Chief Technology Officer at Agile Automations, shares the benefits of using a specialist intelligent automation provider to unleash the full potential of your workforce and cut out repetitive work processes
The post-pandemic business landscape is constantly shifting. It requires businesses to adapt their service models and stay agile so that they can change as fast as market situations or customer expectations change. To stay ahead of the competition, an organisation’s infrastructure must be lean, innovative and seamlessly integrated.
Intelligent automation (IA) is the next stage in this evolution of how we work. It refers to the integration of robotics with multiple components from different emerging technologies.
Robotics and automation are transforming the efficiency of every organisational function – from finance, tax, human resources and technology infrastructure to supply chain, governance and risk.
Combining the skills of human workers with a digital workforce is at the heart of IA. This will allow business processes to operate more quickly and efficiently than ever before.
Automation isn’t the future, we are already here.
What is RPA and why do I need it?
Automation solutions such as robotic process automation – or RPA – allow organisations to automate their processes without the need for complex, strategic changes to their core infrastructure – or indeed changes to databases and methods of working.
RPA is the application of technology that involves a software application – a ‘robot’ that captures and interprets a transaction or process, manipulates the data, triggers responses and communicates with systems and humans, including staff and customers.
It does this with outstanding efficiency, while offering enhanced risk and governance controls with end-to-end audit trails. It can operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week – with some processes eliminating the need for human engagement altogether.
All data-driven, customer-facing or finance-related businesses face challenges, including having limited time or budget and higher risk of maintenance overload when they think about implementing an innovative technology.
Agile Automations’ custom-coded solutions offer a way through these challenges, while also offering businesses the ability to scale.
What type of RPA solutions are available?
According to the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant report, RPA is the fastest growing area in the software market and the most suitable choice for operational efficiency.
However, the market remains fragmented, with several providers offering solutions that are hard to maintain and often not fit for purpose soon after the implementation.
For a small-to-medium-sized business, the challenges involved in trying the innovative technology include limited time or budget, operational risk or lack of skilled resources for ongoing maintenance.
The market sector can also be confusing for the purchaser, with providers repurposing or relicensing off-the-shelf RPA solutions made by one or two industry giants.
These solutions either fall short of the required automation or must be maintained by a skilled workforce, meaning extra investment in people.
However, Agile Automations’ solutions have the following key features, making them unique, yet versatile:
• Efficient and targeted Our solutions are custom-coded, AI-powered and designed for a specific requirement that is defined by our own Agile Scrum and Prince2-qualified scoping consultants. These machine-learning algorithms match with many known and unknown scenarios.
• Fully supported Our unique proposition is designed to help SMEs who may not have skilled resources to maintain the software. We support and maintain RPA projects for our clients from start to finish, covering all aspects of the project, including discovery, scoping, development, implementation, testing and training, with return-on-investment evaluations.
• Cost-effective and independent We do not use any third-party licences or off-the-shelf products. Our skilled Manchester-based engineers design and develop the RPA solutions specifically to meet the client’s complex requirement.
• Agile and scalable We have the experience in software automation to remove your blockers. We have developed a huge library of APIs, allowing us to automate almost any system with remarkable speed and accuracy. With artificial intelligence built in, these solutions learn from their use while remaining agile and scalable.
• System, process or industry agnostic Our solutions are applicable to any rules-driven process involving any size of data. With complex but easy-to-maintain APIs, our solutions can automate any data-driven process in any industry.
• Modular and adaptable We proactively build and maintain robust APIs that target industries’ major systems, so that when there is a need for a change we do not need to rebuild the entire solution.
Where to start
Whether you are new to intelligent automation or you have tried it in your organisation but perhaps feel that you might not be experiencing the full benefit, contact Agile Automations to see how we can take you to the next level of automation.
We also specialise in working with existing solutions, as we will build and maintain further modules to complement them and improve efficiency, accuracy and customer satisfaction, such as with SAP and other key infrastructure.
Our proof-of-concept solutions can be tried without the need for significant investment or long-term commitment.
FIND OUT MORE
Email: businesslife@agileautomations.co.uk
Tel: (+44) 0161 804 1399 or 0203 912 0882
Web: www.agileautomations.co.uk/contact
• This advertising feature was first published in Businesslife's Funds Edition in August 2022?
Case study: cutting processing time by 50% with Intelligent Document Processing Automation
This solution continuously runs unattended on a robust server, scanning a shared folder and Outlook email inbox for new document requests.
These documents come in a variety of formats, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, email body and PDF (both scanned and true PDF). Our robust Optical Character Recognition (OCR) module can read the scanned documents with remarkable accuracy.
The data extracted, once in a digitally structured format, can be used to process the request in various systems, while keeping the sender informed.
The specific uses of this solution include:
• Order processing for supply and procurement divisions
• Invoice and remittance processing for finance divisions
• Account maintenance for customer relations
• Payslips, P60s, tax processing for payroll and HR divisions
• Audit and reports processing for regulatory risk and reporting divisions.
The solution is so versatile that, with minimum configurations, it can read any document, extract the data and use it to achieve the desired outcomes for any purpose.
A game-changer for client KCS
Kevin Attwood, Operational Manager, Kent County Council Commercial Services, says: “Prior to the automation solution built by Agile Automations, we used to process each email order manually, by verifying customer details and product order details. This process was not only time-consuming but even with a highly trained team, the volume led to some errors and inevitable order delays.
“The robotic process automation solution built by Agile Automations has helped us reduce errors and improve customer service by processing orders faster, without errors. We achieved a more than 50% saving in our human resources, allowing us to switch the resource to more value-add services for our customers.
“Agile Automations supplemented the solution with full management information to support our business decisions. We particularly like that it maintains end-to-end audit trail and allows exception handling so that all orders can be traced back if required.
“The solution is versatile and scalable. We are so happy with the solution that we are considering further areas within our organisation that would be able to benefit from automation solutions from Agile Automations.
“We continue to form a long-term strategic partnership to that end.”