A leading insurance company approached IBA Group. Their company offers many types of risk protection, including medical, auto, cargo, mortgage/homeowner’s insurance, and property protection coverage. The Europe-based insurer was hoping to optimize its processing of client requests.

We helped them find a solution that would streamline their procedures  and automate client request processing, reduce their error rate, and cut down on client request processing time. 

Our solution used Camunda platform and EasyRPA to optimize client request processing, significantly reducing the error rates and processing times.

CLIENT

A leading insurance company that offers a plethora of services, including medical, car, cargo, mortgage, and property protection insurance

INDUSTRY

Insurance

LOCATION

Europe (DACH region)

Goal

Develop and implement a client request processing solution aimed to streamline and automate client request processing, enhancing its efficiency and accuracy, thereby strengthening the company’s competitive position in the insurance market.

Background

The insurance company was grappling with inefficient client request processing that averaged 7-8 hours and was often riddled with manual data entry errors. Data discrepancies led to inaccuracies in customer information and the subsequent provision of erroneous insurance offers. In a market saturated with competition, this posed significant challenges, deterring potential clients.

Challenges

• Long processing time for client requests
• Frequent data entry errors leading to incorrect insurance offers
• Loss of potential clients, weakening the company’s market position

Key Objectives

• Streamline and automate client request processing
• Minimize manual intervention
• Ensure data accuracy

Project Team

• Delivery Manager
• Camunda Consultant
• Business Analyst
• Camunda/Java Developer
• AI Developer
• Data Analyst
• QA Engineer

Project Duration

Three months

Solution: Project Stages and Implementation

Like many of our projects, we took the discovery and implementation process through several steps to ensure that IBA Group and the insurance company were on the same page.

Initial Analysis: IBA Group conducted a detailed review of the existing business processes at the insurance company so we could fully understand the functionality.

Bottleneck Identification: In a follow-up to the initial analysis, IBA Group identified the weak points in the processes and systems that were causing the slowdowns and delays in the client request processing.

Core Issues Analysis: The project team also analyzed the issues that arose from manual data entry errors and led to the issuance of unattractive offers to clients.

Technical Solution Selection: The project team based on the identified bottlenecks and re-issuance concerns selected  Camunda to orchestrate all process activities and RPA to substitute manual tasks.  

Automation using  EasyRPA with AI module: 3 robots were implemented that has significantly expedited and enhanced the customer request processing procedure. They automatically processed the data, recognized, classified and generated the necessary documents in the system.

Process automation using Camunda: the team has created a new process using Camunda which orchestrates the work between humans, robots and other customer systems in an efficient way. 

Integration with CRM: Camunda automatically transfers client data to CRM, where the new client is created or client data is verified. This has significantly reduced the risk of errors.

Integration with other client systems: Camunda calls existing quotes calculation module and module to create client documents. This reduced the client documents preparation and excluded human intervention.

Approval and notification steps: Camunda creates tasks for the managers in the tasklist for final  quota approval and sends notification to the client about the decision on quota of insurance upon final approval.

Training and Demonstration: IBA Group conducted a workshop for the company following the implementation with a demo of the new application.

Solution Highlights

Ultimately, the solution met the needs of the client and was a successful choice. There were several highlights within the solution that IBA Group implemented: 

Process automation with Camunda: Camunda allows process automation and different tasks orchestration reducing quotes preparation time and the level of the human intervention.

Integration: Wide range of Camunda connectors and APIs facilitate seamless integration between different systems. As a result, client data was synchronized with the CRM system, and EasyRPA robots are incorporated into the process without need of human intervention.

EasyRPA Automation: Incorporating three robotic processes improved and accelerated the client request processing mechanism. The deployed robots  using the AI module streamlined data processing with automatic data recognition, classification, and document generation capabilities.

Process Conclusion: The entire process is complete once all stages are successfully executed and the client is duly informed about the outcome.

Benefits for the Customer

The solution presented several outstanding benefits for the insurance company, which they were able to experience right away. 

• Faster application processing
• Personalized and appealing insurance quotes for customers
• Streamlined process with fewer forms to fill out and a hassle-free user experience

Results & Metrics

The measurable results of the project implementation speak for themselves. The Insurance company was extremely satisfied with the results, which included:

• The average processing time for an insurance application was slashed from several hours to just 20-30 minutes

• The implementation led to a 12% increase in signed insurance policies

• A whopping 87% of documents are now accurately recognized and classified

• The error rate plummeted by 80% because of automated data transfer

By focusing our solution on customer-centricity and integrating state-of-the-art technologies like Camunda and RPA, we were able to boost the profile of the insurance company. The company is now positioned as a premier choice in the market, with a reputation for providing swift and accurate service.

Lessons Learned in this Project

One of the best parts of any successful implementation is the ability to learn. We can often use similar solutions to assist customers in the future. Based on IBA Group’s research and experience from this project, we offer the following conclusions and recommendations for clients encountering comparable challenges.

Focus on Customer-Centric Solutions: Today’s clients value their time. Companies must immerse themselves in the customer’s perspective and ensure they provide services tailored to the needs of their target audience.

Quick Response to Inquiries: Clients expect speed and responsiveness. Potential customers want prompt answers to their questions. Aim to reduce waiting and processing times to meet clients’ desire for immediate feedback.

Business Process Automation: Leverage contemporary IT solutions and tools to automate business processes. Platforms like Camunda notably improve request processing efficiency and minimize errors.

Integration with EasyRPA: Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can dramatically lessen manual tasks and boost data processing precision. Think about weaving EasyRPA into your operational processes—how can automation help streamline your procedures?

Stay Up with the Latest Technologies: The service market is intensely competitive. Firms that keep pace with evolving trends and harness cutting-edge technologies position themselves at the forefront. Prioritize innovation to hold onto your market edge. 

Staff Training: Ensure your team has the training, skills, and knowledge to navigate modern tech and automation systems.

Monitor Feedback: Regularly collecting client and staff feedback is crucial for refining business processes and tools.

