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Automate this The business leader’s guide to robotic and intelligent automation Service Delivery Transformation Proposal title goes here | Section title goes here

As the nature of work has changed, so too have the methods of automation. Robotic process and intelligent automation tools can help businesses improve the effectiveness of services faster and at a lower cost than current methods, but with important limitations.

Global Business Services Outsourcing

03Shared Services Service Delivery Transformation Automate this | The business leader’s guide to robotic and intelligent automation

Contents

Foreword 5 Process automation: What and why? 7 Nuts and bolts: Basics of enterprise automation 11 using robotic process automation Breaking through the hype: Six myths of robotic 15 process automation and intelligent automation Dip your toe … or dive in? Look before you leap 18 A glimpse of the future 22 Authors 24 Endnotes 25

04 Service Delivery Transformation Automate this | The business leader’s guide to robotic and intelligent automation

Foreword

We have seen it in the movies...we have So why do we need robots to run business enabled by cognitive technologies,1 nascent, read fantastical futuristic fiction about it as processes in the first place? Well, to begin but with hugely transformative potential in youngsters in school...and now it is upon us: with many of our business processes are not the near future. We liken the current state of Robots performing human tasks. as intelligent as they could be. Some of them the RPA and IA landscape to the transitional cut across many IT systems that do not years of ERP tools. Remember various ERPs, The future posed by visionary film creators always talk to each other. Others are just too before the graphical user interface and the and novelists is still a bit further away, but time consuming for humans to perform. To wonders of the data warehouse? Robotic the technological advancements which run them smarter is however an expensive tools are in a similar state today. Just as could make it possible are coming, and proposition. It often involves a massive capabilities of the ERP tools exploded as potentially with great speed. There is a IT transformation such as an Enterprise successive releases leapfrogged each other buzz around how robots can transform Resource Planning (ERP) implementation and customer support offerings become business processes. We have been talking or a toolset such as a business process increasingly user friendly, we see similar for years about robots—the droids that management system (BPMS). Other capability trends in the robotic space. mimic humans in a factory—but now we are business processes rely on insights based on the verge of seeing robots that replicate on human reasoning that computers have Alright, but what exactly are these robot- the human brain, rather than only arms not been able to replicate. led automation tools and how similar or and legs. Just like their physical cousins different are RPA and IA from each other? transformed manufacturing, these “virtual” Therefore, today’s business conditions are When should we use either of them, and robots are likely to change the way we run ripe for major change and the emerging how is the supply side geared to start our business processes. technologies within the robot-led solving our problems? automation realm could just be the solution. Robot-led automation has the potential to But the hype about these solutions taking Given such interest on the demand side, change today’s workplace as dramatically over the workplace obscures the reality, the ongoing maturation of available tools, as the machines of the Industrial Revolution and can confuse the casual observer. and the promise of new ways of working in changed the factory floor. Core skills that are There are actually two separate genres of support of a world class, advanced service related to business—process knowledge, automation tools emerging, both of which economy, this is a good time to provide a technology integration, and insightful have the potential to make our processes comprehensive report on this emerging analytics—could be delivered through smarter and more efficient, in very different space. We combined efforts to research this a leveraged model at a lower cost. The ways. The first is a set of tools classified as area in depth. To better understand the RPA capability and demand already exist for this “Robotic Process Automation (RPA),” which space and market capabilities, we reached technology, and it is enabled by abundant has been maturing quietly over the last out to a number of suppliers with an computing power and software solutions decade, to the point where they are now extensive data request coupled with further that can be packaged and downloaded used for enterprise-scale deployments, very discussions and technology demonstrations as “apps.” quickly and at very low cost. The second with some of those suppliers.* genre is “Intelligent Automation (IA)”—tools

* In some sections of this paper, we have used some products and vendors as examples to better illustrate a concept. The intent of these references is limited to the illustration of concepts, and is not meant to compare product capabilities or to recommend any particular solutions.

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We also drew upon our experience, knowledge base, and tools in the areas of technology-enabled business transformation, shared services, and outsourcing. And finally, we spoke to end users and had a number of contextual conversations with experts in our network. It’s important to note that while we had thorough discussions with suppliers regarding their claims of product capabilities, we did not independently validate their representations nor did we conduct formal reference checks or make any attempt to confirm the fitness for any purpose.

We have enjoyed this process as we jointly discovered the breadth, depth, and nuances of this space—and are delighted to bring this knowledge and perspective to the larger business reader base.

Peter Lowes Principal Business Model Transformation Deloitte Consulting LLP

Frank Cannata Senior Vice President Operations and Planning Solutions Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

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Process automation: What and why?