In today’s dynamic insurance landscape, the emphasis is on swift, tailored services and integrating the latest technological advancements. To keep pace and stay competitive, it’s essential to prioritize customer-centric solutions, embrace automation, and continuously update staff skills and company systems. 

At IBA Group, we have successfully navigated these challenges and are ready to guide you through your next transformation. Let’s work together to shape a future that benefits both your business and your clients. 

CLIENT

Large-scale European IT company

GOAL

Optimize the employee onboarding process, enhancing efficiency and employee satisfaction.

BACKGROUND

The client faced onboarding challenges heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. They needed an efficient remote solution to integrate new hires effectively.

Challenges

• Difficulties in implementing business processes that required physical presence of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Need to transform business processes maintaining the compliance standards

Project Team

• Delivery Manager
• Camunda Expert/Consultant
• Business Analyst
• Camunda/Java lead Developer
• AI Developer
• Data Analyst

Project Duration

Four months

Implementation Stages

• Process Analysis: Identified automation areas in the current onboarding process
• Automation Identification: Pinpointed key components for automation
• Pandemic Impact Assessment: Analyzed COVID-19 challenges affecting HR interactions
• Technical Solution Selection: Chose Camunda for workflow, EasyRPA for automation, and AI for document handling
• New Process Design: Developed a coordinated onboarding process with Camunda
• EasyRPA Implementation: Automated profile and document processing
• HR System Integration: Ensured data accuracy and minimized errors
• Task Automation: Streamlined HR and employee tasks
• Notification System: Set up process stage alerts for stakeholders

Benefits for the Customer

• Streamlined onboarding
• Enhanced reputation
• Improved employee satisfaction
• Increased efficiency

Results

• Reduced onboarding time from several days to just 4 hours
• Higher Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS): 8% increase
• High process accuracy: 67% reduction in error-caused document reruns
• Improved document recognition: 85% accuracy rate
• Enhanced company reputation through rapid adaptation and workflow improvement

Lessons Learned

• Embrace adaptability and rapid change management
• Leverage advanced automation technologies and solutions to increase quality and minimize errors
• Monitor ongoing feedback to refine processes
• Provide employee training for tech proficiency and seamless integration into business processes
• Ensure that every change you implement improves customer experience and enhances employee satisfaction

Author: Alexei Bolotin

According to 2023 onboarding statistics, organizations with strong onboarding processes increase new hire retention by 82% and improve the productivity by 70%.

Such an increase can greatly boost a company’s profits and work environment harmony. Effective onboarding programs seamlessly integrate new hires and tap into their potential as key contributors, providing a competitive advantage and contributing to substantial growth, employee contentment, and business success. The need for this approach is particularly more obvious in the post-COVID-19 era, where remote work has increased and remote onboarding has become a thing in the modern business landscape.

Now why is this so?

Well, we like to believe that workflow automation has changed the employee onboarding space and has the potential to increase employee retention and company revenue.

But using any type of RPA tool or platform won’t cut it.

That is why this article will describe how we have been able to revolutionize employee onboarding using cutting-edge technologies like EasyRPA and Camunda automation.

We will also describe one of our case studies to show how we deployed these technologies.

So, if you are looking to optimize your employee onboarding process, then you might want to…

Keep reading.

How Camunda and EasyRPA Work

Before getting into how we combined both technologies, let’s take some time to describe them.

What is Camunda?

Camunda, named from Latin verbs meaning ‘comprehend’ and ‘clean’, is a versatile process automation platform that operates both as an independent process engine server and as an integration within Java applications.

Camunda is popular among developers because it boasts a Workflow Engine that implements processes that are defined in the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). Camunda’s BPM allows businesses to easily automate their most complex workflows.

The Camunda engine also offers non-Java developers a REST API and client libraries that can be used to build applications that connect to a remote workflow engine.

The Camunda platform performs the following tasks:

•  Automating business processes from end to end
•  Orchestrating processes across diverse endpoints
•  Control of RPA bots
• Building of automated decisions into business processes
• Advanced process execution
• Integration with technology stacks all thanks to its Camunda connectors

You can assess the platform’s capabilities by using the free Camunda Modeler BPMN 2.0. This tool enables editing of BPMN Process Diagrams, DMN Decision Tables, and forms, providing a hands-on experience with Camunda’s functionalities.

What is EasyRPA

Developed by IBA Group, EasyRPA is a modern RPA platform offering comprehensive automation for various applications, including Java, Oracle, and SAP, with ease of use for developers. It is a flexible, state-of-the-art, service-first RPA platform that simplifies automation across processes. It is a cost-effective means of developing, deploying, running, and monitoring software robots used in business processes. The unique thing about the EasyRPA platform is that, unlike most RPA tools, it was built with developers in mind. That way, developers across industries can seamlessly deploy this tool in automating business processes with little or no integration.

It also boasts end-to-end, AI-driven process automation and a built-in OCR engine that supports integration with ABBYY FlexiCapture software.

EasyRPA is great at automating:

• Java and Oracle Forms applications
• Web-based applications
• Desktop applications (including the remote desktop applications)
• SAP applications
• Just about any application written to run in terminals or mainframes

What the Camunda and EasyRPA collaboration offers

The collaboration of Camunda BPM solutions and EasyRPA offers tons of benefits to companies using Camunda. Both platforms complement each other and so can be deployed in a manner that enables businesses to achieve maximum business process automation.

How so?

BPMN Camunda can be used to handle a range of end-to-end business activities while EasyRPA automates smaller, repetitive tasks using bots that can easily be controlled using Camunda workflow automation.

The idea is to use EasyRPA to handle rote, “bot-specific” tasks. Thanks to the nature of Camunda software development, businesses can then deploy Camunda to handle those more complex tasks that RPA technologies traditionally struggle with i.e. complex, long-running processes that often involve a variety of different endpoints.