Different means to the same end in expedient solutions to problems, •• By developing shared services and/ Process automation is nothing new— inadequate attention to scalability of or outsourcing processes to a third- organizations have always looked for ways processes and technologies, and ‘siloed’ party Business Process Outsourcing to achieve greater operating efficiencies applications. Inorganic growth typically provider (BPO), who will typically derive and support growth. Process automation presents an even larger problem—bringing efficiencies through labor arbitrage and at scale arguably began more than two two disjointed organizations together and by virtue of scale. This is often a one- centuries ago in the textiles industry, combining multiple sets of operations is time labor arbitrage benefit, and many when factory machines began to be used difficult to achieve. organizations have already realized these for labor-intensive tasks such as weaving, efficiencies, effectively hitting a ‘ceiling’ stitching, and spinning cotton. Physical tasks To date, organizations have responded to beyond which cost and performance can of this nature are now widely automated these challenges in various ways, including: be further improved only through doing across manufacturing and other industries, things differently. •• By investing in newer or better- and developments in the field of robotic integrated enterprise applications. On continue to lower the cost of automation Each of these options has its limitations. In paper, this typically represents the “right” while expanding the capabilities. the ongoing quest for operational efficiency, approach, but such projects are expensive business leaders may keep asking how and many implementations fail. Even the As the nature of work has changed, so too they can: projects that prove to be successful may has the method of automation. For the take years to implement—and any effort to •• Avoid or defer the high investment of large internal operations of a modern business, shorten the project time can compromise technology transformation programs while the chief enabler of automation has been the chances of success and increase the achieving their operating objectives. traditional information technology (IT). Many risk of failure. Running costs may still organizations have applied technology to •• Support business growth without the be high after completion, and the long business processes through the use of ERP proportional increase in operating costs. deployment times can limit agility. and other business applications. However, •• Derive greater value from already some of those same organizations still have •• By optimizing processes with the aid outsourced operations. a patchwork of less-than-optimal business of a BPMS—a software application that processes and applications that do not talk supports the process improvement life •• Support product, process, and business to each other and rarely ease the workload cycle, and often facilitates integration model innovation, and test ideas without of generating meaningful insights— between enterprise applications to costly new technology. which translates into increased costs, increase the amount of “straight-through unnecessarily high-cycle times, inconsistent processing” possible within a process. Process automation presents a means to quality, and impaired agility. Effectively, this is a similar approach to that achieving these aims, and there are two of an IT transformation, but with a smaller genres of tools in particular that businesses One possible explanation for this scope than ERP. They are generally less should be aware of: RPA and IA. predicament is growth—few companies costly and lower risk to deliver, but may manage business growth systematically. also offer reduced benefits. Even organic growth often results

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RPA: Bringing automation benefits to and also by following simple rules to function or industry: any methodical, small-scale processes make decisions. An example of a routine standardized, repetitive process that follows RPA tools can help businesses improve the business process would be the retrieval of consistent rules and is wholly executed efficiency of processes and the effectiveness information from one system and entering through a human-machine interaction is of services. Classic process candidates the same information into another system likely to be a good candidate. that can benefit from RPA typically have or activating another system function. repeatable and predictable interactions With a license for a software robot likely to with IT applications including those that RPA tools evolved quietly over the last cost less than an onshore staff member or may require toggling between multiple decade, but have now reached a level an offshore staff member, the commercial applications (swivel chair). Rather than of maturity where process automation attractiveness of this approach is self- requiring fundamental process redesign is possible at a significant scale. Entire evident. There are nonfinancial benefits associated with IT-driven transformation, end-to-end processes can be performed too, as robot-based process performance RPA software “robots” are able to perform by software robots with very little human is designed to be more predictable, such routine business processes by interaction, typically to manage exceptions. consistent, and less prone to errors as mimicking the way that people interact RPA software robots are not necessarily compared to a human process. Moreover, a with applications through a user interface relevant to only a particular business robot workforce can typically be deployed in a matter of weeks. Once in place, new Figure 1: RPA compared to traditional process transformation approaches processes can often be assigned to them in days if not hours. Thus, RPA solutions generally have lower implementation cost, require shorter implementation 4. RPA time, and carry lower risk than large IT transformations. However, it is important to find the right processes and apply Low RPA judiciously.

3. In most organizations, there are many Outsourcing routine processes performed manually that lack the scale or value to warrant Medium automation via IT transformation, but for Processdisruption which macros and other such desktop 1. IT 2. BPMS automation tools are too limited to Transfor- effectively address. RPA can help address mation this gap, reducing the ‘minimum viable scale’ High of process automation compared to other Low Medium High traditional options. See Figure 1. Speed and predictability of execution