When these tools are properly combined by the right Camunda service, here are some of the available benefits:

• Increased automation of processes
• Increased efficiency of RPA tasks since they can be monitored and certain process instances edited in real-time. Stakeholders can also ascertain the RPA tools’ performance to identify issues that might affect end-user experience.
• Optimized ROI on RPA tool investment
• Collaborations between robot owners and process owners are enhanced since workflows that involve EasyRPA can be modeled like BPMN-based processes
• Interactions between processes, bots, and humans become more efficient.

Now that you have a good grasp of how the EasyRPA and Camunda platforms work, let’s take a look at one of the cases where we implemented Camunda BPM Solutions to meet a customer’s needs.

Camunda and EasyRPA Case Study

The customer

One of our customers needed help with optimizing their employee onboarding process. The customer in question was a large IT company based in Europe.

Our team comprised of 6 members:

• Delivery manager
• Camunda expert / consultant
• Business analyst
• Camunda/Java lead developer
• AI-developer
• Data analyst

The period for the development and implementation of the project was 4 months.

The challenge

The customer’s problem was created by difficulties in implementing business processes that required the physical presence of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The customer needed help in quickly resolving business process issues that were subject to the personal presence of employees such as onboarding.

They realized that to stay competitive in their industry, they would have to rethink and transform their business processes.

The Camunda platform was adjudged to be the best technology to tackle the challenge. Camunda’s spring boot feature facilitated seamless integration, while the Camunda tasklist simplified the management of human tasks of all operators involved in the process.

Due to their position as leading Camunda support providers, IBA Group was engaged to help them implement the needed changes to their business processes.

Our Camunda service was challenged to create custom solutions that offered the customers the flexibility, speed, and efficiency they needed without going against compliance standards.

Goals and tasks of the project

Automating employee onboarding processes provides a ton of benefits to modern businesses. However, this has to be done in line with best practices.

As such, the goals and tasks of IBA Group in this project were clearly defined. The focus was on developing and implementing an automated employee onboarding process that minimized the time required for the process.

IBA Group action plan for the project

Employee onboarding automation requires careful planning and preparation because the stakeholders involved must outline the specific onboarding activities that require automation, assess the resources needed for execution, and develop a project timeframe.

Based on this line of approach, IBA Group’s action plan for the project demonstrated a comprehensive approach to addressing the challenge of employee onboarding during the COVID-19 pandemic:

Here are the key points of the team’s action plan:

1. An analysis of the current business process: The project began with a comprehensive analysis of the existing onboarding process. This was an essential step because it facilitated the understanding of the areas where automation can be introduced and how to improve efficiency.

2. The identification of potential automation stages: This stage involved identifying the stages that were to be automated. This helped focus efforts on the most critical components of the process.

3. An analysis of the problem of inability for in-person candidate/HR interaction: This analysis helped IBA Group team understand the significant limitations imposed by the pandemic and how they affected the onboarding process.

4. Selection of technical solutions: This involved choosing a technical solution that would streamline onboarding workflows. The decision was made to implement the Camunda platform.

As for automating tasks that were previously done manually, the choice was made to employ robotic process automation using EasyRPA. AI technology was also utilized for document classification and recognition.

5. Designing the new business process: Creating a new business process based on the Camunda platform allowed for the coordinated management of all stages and steps.

6. Automation using EasyRPA: Implementing robots significantly enhanced the efficiency and speed of request processing. This was achieved by the automatic creation of employee profiles, and the generation of the necessary documents and requests during employee onboarding.

7. Integration with the Customer’s HR System: The Integration with the customer’s HR system served to reduce the risk of errors and ensured data accuracy.

8. Tasks for HR personnel and employees: The automated creation of tasks for HR personnel guaranteed control and necessary human actions when required.

9. Notifications: Notifications about successful stages and issues would maintain awareness among all the stakeholders involved.

Results of the project

Here are the results of our project on employee onboarding automation.

1. Reduced Onboarding Time: Reducing the onboarding process from several days to 4 hours represented a significant improvement. This not only saved the company time, it also made the process more convenient and enjoyable for new employees.

2. Enhanced Company Reputation: The rapid adaptation to new conditions and improved workflow helped strengthen the company’s reputation as a place that cares for its employees and responds to changes in the modern business landscape.

3. Increased Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS): An 8% increase in the employee Net Promoter Score indicates that the HR department employees positively assessed the changes and felt more satisfied and content with their work.

4. Efficient Document Recognition: An 85% correct document recognition and classification rate demonstrates that the AI system is successfully performing its tasks, reducing the risk of errors and increasing process efficiency.

5. Reduced Document Reruns: A 67% reduction in document reruns due to data errors reflects higher process accuracy and reliability. Consequently, the reduced document reruns save time and resources.

These results confirm that the automation of the customer’s employee onboarding process was effective and successful. The success of the project would contribute to the company’s competitiveness and employee satisfaction.

Conclusion and recommendations

Based on the results of the project, here are some recommendations that we have for you:

1. Flexibility and Speed: Flexibility and rapid response to external changes are becoming increasingly important in the modern business space. Companies should be prepared for quick adaptation and constant improvement of their processes.

Thankfully, Camunda users can combine the software with EasyRPA to be able to immediately and conveniently plug any lapses in their business processes.

2. Automation and RPA: Utilizing modern technologies such as Camunda and robotic process automation (RPA) helps reduce time and resources, improve service quality, and decrease the likelihood of errors.

3. Integration with New Technologies: It is imperative to stay abreast of the latest technological trends and innovations. Informed investments in modern tools and systems can significantly enhance your competitiveness and keep you ahead of your peers.

4. Employee Training: It’s essential to train your staff on how to use new technologies and tools. You must provide access to training and skill development so that your employees can confidently integrate innovations into your business processes.

5. Monitor Feedback: You should actively collect and analyze feedback from customers, employees, and other stakeholders to identify issues and needs, enabling improvements and enhancements to business processes.

6. Goal — Improve Experience: The primary goal of any changes in business processes is to improve the experience of your customers and employees. As such, every change that you implement should be aimed at increasing satisfaction (client/employee) and improving results.