Source: Deloitte Analysis

As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

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Organizations using RPA solutions typically IA raises the bar experience benefits beyond cost reduction: Applied alone, RPA has great potential for For a broader discussion on the automating routine tasks—those that are •• Decreased cycle times and improved potential impact of cognitive methodical, repetitive, and rules-based. throughput: Software robots are technologies, we recommend designed to perform tasks faster than a Redesigning work in an era of By contrast, nonroutine tasks—those person can and do not require sleep— cognitive technologies (Deloitte involving intuition, judgment, creativity, making 24x7 operations possible. Review Issue 17)—our interest persuasion, or problem solving —would herein is the use of cognitive •• Flexibility and scalability: Once a appear to be very difficult to automate. technologies to enable Intelligent process has been defined as a series But the decreasing costs of data storage Automation solutions. of instructions that a software robot and processing power are enabling rapid URL: http://dupress.com/articles/ can execute, it can be scheduled for developments in the field of Artificial what-is-cognitive-technology/ a particular time, and as many robots Intelligence, and creating a new breed as required can be quickly deployed to of cognitive technologies with human- perform it. Equally, robots can be quickly like capabilities, such as recognizing reassigned when other, more important handwriting, identifying images, and natural processes arise—as each robot is typically language processing. When combined with capable of performing many types robotic automation and powerful analytics, of processes. these cognitive technologies can form “IA” solutions that can either directly assist •• Improved accuracy: Robots are people in the performance of nonroutine programmed to follow rules and robots do tasks or even automate those tasks entirely. Robotic automation examples not make typos. •• A BPO provider automated 14 core •• Improved employee morale: The The market for IA is still nascent. It was processes with RPA, achieving tasks and processes most suitable for less than five years ago that IBM’s Watson a typical 30% cost saving per automation are typically the most onerous first broke on the scene, winning a highly process and improving service and least enjoyed and employees relieved publicized game of Jeopardy.2 Since then, quality and accuracy.1 of them can be refocused on more the marketplace has begun to develop, and rewarding and higher value activities. pioneering enterprises are leveraging IA for •• A medical insurer used software assorted purposes: robots to process claim •• Detailed data capture: The tasks adjustments, with a 44% cost performed by a software robot can •• Wealth Management firms are using IA saving compared to manual be monitored and recorded at every to review and analyze portfolio data, administration.2 step, producing valuable data and an determine meaningful metrics, and to audit trail that can support further generate natural-language reports for 1 Source: Blue Prism process improvement and also help with their customers on the performance of 2 Source: Cognizant Trizetto regulatory compliance. each of their funds.

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•• Global banks are leveraging IA to improve Below is a high-level summary comparison answer individual customer queries as the regulatory compliance processes by of RPA and IA tools: quickly. In all these cases, IA tools have monitoring all electronic communications helped these businesses to extend their •• While RPA tools can be used only for of employees for indicators of services, potentially improving the value rules-based, routine tasks, IA tools can noncompliant activities. they deliver to their customers. RPA tools drive value by improving non-routine tasks on the other hand allow businesses to •• Insurers are using IA to answer the queries requiring judgment. execute the same services at a lower of potential customers in real time, and to •• IA tools are typically used to provide cost and at a higher level of quality. While increase sales conversion rates. leverage to existing functions, focusing this distinction may not always hold true, on increasing value rather than reducing it does help in broadly categorizing the The uses of IA are potentially limitless, but cost. In the examples above, the Wealth applicability and the value delivered by also more expensive. Unlike RPA tools, Management organization may not have these two distinct technologies. which are very broad in their applicability, been able to produce natural language IA solutions require more extensive •• RPA tools can be implemented much reporting across all of its customers configuration and machine learning that faster than IA tools and typically require and funds without a vast expansion is specific to a much narrower business lower investment. of its workforce. Now, fund managers purpose and the complex scenarios it may can focus on communicating with their •• The RPA supply market is maturing encounter. Also, IA solutions often take clients rather than reporting to them. The rapidly and there are several products longer to implement. compliance analysts at the global bank in the market that have demonstrated could not possibly monitor all electronic their effectiveness. IA tools are rapidly communications without the aid of improving in capability, but overall are still IA, and the insurer may not be able to in a nascent stage of development.

Know your robots!

Robotic process automation Intelligent automation

Automates tasks that are… Routine: Methodical, repetitive, rules-based Non-routine: Requiring a thoughtful consideration Routine: Methodical Able to… Follow instructions Come to conclusions Narrower: Application should be targeted to Application is… Broader: Can automate any suitable process deliver meaningful, insightful outputs Market offerings are… Maturing Emerging Implementation and ongoing Lower Higher costs are typically… Implementation timeframe are Weeks Months typically of the order of…

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Nuts and bolts: Basics of enterprise automation using RPA

With some large organizations now operating virtual workforces of 500+ robots, RPA has reached a point where it can be said Micro-enterprise automation at to be capable of “enterprise automation.” Stacked restaurants

We spoke with several RPA vendors to Brian Pearson is a strong advocate of enterprise automation. He initially came understand their solutions in detail, and across RPA tools over a decade ago, while responsible for IT at a chain of while there are nuances and restaurants. By their nature, restaurants have distributed operations and varied nomenclature among the various gathering and collating operational data—such as takings, timesheets, and tips— products, they all broadly comprise three is onerous but critical, and he was looking for a way to support the expansion of fundamental elements: A set of developer the business without the associated growth in the back office. By aggressively tools, a robot controller, and the software pursuing standardized processes and maintaining an “automate and repeat” robots themselves. mantra, the back-office grew very little under his watch while the chain increased from 20 to over 100 locations. The developer tools are used to define “jobs”—the sequences of step-by-step In 2010, Brian moved to the newly founded Stacked Restaurants. Stacked is instructions that a robot can follow to primarily known for its tablet-based ordering and highly customizable menu. perform the business process, including any Equally interesting is the automation-driven back-office that Brian has established. business rules or conditional logic (such as With the lessons learned from his previous experience, Brian architected “if/then” decisions). They focus on ease of automation-driven business processes from scratch, such that the entire use, so that business users without prior back-office is run with very little manual intervention on a day-to-day basis. ‘coding’ experience can use them. “Drag- Reports and exception alerts are automatically produced, leaving management to and-drop” functionality is common, along focus on the business decisions. Further, Brian has used automation to improve with simple configuration wizards. Some other aspects of the business, such as gathering and comparing data from the tools, like those of Automation Anywhere hosting and ordering systems and sending an alert to the serving staff when a and UiPath, include a “process recorder,” particular table has not ordered within five minutes of being seated – a good which can be used to capture a sequence of indicator that they may need guidance with deciding their menu choice or using user actions and speed up the definition the tablet-based ordering device. Without automation through RPA tools, Brian of a process. Developer tools are typically would have had to hire a team to perform these tasks. hosted on a server.