Companies that can follow these recommendations will effectively address most of the challenges that arise in the course of their business operations. Such companies would also become more competitive, efficient, and easily adaptable to the rapidly changing modern business environment.

Author: Alexei Bolotin

A leading Europe-based insurer approached us, aiming to optimize processing of client requests. This company offers many types of risk protection, including medical, auto, cargo, mortgage/homeowner’s insurance, and property protection coverage.

The insurer sought to find a solution that would streamline their procedures and automate client request processing, reduce their error rate, and cut down on client request processing time. We offered a solution that was based on the Camunda platform and included our EasyRPA platform to optimize client request processing, significantly reducing the error rates and processing times.

Goals

Our goal for this project was to develop and implement a client request processing solution. The solution needed to streamline and automate client request processing while enhancing the system’s efficiency and accuracy. The ultimate goal of this endeavor was to strengthen the company’s competitive position in the insurance market.

Background and Challenges

When the insurance company approached us, they were grappling with inefficient client request processing (i.e., insurance policy request processing). Many client requests took 7-8 hours to process, often riddled with manual data entry errors.

Data discrepancies led to inaccuracies in customer information. Ultimately, these errors led to loss, resulting in the provision of erroneous insurance offers to clients. In a market like insurance, saturated with heavy competition, inaccuracies pose significant challenges and deter potential clients.

Project Stages and Implementation

Like many of our projects, we took the discovery and implementation process through several steps to ensure that IBA Group and the insurance company were on the same page.

Initial Analysis: We conducted a detailed review of the existing business processes at the insurance company so we could fully understand the functionality.

Bottleneck Identification: In a follow-up to the initial analysis, we identified in the processes and systems the weak points that were causing the slowdowns and delays in the client request processing. Core Issues Analysis: The project team also analyzed the issues that arose from manual data entry errors and led to the issuance of unattractive offers to clients.

Technical Solution Selection: Based on the identified bottlenecks and re-issuance concerns, the project team selected Camunda to orchestrate all process activities and RPA to substitute manual tasks.

Automation Using EasyRPA with AI Module: We implemented three robots that significantly expedited and enhanced the customer request processing procedure. They automatically processed the data, and recognized, classified and generated the necessary documents in the system.

Process Automation Using Camunda: Our team has created a new process using Camunda that orchestrates the work between humans, robots, and other customer systems in an efficient way.

• Integration with CRM: Camunda automatically transfers client data to CRM, where the new client is created or client data is verified. This significantly reduces the risk of errors.
• Integration with other client systems: Camunda calls the existing quotes calculation module and the module that creates client documents. This reduces the client documents preparation time and excludes human intervention.
• Approval and Notification Steps: Camunda creates tasks for the managers in the tasklist for final quote approval and notifies the client about the decision on insurance quotes upon the final approval.

Training and Demonstration: On project completion, we conducted a workshop for our client with a demo of the new application.

Solution Highlights

Ultimately, our solution met the needs of the client and was a successful choice. I would like to single out several highlights within the solution we implemented.

• Process Automation with Camunda: Camunda allows for process automation and different tasks orchestration, resulting in the reduced quotes preparation time and level of the human intervention.
• Integration: A wide range of Camunda connectors and APIs facilitate seamless integration between different systems. As a result, client data is synchronized with the CRM system, and EasyRPA robots are incorporated into the process without the need of human intervention.
• EasyRPA Automation: Incorporating three robotic processes improved and accelerated the client request processing mechanism. The deployed robots that use an AI module streamlined data processing with automatic data recognition, classification, and document generation capabilities.
• Process Conclusion: The entire process is complete once all stages are successfully executed and the client is duly informed about the outcome.

Benefits for the Customer

The solution presented several outstanding benefits for the insurance company, which they were able to experience right away.

• Faster application processing
• Personalized and appealing insurance quotes for customers
• Streamlined process with fewer forms to fill out and a hassle-free user experience

Results & Metrics

The measurable results of the project implementation speak for themselves. The Insurance company was extremely satisfied with the results, which included:

• The average processing time for an insurance application slashed from several hours to just 20-30 minutes
• The implementation led to a 12% increase in signed insurance policies
• A whopping 87% of documents are now accurately recognized and classified
• The error rate plummeted by 80% because of the automated data transfer

By focusing our solution on customer-centricity and integrating state-of-the-art technologies like Camunda and RPA, we were able to boost the profile of the insurance company. The company is now positioned as a premier choice in the market, with a reputation for providing swift and accurate service.

Lessons Learned in this Project

One of the best parts of any successful implementation is the ability to learn. We can often use similar solutions to assist customers in the future. Based on IBA Group’s research and experience from this project, we offer the following conclusions and recommendations for clients encountering comparable challenges.

Focus on Customer-Centric Solutions: Today’s clients value their time. Companies must immerse themselves in the customer’s perspective and ensure they provide services tailored to the needs of their target audience.

Quick Response to Inquiries: Clients expect speed and responsiveness. Potential customers want prompt answers to their questions. Aim to reduce waiting and processing times to meet clients’ desire for immediate feedback.

Business Process Automation: Leverage contemporary IT solutions and tools to automate business processes. Platforms like Camunda notably improve request processing efficiency and minimize errors.

Integration with EasyRPA: Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can dramatically lessen manual tasks and boost data processing precision. Think about weaving EasyRPA into your operational processes—how can automation help streamline your procedures?

Staying Up with the Latest Technologies: The service market is intensely competitive. Firms that keep pace with evolving trends and harness cutting-edge technologies position themselves at the forefront. Prioritize innovation to hold onto your market edge.

Staff Training: Ensure your team has the training, skills, and knowledge to navigate modern tech and automation systems.

Monitoring Feedback: Regularly collecting client and staff feedback is crucial for refining business processes and tools.

In today’s dynamic insurance landscape, the emphasis is on swift, tailored services and integrating the latest technological advancements. To keep pace and stay competitive, it’s essential to prioritize customer-centric solutions, embrace automation, and continuously update staff skills and company systems.