Brian’s story demonstrates the use of RPA to support business growth without necessitating the equivalent expansion of back-office operations, and the potential of using RPA to underpin new services—as applicable to a large enterprise trying to foster innovation as to a small one.

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The instructions provided to robots need to Some solutions, such as that of AutoMate, solutions, and additional actions can often be very detailed, and can become complex support integration with mail servers, be custom created using code. to visualize, so interactive diagrams that applications, and other systems to aid the allow layering or nesting of substeps in the management of users. When interacting with the user interface job are a common feature—and breaking of a business application, the preferred •• Assigns jobs to single or grouped robots jobs down into smaller building blocks approach is for the robot to identify the to execute—and monitors and reports comprising common tasks is important important elements (such as entry fields and on their activities. The functionality for effective and consistent re-use across buttons) by their labels in the underlying associated with scheduling and assigning multiple processes. application code—this can make the robot work to robots, as well as understanding resilient in response to purely cosmetic their status and capacity, becomes The robot controller is key to enabling changes such as relabeling fields and moving increasingly important as the number process automation. It typically plays three buttons. However, when working with of processes and transactions grow. key roles: virtualized desktops, the application code For example, Blue Prism’s solution uses is not exposed to the robot, so it must rely •• Provides a master repository for the prioritized work queues so that robots on more brittle methods such as using the defined jobs. For enterprise use, version always process the most important pixel-based object location (relative to the control is a critical feature, as is the ability transactions first. edge of the screen or a position identified to safely store credentials for various using simple image matching). business applications so that they are only Like the developer tools, robot controllers provided to robots when required (and are also hosted on a server. Finally, whether for compliance, audit, or ideally in an encrypted form). identifying further process improvement Once issued their instructions, the software •• Supports operational governance with opportunities, it is important for software robots (also referred to as “clients” or the ability to assign appropriate roles robots to be able to log—in detail—the “agents” that reside on a desktop) carry and permissions to users and provide actions they take and decisions they make. them out, interacting directly with business controls and workflow to govern the applications to process transactions. The process of creating or updating, testing, list of actions that a robot is capable of reviewing, and approving, and then finally performing can stretch to over 600 in some deploying jobs to the robot workforce.

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1 4

3 5

Robotic process automation in action Sample functions of software robots: 01. “Process developers” specify the •• Opening emails and attachments detailed instructions for robots to perform and “publish” them to the robot •• Logging into web/enterprise applications controller repository. •• Moving files and folders 02. The robot controller is used to assign jobs to robots and to monitor •• Scraping data from the web their activities. •• Connecting to system APIs 03. Each robot is located on a client environment —which may be virtualized •• Following “if/then” decisions and rules or physical—where it interacts directly •• Extracting and reformatting data into with business applications. reports or dashboards 04. Business users review and resolve any exceptions or escalations. •• Extracting structured data 05. Robots are capable of interacting with a from documents wide range of applications. •• Collecting social media statistics

•• Merging data from multiple places

•• Making calculations

•• Copying and pasting data

•• Filling in forms

•• Reading and writing to databases 13 Service Delivery Transformation Automate this | The business leader’s guide to robotic and intelligent automation

Poppy the robot “Poppy” the robot was used to automate the most onerous steps in the process of creating and submitting London Premium Advice Notes (LPANs) to a central insurance market repository. Prior to the introduction of Poppy, processing a batch of 500 LPANs took several days. After Poppy was trained to automate part of the process, the processing time was reduced to around 30 minutes, with a negligible error rate.

Poppy was welcomed rather than feared by the operations staff, who requested that Poppy be trained to take on further processes.