At IBA Group, we have successfully navigated these challenges and are ready to guide you through your next transformation. Let’s work together to shape a future that benefits your business and your clients.

Author: Mark Hillary

Last year the analyst firm HfS Research published a cautionary article on Robotic Process Automation (RPA). They warned that the technology and outsourcing market was hyping RPA beyond what it could possibly achieve – the talk of RPA changing the world is all hype.

This should be qualified by the more nuanced comments published by HfS. They stated that the RPA boom has been hyped, but not the more general focus on business automation. So the blogs and business journals that keep on breathlessly saying that bots will transform companies need to examine just exactly what they are saying. RPA cannot exist without a wider transformation of how a company functions.

Companies today need real-time data that converges across business functions. You cannot have a marketing database that is not connected to data your customer service team is using. You cannot drive business value today without your business data being real-time and accessible from across the entire business.

The hype around bots is that all this is automatic; but if your company still relies on paper documents then how are the bots going to process that data? To create a truly automated organisation requires more thought and planning than just the deployment of a bot in the back-office.

As more processes are digitised, more value can be created. More insights can be found. More opportunities to set bots searching for trends are created. HfS has actually been saying this for a long time and they have a digital office solution called OneOffice that broadly defines how organisations need to plan operations – if they want to use the data flowing through the company.

The real message is that RPA itself is not hype. There are many excellent examples of RPA deployments that have achieved genuine efficiencies for the companies using it – including customers of IBA. However, the idea that RPA is a silver bullet that can automate your business processes, making your team super-efficient overnight, is certainly hype. RPA is just one part of a transformation to a digital business environment. It is one tool in a complete arsenal of change related to the way that data is used.

We need to see a convergence of data analytics, cognitive solutions, and RPA. Big Data is another term that is often tossed around with very little understanding, but it needs to be understood by leaders. Big Data and data convergence are not just referring to smarter ways of using data. We are talking about the complete digital transformation of organisations so that data becomes the most valuable asset.

Many people have been shocked to recently discover just how much data Facebook has on their personal likes, dislikes, and preferences. It shouldn’t be a surprise. Facebook has offered a free service for years in return for data. That data allows them to know their customers inside-out, creating advertising opportunities that the traditional advertising industry cannot match. Facebook has redefined how advertising works and major advertising companies are struggling to keep up.

Whatever your business, you need to think about how data flows from customers to you and how it moves inside the organisation. How can you leverage this knowledge to create new opportunities – even a new business? RPA is just one ingredient and can help to automate some processes, but thinking about RPA should really just be your first step towards a complete transformation of how you are using data in your company today.

Author: Mark Hillary

How does Robotic Process Automation (RPA) really change the enterprise? Naturally, there is a need to seek out the expertise of companies (like IBA Group!) that have expertise in all the main software systems – because it pays to bring in experts when delivering a completely new system, but what about the wider changes that continue after the implementation?

I think this is an interesting question. RPA has the potential to fundamentally change the way that workflows are organised inside many companies and yet I rarely see this discussed in most of the coverage. In fact, most RPA media coverage can be summarised as focused on the size of the market and how automation can replace employees.

Of course, the market size is important, and the potential for automation to replace people is also important – and scary. Many people are getting worried by media headlines suggesting that the robots are about to take their jobs.

Most of this reporting is irresponsible and doesn’t reflect how companies are really exploring the use of automated systems such as RPA. The current debate around RPA reminds me of the lump of labour fallacy. This was suggested by some economists who believed that the amount of work in the economy is fixed, so if you restrict the hours that employees can work then you will reduce unemployment. Work isn’t so simple and the amount of labour is certainly not fixed.

Why is RPA becoming so popular? There are demonstrable benefits that can be attributed to RPA projects. Some of the clear business benefits that can deliver a Return on Investment (ROI) include:

1. Faster time to market: products and services can be delivered faster when a part of the value chain has been automated, allowing quicker delivery and an improved time to market for new ideas.
2. Productivity boost: more can be achieved with fewer resources, so the same team can boost what they were delivering before automation.
3. FTE requirements: if a significant part of your business processes can be automated then logically the number of team members required to process this information can be reduced.

These are the initial short-term benefits. Naturally, the immediate benefits of an automation project will be that the processes work faster, allowing the same team to be more productive, but there are some additional longer-term benefits that should be considered beyond the initial boost.

First is the ability to transform your business. Many industries are experiencing a wave of rapid change at present. Change really is the only constant for almost every traditional business model. Look at banks becoming apps, or news publishers searching for a revenue stream. Many traditional industries are finding that they need to change in order to survive in a very different business environment. If a significant part of your business can be automated then this facilitates innovation in the rest of your processes. It could even be argued that a significant digital transformation project will never succeed if you cannot automate the repetitive processes in your value chain.

Streamlining the processes you have yet to automate is another significant advantage – expanding the scope of automation beyond what you can initially achieve. Once you can see just how much of your business can be automated, there is a strong temptation to increase the processes your business manages using RPA. It’s important to create a period of stability once RPA is initially rolled out, but after that expansion should be encouraged.

Automating many of your systems allows governance checks to be applied automatically by the system and all processes and actions to be recorded. This can help with compliance and governance by removing the opportunity for manual errors and ensuring that a comprehensive audit trail exists for all automated actions.

It won’t be easy to see all the potential benefits from RPA immediately because there are just so many software vendors and no single control mechanism. We are still watching the growth of a market that will transform how companies operate far more than ERP or CRM ever did. But questions remain about how to link RPA into other systems within the enterprise – the Internet of Things for example. Instead of building these links differently for every organisation why are we not building RPA systems like USB cables – able to just plug in anywhere?

RPA will fundamentally change how enterprises are designed in the next decade, but some important decisions will need to be taken along the way. Not every RPA vendor will survive, just as Betamax video was killed off by the market acceptance of VHS. It’s going to get interesting out there as more companies rely on automation to compete.

Author: Mark Hillary

The industry analyst firm Everest Group recently reported their latest research into the development of the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) market and they have some interesting findings. The market is getting larger and more competitive, but the services provided are also increasing in complexity too.

“The market for RPA technology is becoming more complex, with highly competitive and evolving product offerings,” said Sarah Burnett, executive vice president and distinguished analyst at Everest Group. “The Everest Group Products PEAK Matrix is an unbiased assessment that uncovers vendor and product differentiators to identify the leaders in RPA technology based on research that goes deep into the vendors performance and product details, features, functionalities and more.”

The PEAK Matrix reporting method summarises the 22 companies studied along two different axes. The first is vision and quality, describing the ability of the company to successfully deliver the products they promise. The second is the market impact, how is their sales performance and impact on the wider RPA marketplace?

Everest Group classified the main RPA technology vendors into three categories of Leaders, Major Contenders, and Aspirants:

• Leaders: Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, NICE and UiPath
• Major Contenders: Another Monday, AntWorks, EdgeVerve, HelpSystems, Jacada, Jidoka, Kofax, Kryon, Pegasystems, Servicetrace, Softomotive, Thoughtonomy, and WorkFusion
• Aspirants: AutomationEdge, Datamatics, Intellibot, Nintex, and Nividous

AntWorks, Automation Anywhere, Datamatics, Softomotive, and UiPath demonstrated the strongest year-over-year movement on both market impact and vision-and-capability dimensions and emerged as 2019 RPA Market Star Performers. WorkFusion scored as high, or higher sometimes, on the vision and quality measurement as the leaders, but it was felt that they have not quite made the market impact to be categorised as a leader – yet.

Other interesting takeaways from the Everest research include:

• Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, and UiPath are the top vendors in terms of RPA license revenue, closely followed by NICE. Pegasystems leads in terms of revenue from attended RPA (RDA) licenses
• Softomotive has the highest number of RPA clients in the market, most of which are small-sized enterprises and SMBs. Witnessing almost 300% year-over-year growth in its number of clients, UiPath holds the second spot in terms of number of RPA clients
• Automation Anywhere leads in North America, which is the largest RPA market, and Latin America. Blue Prism leads in the UK and MEA markets, while UiPath leads in Continental Europe and Asia Pacific
• UiPath holds the highest market share by license revenue across horizontal functions such as F&A, procurement, and HR, while Blue Prism leads in banking and insurance industry-specific process areas. Pegasystems has the highest market share in the contact center space
• Leaders have moved away from perpetual licensing to annual/monthly subscription-based licensing models. Advances in RPA technologies and increasing client maturity are fuelling the rise of more output-oriented pricing models such as flexible usage-based (e.g., per minute/hour) and per-process or transaction-based models
• RPA solutions continue to evolve with a host of capabilities, such as computer vision, workflow orchestration, intelligent workload balancing, auto-scalability, and predictive SLA monitoring, to help enterprises achieve strategic business outcomes
• Attended RPA / RDA continues to witness increased demand in the market. AI-based next-best-action recommendation and interactive UI for on-screen agent guidance, which enhance worker productivity and help improve customer experience, are among the key RDA differentiators

This new research from Everest Group is comprehensive and insightful and was only just published in July 2019 so the information is current. I recommend browsing their findings because it is clear that RPA has moved beyond the hype cycle now and is becoming a serious strategy for many company executives.

Author: Mark Hillary

When I recently visited IBA Group I was expecting to hear about their Cloud Computing solutions and some of their more recent developments in Machine Learning, but I was surprised to hear exactly how developed their Robotic Process Automation (RPA) expertise is today. I was surprised because their approach to RPA is not typical. They have experience of delivering real projects to real clients in multiple countries using the top 4 RPA software platforms.

Now contrast this to the typical RPA story in the media. Robo-bosses, robots taking over, and other mentions of robots replacing humans. When reading about RPA we usually read hype and grand claims of digital transformation, often from experts or IT companies with very little track record in this area. Yet IBA has been quietly developing expertise in all the major RPA platforms all over the world and there is no hype at all. They have just been getting on with the job.

RPA is now (almost) a $2bn a year marketplace and it’s growing fast. This area of business is only going to get more important as we move into 2019. HFS predicts that we are looking at $2.3bn revenue in RPA technologies in 2019 and this will grow to $4.3bn by 2022.

Traditionally HFS has been the least bullish of the analyst community. For a long time they criticised analysts such as Gartner for hyping the RPA market, but now even the HFS predictions look exciting. Gartner predicts that spending on RPA software is growing around 57% year on year, which is a phenomenal increase for any market, but what is really interesting is how all the analysts seem to be agreeing that RPA is no longer in the Hype Cycle and is now being accepted as a regular business process automation tool. Even the forward projections of Gartner to 2022 feature year-on-year growth of 41% – RPA has arrived.

When I arrived at IBA, I never expected to hear such a solid RPA success story – case study after case study of real RPA deliveries. I did a detailed interview with Vjacheslav Mikitjuk, director of Internet Technologies, that I intend to publish in the new year.

The RPA world is full of hype. HFS Research has been a vocal critic of the RPA hot air and fake news for the past few years, but even they now acknowledge that there are real solutions being delivered that are adding value all over the world. I witnessed this up close when I went to visit IBA Group and it was not even something that I had expected. They have kept their RPA expertise fairly quiet, but I’m hoping to change that in 2019 by telling the world what they have been doing.

To listen to the CX Files podcast featuring Andrei Lepeyev from IBA Group, click here

Author: Andrew Dvirnyk

Sometimes, our current IT landscape can feel like the Wild West. There are so many opportunities to build, introduce, and benefit from creative and groundbreaking technologies. Now that we are at the stage in which robots and robotic process automation can be introduced to and scaled for businesses of all sizes, the opportunities to automate everything can feel almost as overwhelming as the inability to automate anything.