Before After

Submit premiums Submit premiums

Standardize unstructured Standardize unstructured data to structured form data to structured form

Perform validation of data Perform validation of data

Access account database Access account database

Create transaction Create transaction document document

Upload document Upload document to repository to repository

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Breaking through the hype: Six myths of RPA and IA

Through our research and discussions with vendors of both RPA and IA solutions, as well Automating digital media requests Check as organizations that have deployed them, every One person was dedicated to processing we have noted six common misconceptions. internal orders for digital media, received 10 min as spreadsheets attached to emails to a Myth: You need an army of robots team inbox. The process required careful Access the to make examination of the complex request No sales inbox RPA worthwhile In fact, one of the main forms to validate the data before copying attractions of RPA is the ability to automate the request into the order system. The the “long-tail” of low-volume or low-value volume of orders was highly variable, and Flag for processes that would not be economical to in busy periods there would be a longer New human email? address via other means. delay between receipt of the request resources form and entry into the system. Yes However, there is still a minimum scale required to realize both the return on the The process was automated using a Excel No upfront investment of establishing an attached Log error single robot, which required no more automation capability, and the ongoing ? than three hours a day to process overhead of running one. It is also common all requests. The person who had Yes for vendors to specify a minimum number previously performed the process now of licenses to purchase. Such minimums are resolves any exceptions due to bad data, Validate the order data usually not prohibitive, though tools that has been redeployed, and his remaining are more squarely aimed at the “enterprise time is reassigned to other tasks. automation” portion of the market may not be cost effective in smaller implementations No With only three hours spent processing Data (though less expensive tools may not scale correct? requests, the robot still had more than up as effectively in an enterprise-wide 85% capacity remaining that could be deployment). It is quite possible in today’s spent on other processes. Yes market to see positive results with the Open order deployment of a few robots. system

Enter order data It is quite possible in today’s

Mark email market to see positive complete results with the deployment of a few robots.

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Myth: Robots will take our jobs Increased automation of tasks does not In 1930, John Maynard Keynes3 predicted necessarily lead to loss of jobs—workforce that the future held mass unemployment, augmentation, rather than replacement, Intelligent as developments in technology would may be a more likely outcome. By freeing up automation replace jobs faster than new jobs would be a person’s time, employees can now focus created. While this may not have played out on more advanced and engaging tasks, and as quickly as he expected, recent years have over time organizations could see lower •• Narrative Science Quill™, the seen yet more dire forecasts relating to the turnover, higher morale, and increased company’s advanced natural potential of computers to replace human internal innovation. language generation platform, workers—including last year’s prediction by is designed to analyze data and analyst firm Gartner that one in three jobs Myth: Robots can now think produce natural language output— will be automated by 2025.4 like humans automating preparation of reports Neither RPA nor IA solutions replicate for diverse uses like investment We certainly acknowledge that software human reasoning. RPA software robots portfolios and personalized robots are capable of automating many mimic the behavior of humans in the way customer communications.1 tasks currently performed by people in the they can interact with application user • IPsoft’s Amelia is a virtual agent workplace—and as cognitive technologies interfaces, but they must follow highly • who is designed to converse with fuel increasingly ‘intelligent’ automation, methodical instructions and simple customers to gather information the realm of what is possible to automate conditional logic. and resolve their queries faster will expand. and more consistently than a IA solutions are underpinned by cognitive person could.2 But our review of case studies of technologies, which are increasingly capable organizations that have deployed of human abilities such as understanding 1 Source: Narrative Science automation suggests that the majority of natural language and recognizing images, 2 Source: IPsoft organizations we studied are focused on and can learn from observing humans. Even increasing the efficiency and effectiveness so, IA still requires training from humans of their workforce rather than eliminating and cannot yet fully replicate human it, and the people relieved of routine tasks reasoning. For a deeper understanding are re-focused toward more valuable or of cognitive technologies, we direct the rewarding activities. Furthermore, with more reader to Demystifying artificial intelligence: advanced and complex automation comes What business leaders need to know about not only increased efficiency, but also an cognitive technologies (Deloitte University increased dependency on the accuracy and Press, November 4, 2015). skill of the human operators involved.

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Myth: BPOs are doomed the elements of application user interfaces resilience/recovery, and governance, RPA tools add to the traditional process are quite robust, they are not completely and these functions are as important as transformation options, rather than impervious to system changes—particularly ever—so IT should be involved from the replacing them. In fact, BPO providers when interacting with remote environments. outset. In addition, if an automated process could benefit greatly, and many are actively experiences any problems, the users’ first exploring (if not already using) RPA tools, In addition, robots have no “common sense,” call is still likely to be to IT. either to lower their cost of delivery, or so if a flaw in your organization’s robot to join new specialist service-providers in management process allows an obvious Deploying RPA without keeping IT informed offering “robots-as-a-service.” BPO firms that error to creep into the instructions provided can lead to unexpected challenges, as one successfully integrate automation often seek to your robots, they will still follow those organization found when their robots were to substantially improve their profit margins, instructions to the letter—and replicate the so efficient at executing the processes that even if revenue growth slows. error hundreds or thousands of times until the rapid activity triggered security alerts. someone spots it. Eventually, the IT team came to see the value However, growth of RPA as a transformation of RPA. Hence, it is better to include IT and option should affect your outsourcing Myth: RPA will significantly reduce the other affected functions in the RPA program strategy, whether you are considering importance of your IT Department to enable a stable rollout. Further, although outsourcing or already have an outsourcing RPA can be used to automate processes software robots may be able to interact partner. In the latter case, you should across business applications in a with business applications via the user discuss automation with your BPO to “noninvasive” manner, which can reduce interface alone, in many cases they can be understand where it presents a mutually reliance on IT for deployment. But while more effective when integrated ‘behind the beneficial opportunity. some subset of roles in IT may be reduced, scenes’ using more robust system APIs— others may increase and overall the reliance often made easier with the support of IT. Myth: Robots are infallible on IT is far from eliminated. In the same While software robots may follow rules way that you would expect your human In fact, in some organizations, proactive IT without deviation, do not need sleep or workforce to comply with policies and functions are the buyers of RPA solutions, vacations, and will not make typos, they are procedures relating to sensitive or customer looking for cost-effective means to better prone to their own sources of failure. Like data, you must confirm that any “virtual support and enhance the experience of any machine, reliability is not 100%. Poor workforce” accessing those data is also their business partners. quality input data can cause exceptions, and compliant. IT typically takes responsibility while the ways in which robots recognize for systems infrastructure, security,

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Dip your toe … or dive in? Look before you leap

There are many organizations that can benefit from RPA, and you should now be considering the opportunities within your organization. There are typically five steps to developing an automation strategy—beginning with the idea of a proof of concept or pilot implementation first:

What? Why? How? Who? When?

Assess for automation Build your business Determine the optimal Identify your Plan the automation opportunities case operating model automation partner(s) roadmap

•• Which processes •• Why does automation •• Which operating model •• Who are the main •• How long should your are good candidates support your business works best for your vendors in the pilot be? for automation? needs? organization? RPA space? •• What are the stages •• Which processes would •• What are the benefits? •• Do you have the right •• Who are the providers after the pilot? be suitable to pilot? team to support the who cater to your •• What are the pain •• What is your strategy solution and carry business needs •• How should the process points being alleviated? for scale? out responsibilities the most? owners be engaged to •• What are the metrics (e.g., assessing •• How will you ensure try automation? •• Which sourcing option to determine whether new processes for impacted stakeholders do you want? •• What are the impacts automation is valuable? automation and testing understand the what, of proceeding with the automated jobs)? •• How should you why, and how of •• What is the strategy the pilot? compare the pricing automation? for re-deploying •• Who will manage and models in order to existing resources monitor the software understand what you after automation? robot? are paying for?

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1. Assess for automation 2. Build your business case (Why?) 3. Determine your automation- opportunities (What?) Estimate the benefits of automation on a operating model (How?) Begin with an assessment of your process process-by-process basis. If resources can Decide whether you wish to establish a landscape to identify opportunity areas: be relieved of tasks through automation, strategic automation capability within your Good candidate processes are those where will their freed-up time be spent? organization, or simply desire an automated which require manual interaction with a How does improved accuracy or increased outcome with the minimum of effort: this will computer interface, are largely rules-based, speed translate into value? affect your automation operating model and consume a significant amount of time, determine your sourcing options. and are performed at frequent intervals. At this stage, consider automating some Less important is whether the process pilot processes to prove the concept, and If building an internal capability for is performed by an individual or multiple allow precise measurement of the benefits. automation, consider who will be people—RPA is good for addressing Pilots can also help obtain buy-in from your responsible for assessing, mapping, and work that is distributed across people or stakeholders, improve understanding of prioritizing new processes for automation; departments. Ideal candidate processes both the potential and the limitations of who will develop and test the automated (particularly for an initial pilot) are low risk, automation, and identify the key success jobs; and who will manage and monitor yet have potential for significant reduction factors in your environment. Good pilot the software robots as they perform in effort. Address pain points as you go. candidates do not need to be large-volume them—particularly where they span intra- Work with the process owner to determine processes, but they must be performed with organizational boundaries. As a tool that the readiness for automation of individual some frequency; it is difficult to measure the targets relieving mundane tasks, RPA is processes. How well understood is the benefits of automating a monthly process likely to give better results in the hands of process? Has it, or can it be documented in during a six-week pilot. skilled users: many organizations develop an detail? Thorough analysis up front can help Automation Center of Excellence to facilitate avoid surprises down the line. training and the sharing of knowledge and best practices.

In either case, at this point it is critical to put in the place the foundations for governance, including obtaining the support and input of IT.

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4. Identify your automation partner(s) (Who?) Consider your sourcing options, and which Typical sourcing options type(s) of automation partner you are looking for. You may already have worked •• Direct: Buy RPA licenses directly from the vendor with a partner to pilot some processes—but •• Direct with support: Buy RPA licenses directly from the vendor and engage a you are not wedded to that partner. services partner for configuration and support