Add to that the fact that the world of robotic process automation is largely monopolized by high priced licensed solutions, and many businesses are faced with the need to automate at the same time that they feel like automation is cost prohibitive, time consuming, or too complicated to approach with the IT staff they have.

This is where IBA Group stands out. We believe that every company should have the opportunity to implement robotic process automation. And we honor our commitment to that belief by designing products and processes that make automation possible with the needs – and teams – you currently have.

RPA Tools

As we have discussed previously, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) tools vary significantly from one to the next. It is important to know what RPA tools are right for your business, who to partner with on RPA solutions, and how to get the most return on investment for RPA solutions.

One way to look at getting the most ROI from RPA is to explore the range of RPA tools that are available, and to look at what features work to best fit your needs and budget.

When we evaluate RPA tools, one of the things that is most important to us is that, with the right developers, RPA tools can automate any process.

Optical Character Recognition Engines

Optical character recognition engines and the actionable intelligence feature of RPA enable the kind of automation that improves day-to-day operations across organizations. These day-to-day processes that developers are able to automate include graphical elements; mouse and keyboard management; and webpage and desktop applications management.

EasyRPA Platform

In order to enable automation across these processes, we gathered our years of expertise and designed the EasyRPA platform, a flexible and powerful solution for enterprises.

The EasyRPA platform is a service-first RPA platform, built by developers for developers. Why do we put developers first in the design of our RPA Platform? Because we understand that RPA is the first step in a much broader roadmap to achieve seamless automated intelligence across your enterprise. And that developers have the knowledge, skills, and expertise to help get that job done. No matter the complexities.

Our developers, who understand RPA from the inside out, built EasyRPA with developer goals, needs, and challenges front and center. As a result, developers who work across industries and continents, can trust that our RPA solution eliminates your limitations.

Automation Center of Excellence

Our commitment to excellence runs deep. We put our time, energy, and expertise to work in our Center of Excellence, which includes more than 120 certified experts who have worked to successfully automate more than five hundred processes. Through the Center of Excellence, we work with Automation Anywhere, UiPath, WorkFusion, and BluePrism, among others to bring the best of automation to you.

Further, our internal IBA Group research and development teams custom make frameworks for RPA solution implementation that puts your success at the center of ours.

Programming is Key to Process Automation

Enhanced functionality using EasyRPA means your automation performs accurately, consistently, and successfully. Creating the robotic process automation you need starts with speaking the right language, the right way. To do that, we focus on robot development using the Java programming language.

Ultimately, programming is the key to successful process automation, no matter the complexities. In fact, it provides maximum freedom for the development of highly complex robots, both now and in the future. Expert programming allows you to follow a consistent set of codified standards for all robots in one organization, and to organize qualified process support in production.

Further, the kind of programming power that you get with EasyRPA enables organizations to take advantage of common reusable components. This sustainable approach to programming and RPA might include accessing the same software systems across business processes within a large enterprise.

What Makes up EasyRPA

EasyRPA includes core platform components and support. The core platform components include the robot developer’s API, which is critical to the success of the RPA solution. Other core platform components include a continuous integration environment; control server; and the node client.

Just as important as programming is to create an environment in which it becomes possible for developers to automate anything, support is a necessary piece of the puzzle. Paper scan support involves cognitive bots support, an essential component of RPA solutions, as well as the key element of “human in the loop” automation. Additionally, with support needs in mind, we allow for integration with OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tools like Tesseract and ABBY FineReader, as well as integration with spaCy for natural language processing and ABBY FlexiCapture for data capture.

EasyRPA Control Server

The EasyRPA control server provides centralized automation process management and services necessary for successful automation processes and their support.

So, what does the EasyRPA control server cover? First, it manages the server’s users and group permissions. Next, it maintains catalogues both of existing Node Clients and existing automation processes.

Importantly, the control server also configures parameters for the automation process to set up multiple restrictions for runtime and to enable easy behavior changes. As a control server, it enables functionality. It runs, stops, and resumes the automation process.

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At the same time, the control server provides necessary information for analyzing processes on the micro and macro levels. It gives you the ability to define automation process schedules, report automation process run statuses, and review automation process logs. Finally, with the control server, you can secure and store system permissions that the robot accesses.

Automation Process Package

The automation process development product is a Java package that helps you get the most out of your RPA solution. It contains all the code and libraries required to perform the business logic of automation, using the EasyRPA Developer’s API and the patterns it provides.

So, what does this kind of functionality allow you to automate? And does it let you do so simply? With this functionality, you can automate the web-based and desktop applications that keep your business running (and running well), including SAP, Excel, and many more. It goes a step farther, to accommodate remote desktop applications like Windows Remote Desktop, Citric XenApp, and others.

And it does all of this simply, by maximizing automation technology to make multiple process run more smoothly, efficiently, and effectively. Essentially, you do have the option to automate anything, and to do so with ease.

EasyRPA Node

We get excited when we talk about EasyRPA Node because this is where automation processes perform. It’s like the “go button” for automation. And it is flexible. It can be located with the control server, or it can be remote.

The Node Client triggers the automation process based on commands from the control server. It works with the automation process package, and it secures the transfer of service from the control server that is required to initiate the automation process seamlessly.

The EasyRPA Node Client makes complicated processes run smoothly, simply, and without interruption thanks to distributed architecture that allows over ten thousand robots to run simultaneously.

What we want most for our clients is to have access to the technology they deserve to create the kinds of experiences and outcomes that define success for their businesses. This is one of the main reasons why we use EasyRPA. And it is why we dedicate over one hundred twenty engineers to developing customized solutions that meet your automation needs and exceed your technology expectations. Technology changes quickly. But with a steady partner, you are prepared to head confidently into the future.

Author: Andrew Dvirnyk

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) uses software bots and AI to automate processes, simplify and accelerate repetitive tasks, and empower employees to do more. At IBA Group, we work with RPA in a variety of environments.