You should approach the selection of your •• Outsource: Work with a traditional BPO provider, for a “business process-as-a- automation partner(s) as you would any service” or “robots-as-a-service” arrangement other strategic technology or sourcing procurement, considering both your current Common direct to RPA pricing models and future needs. Some providers have License based (most common) more experience in particular industries •• You pay per software license for each installed robot, management server, and and others in certain types of processes. development tools If procuring an automation tool, prepare evaluation criteria appropriate to your •• Perpetual license or annual subscription requirements. Vendor demonstrations •• The definition and capacity of a “robot” can vary by vendor, making direct are valuable, but it is a good practice to comparisons tricky supplement vendor demos with client references to confirm on-the-ground •• Hardware and maintenance will add to the cost realities and appreciate complexities and challenges. Value based •• Pricing is linked to either the FTE-equivalent savings (e.g., a fixed percentage of the Consider which pricing model(s) will best FTE cost that would have been occurred), or to each completed transaction align with your business objectives, and compare pricing carefully; RPA vendors may •• Can be restrictive to horizontal-scaling across the organization, as contracts will appear to have similar pricing structures, need re-evaluating to include additional business processes but one vendor’s “robot” may not be •• The vendor is encouraged to put “skin in the game” and maintain a good level equivalent to another’s “agent” or “client.” It of service is difficult to estimate what the throughput of a software robot will be for your specific Service based processes (compared to a human), so determining the required number of robots •• You pay a regular subscription fee for the service, with a service agreement that and making meaningful comparisons defines the responsibilities of the provider between vendors is difficult. Be prepared •• This model is particularly attractive for IA solutions, which may run on complex big to share clearly documented details of data technologies that can be expensive to set up and maintain in-house, or are the processes you have prioritized for needed on a spot basis automation with vendors to help draw the most meaningful price comparisons.

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5. Prepare the automation roadmap (When?) Questions your employees will likely ask Your road map for automation should •• What is RPA? look beyond the initial deployment and set out how automation will grow within •• Why are we deciding to deploy it here at our company and for this process? your organization. •• How will this affect my role? Is a robot replacing me? Like other transformation programs, communications, training, and change A sample checklist to launch an automation program management are all critical. Before you begin the automation journey, you must •• Allow sufficient time for deployment and automation development confirm that impacted stakeholders clearly •• Confirm that processes are properly understood and documented understand the what, why, and how of automation. Your employees can also •• Fully account for the handling of errors and exceptions help identify candidate processes for an •• Identify ways to mitigate any organizational resistance to change automation platform, which employees can use to describe their processes and •• Bring IT onboard early recommend them for consideration. •• Gather or prepare representative test data Your road map should also account for any •• Confirm that there are no system or data access issues supporting initiatives on which successful •• Resolve data quality issues before automating RPA is dependent. For example, a commonly encountered obstacle is poor data quality •• Develop a thorough disaster recovery plan preventing successful autonomous •• Provide up front and ongoing training to end users transaction processing. Where known data quality issues exist, you should incorporate •• Be sensitive to fear of job loss and “being replaced by robots” remediation activities into your plan. •• Confirm that you are prepared for maintaining the solution post-deployment

•• Account for headcount reduction or redeployment or role definition Your road map for automation should look beyond the initial deployment and set out how automation will grow within your organization.

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A glimpse of the future

RPA has the potential to benefit a large Solution convergence As RPA and IA solutions are used more number of organizations and in the near We spoke to a number of leading RPA frequently together, they may be offered as future, the number of large-scale RPA software vendors about their product “Analysis as a Service,” providing end-to-end deployments could increase dramatically. strategy and found two key themes: support for a particular business need. IA, while still nascent, holds enormous Merging the abilities of cognitive tools with •• In anticipation of increasingly large transformative potential, and organizations the ability to rapidly and autonomously deployments (and perhaps requests should be actively monitoring the market execute rule-based steps through RPA, from BPO partners), many vendors and considering strategic opportunities. providers can focus on providing integrated, are focused on the development of As robotic solutions grow more robust business-specific solutions to their features for enterprise readiness, such and intelligent solutions become more customers, potentially freeing the customers as increasingly dynamic assignment of powerful, we see three potential flavors from the effort and expense of integrating workload to robots, improved monitoring of convergence: within the market, across the components themselves. of robots’ activity via dashboards and solutions, and among processes. reports, and version control and release management functionality to support Market convergence process definition and deployment across Considering the rapid growth that both RPA organizational boundaries. and IA vendors are currently experiencing, and the enormous market potential for •• A current limitation of all RPA software both types of offering, there is potential robots is their inability to work with for some convergence in the market place unstructured data. Recognizing this, the in the near to mid-term. In particular, RPA largest vendors are turning their focus presents a large potential threat as well to adding some elemental cognitive as an opportunity to the traditional BPO capabilities to their tools, such as for providers. The reactions of BPO providers speech recognition, natural language will be interesting to monitor. There could processing, and extracting structured be an increase in strategic partnerships information from images such as scanned between RPA tool vendors and BPO and invoices and receipts. other service providers if not outright mergers and acquisitions.

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Process convergence a service to customers with very low net demand forecast preparation seem as Over time, these integrated business- worth. Automated customer interaction antiquated as home milk delivery. The specific solutions could merge into tools could provide customers with an armies of people who support these intelligent systems that self-regulate large intelligent point of interaction that could be processes—in finance, IT, and operations— components of an organization. An analogy much more intuitive and dynamic than a will have to find new avenues to add value. for these business systems is the body’s website, with the customer-facing system Innovation, sales and customer relationship Autonomic Nervous System, which regulates able to help the customer understand development, and “teaching” the intelligent key functions like heartbeat and breathing potential options in a situation and make systems, are all potential areas for people without conscious thought, allowing the decisions based on everyday needs, while to focus their efforts.5 IA has already begun brain to focus on interacting with the world the company systems curate options for to change businesses. As these changes around it. These systems could operate the customer and manage the transactions accelerate, people will have to be more as the ‘heart and lungs’ of an organization, in the background. A client might call nimble than ever as they think about their taking in key data inputs and performing all the financial services company, tells an careers, and what kinds of skills they—and of the internal processes that are core to the automated representative about the their children—will need. Just as the notion business. For example, in a manufacturing birth of a child, and the customer-facing of “lifetime employment” has faded, so company, the system could respond to key system could recommend the creation too may the notion of a “lifetime career.” stimuli like sales and customer data, and of a college savings account, discuss the People, and governments, may need to plan tune the core operations of the company, risks and benefits of selected approaches, around multiple stints in education and such as forecasting demand, optimizing and manage the fund transfer, and allocate the training, in order to keep up with the frenetic setting pricing, and managing the entire investment to the selected vehicle. The pace of change. While daunting, people supply chain and production scheduling entire transaction could take a few minutes may consider this liberating, as we gain to optimize inventory levels—all on a “self- while the customer is on the phone at opportunities to reinvent ourselves and the regulating” basis. almost no marginal cost to the company. world around us.

Alternatively, consider how IA tools What about the humans? could evolve for a wealth management Just as with prior waves of automation, Just as with prior waves of company. While today wealth management we can expect that the IA will likely drive automation, we can expect services are able to use IA to give their significant changes in the jobs that people clients customized portfolio reporting do. Automation-driven systems could that the IA will likely drive and recommendations, a truly autonomic replace large numbers of knowledge significant changes in the capability could make it cost effective for workers doing managerial jobs; these companies to offer wealth management as “intelligent engines” could make detailed jobs that people do.

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Authors

Peter Lowes Frank R.S. Cannata Subodh Chitre Jason Barkham Principal Senior Vice President Senior Manager Vice President Business Model Transformation Operations and Planning Solutions Business Model Transformation Business Transformation Solutions Deloitte Consulting LLP Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Deloitte Consulting LLP Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. +1 212 618 4380 +1 818 977 7700 +1 241 840 1745 +1 818 954 4139 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Peter Lowes is a Principal at Frank has held various positions Subodh works as a Senior Jason leads an internal consulting Deloitte Consulting LLP in including several firsts for the Manager in Deloitte’s Business team focused on organizational New York, where he leads the company: Managing Warner Bros.’ Model Transformation transformation, business process development of next-generation first global SAP implementation; service line. In this role, he redesign, and global sourcing business process automation, Architect and driver for Warner focuses on driving large-scale opportunities. Previously he global business services and Bros.’ initial foray into shared transformation programs in oversaw contract and financial service delivery transformation services and outsourcing for BPO areas such as IT & Business management of Warner Bros. offerings. He has served many and ITO. He has brought all of that Process Outsourcing and Entertainment’s primary of the world’s leading financial experience to his current position Shared Services. outsourced service relationships institutions as well as public and where he leads a group responsible and lead operational governance of private sector enterprises in the for the definition and oversight outsourced finance and areas of technology, innovation, of complex, transformational accounting functions. operations, M&A, shared organizational, and business services and market utilities. process changes.

Additional contributors Ayana Todd, Erica Solum, Hari Krishna, Jenny Zheng, and Matt Phipps-Taylor

Special thanks to the following vendors who participated in our research study: Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, Cognizant Trizetto, Digital Reasoning, IBM Watson, IPsoft Amelia, Help System Automate, Narrative Science, Rage Frameworks, UiPath.

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Endnotes

1. For an introduction to the concept of cognitive technologies, their improving performance, efforts to commercialize them, and the growing impact we expect them to have, see David Schatsky, Craig Muraskin, and Ragu Gurumurthy, Demystifying artificial intelligence: What business leaders need to know about cognitive technologies, Deloitte University Press, November 4, 2014, http://dupress.com/articles/what-is- cognitive-technology/

2. Ante, S. Computer Thumps ‘Jeopardy’ Minds. (2011, February 17). Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/ articles/SB10001424052748704171004576148974172060658

3. Keynes, J.M. Economic possibilities for our grandchildren (1930). Essays in persuasion, pp. 358–73, 1963, http://www.econ.yale.edu/smith/econ116a/keynes1.pdf

4. Barajas, J. Smart robots will take over a third of jobs by 2025, Gartner says. (2014, October 7). Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/smart-robots-will-take-third-jobs-2025-gartner-says/

5. For more on ways people can cope with increasing automation, see Thomas Davenport and Julia Kirby, “Beyond Automation,” Harvard Business Review, June 2015 and see David Schatsky and Jeff Schwartz, “Redesigning work in an era of cognitive technologies,” Deloitte University Press, July 27, 2015, http:// dupress.com/articles/work-redesign-and-cognitive-technology/?coll=12201