We work with industries from banking, finance, insurance, and healthcare, to manufacturing, retail, transportation, and logistics on Robotic Process Automation. Additionally, our clients include IT and analytics companies, and all businesses that deal with labor-intensive tasks. We help all these businesses across industries to use robotic automation to resolve manual errors and get more out of repetitive operations.

Analysis and Forecasting

In addition to the immediate challenges that RPA resolves, when advanced analytics enter the equation, we are able to access historical data to assist in comparative analysis and forecasting models.

Further, we can utilize machine learning (ML) to forecast critical KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). This includes analyzing, working to resolve process bottlenecks, and finding ways to optimize robot utilization.

KPI for RPA Projects

It is always important to set the criteria for success. On every project, and relating to every objective, having a clear path to understanding – and building – what works best for your employees, your users, and your business, is part of our SMART commitment.

In service of sustainability, multi-faceted solutions, automation, reliability, and trust, identifying RPA project KPI helps get the most out of Robotic Process Automation across organizations. RPA Project KPIs include operational outcomes. This indicator addresses development, deployment, and maintenance. Performance indicators for RPA also include operational metrics.

We are jumping into those operational metrics first, to help give a comprehensive picture not only of what RPA can do for your organization, but how you can measure it in a way that is reliable and useful to your business in its current and future states.

RPA Metrics: Operational KPIs

There are five main operational KPIs used to measure RPA outcomes. First, we look at errors. Next, we look at robot utilization. Then, we measure success rate and assess duration. Finally, we identify the performance rate and the accuracy rate.

  Errors

Let’s start with the simplest, and the most obvious. To analyze RPA performance, the first step is to track errors. Error tracking allows us to find patterns.

Once we find them, it becomes much easier to take the necessary action to remedy those errors. This is a good example of how metrics and analysis guide action that can create improvements across your organization.

 Robot Utilization

Similarly, measuring and assessing robot utilization rates helps you plan for how to best optimize your automation tools. Once we use metrics to understand whether the robots are being used, how they are being used, and how effectively they are performing tasks, you are in the perfect position to get the most out of your RPA investment.

Robot utilization KPIs measure average hours worked per day for all the robots across the operation. When we measure robot utilization, we also look at the hours worked per day within a certain period of time. And we analyze the hours that specific robots work per day.

This information allows us to determine whether and which robots are over-utilized or under-utilized.

Having access to utilization information like this helps you to design objectives and utilize robots in the ways that work best for you. For instance, a low daily utilization rate means you can create more tasks for your robots.

On the other hand, if measurement determines that there is a high daily utilization rate, it may indicate that there are issues that need to be resolved. These issues could include automation backlogs. In cases like this, that typically means that you need to include additional robots in your operation to improve workload distribution. 

Success Rate

The third operational KPI to assess RPA is the success rate. As you would expect, success is an important indicator of performance. But what is a reasonable, or desired, success rate for RPA?

We recommend you aim for a success rate of about 90%. Why not aim for a success rate of 100%? Answering this question is a great way to take a closer look at why we measure RPA KPIs. The reason we use these metrics is not just so that we can see great results. We apply analytical metrics to RPA so that we can see what is working and how well it is working. And even more so, so that we can isolate the issues and build a path to resolution.

A success rate of 90% allows us to see where failures exist. Conversely, if you measure a success rate of 100%, it could likely indicate that there are failures that are not, in fact being tracked. Untracked failures, or failures that are not tracked correctly, mean that issues fall through the cracks, and, therefore, cannot be resolved. 

Duration

Duration as a performance indicator is similar to success rate as a performance indicator for Robotic Process Automation. Let’s take a moment to look at duration as an indicator, because its value as an operational KPI might not be immediately obvious.

At first glance, many organizations, even those with a good amount of experience working with innovative technologies, assume that faster is always better. In fact, in the case of assessing and measuring RPA performance, short runtimes could indicate automation failure. Indications of automation failure necessitate immediate response to get the process back up and running as quickly and efficiently as possible. This improves the overall health of the operation and the usefulness of RPA across your organization. 

Performance and Accuracy Rate

The fifth operational KPI used to measure RPA outcomes is the performance and accuracy rate. The performance and accuracy rate allows us to determine how robotic automation is functioning in your organization. With this metric, you are able to see how RPA is performing and whether or not it is doing so correctly and productively.

As in the case of the other performance indicators, this does more than provide you with data to celebrate your successes. It also enables you to find and target issues for resolution. This kind of measurement and analysis gives you the opportunity to continue to improve processes and outcomes, lower costs, and demonstrate ROI on automation investments.

RPA Metrics: Overall Business KPIs

Using analytics to measure RPA KPIs related to overall business outcomes and goals helps to assess the value of Robotic Processing Automation across your organization. 

Process Outcomes

While it is important to demonstrate ROI, it is also important to understand, and to be able to quantify and verify process outcomes related to RPA.

When we work with RPA and when we measure RPA, it is important to remember that the purpose of automation is to achieve a specific goal or outcome. As such, knowing what those targets are, what steps we need to take to achieve them, and how we can measure and report the fact that we have achieved them, is key to current and future success. 

ROI

Let’s return to the idea of return on investment for technology solutions in general, and for automation in particular. We use RPA analysis metrics to show ROI. This includes RPA KPIs that show the number of hours that Robotic Automation Processes save, as well as the amount of money that these automated processes save.

RPA touches organizations at multiple levels. When utilized optimally, RPA improves efficiencies and performance. All of this comes together to demonstrate a positive return on investment. RPA utilization can save substantial amounts of both time and money (a win-win).

It is just as important to show when, whether and how your organization is using RPA to save time and money as it is to save that time and money. Measuring and assessing the return on technology investments is an important KPI for all organizations that utilize RPA.

More RPA Analytics

Stay with us as we continue to explore RPA analytics in our next post.  We are taking a deeper dive into deployment metrics and how to look at RPA development and maintenance within the overall context of your business health and goals.

To connect with IBA Group on RPA projects, and to discuss how to operationalize KPIs for automation across your organization, contact us.