Winning with DigitalAutomation: Bots to Robotic Process Automation

Ritu Jyoti

March, 2019

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Fourth Industrial Revolution

Expected to see heavy implementation of

"emerging technology breakthroughs" in

fields such as artificial intelligence,

robotics, the Internet of Things,

autonomous vehicles, 3D printing,

quantum computing and

nanotechnology with a high potential of

disruptive effects.

An era that will be defined and driven by extreme automation and ubiquitous connectivity.

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Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Is a Software Bot Designed to

Automate or Augment Repetitive Mundane Tasks

▪ RPA originated as client-side

automation

▪ Today, RPA combines both

client-side and server-side and

continues to focus on task automation

▪ AI models will increasingly embed in

bots, become bots or be called as a

service

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The Banking, Financial Service, and Insurance

Industry Is The Largest User Group of RPA

▪ Fast expansion to other industries:

• Loan application

• Credit card application

• Mortgage application

• Claim processing

• Customer data update

• Customer management

• Form filling

• Report generation

• Address update

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Workflows Suitable for RPA – Cross-Industries

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▪ Rule-based

▪ Structured data

▪ Large volume, simple, repetitive,

mundane tasks

▪ Multisystem, interoperable

▪ Standardized workflow

▪ Data exchange/integration between

heterogeneous systems

▪ High demand for precision and

consistence in data manipulation

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Evolution of RPA to IPA*

▪ Investments in BPM

focused on modeling,

automating workflows,

managing workers

performing tasks

▪ Investments in SOA

(services oriented

architecture) focused on

straight through

processing, or full

system automation for

non-manual work

▪ Initial efforts begin in

RPA although term not

yet used

▪ Investments in BPM

focused on supporting a

greater variety of

process design patterns,

including complex

workflows, non-

deterministic workflows

and case management

▪ Market begins to shape

around RPA term

▪ Investments shifted to

automation and

augmentation bringing in

the era of:

• API management

• Modern integration

• Robotic Process

Automation

• Prescriptive analytics

• Functions and event-

driven automation

▪ Investments shifting to

inject AI, ML into

processes to improve

customer experience and

levels of automation, to

simplify and to make

processes more dynamic

▪ ISV product development

using AI/ML as

development productivity

features and embedding

into offerings1995-2012

2003-2012

2013-2015

2015-

2018-

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* Intelligent Process Automation

AI-enabled RPA (IPA) has a wider scope of applications.

▪ RPA being "dumb" is not necessarily bad — do exactly as

trained.

▪ AI-enabled functions and capabilities help extend RPAs from

dumb rule-based tools to more intelligent automation

assistants:

• Handle unstructured data (extension of RPA), such as natural language

processing.

• Learn from experiences/observations, preferably under human

supervision.

• Improve the way RPA interacts with people and business systems.

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Key RPA Vendors by Bot Type

Action UI Capture AI Task Mining

Automation Anywhere X X O X

Blue Prism X X O

Conduent X X

Infosys EdgeVerve Software X X O X

Epiance (EpiGenie) X

Exilant (Fusion) X

Jacada X X

Kofax Kapow X X

Kryon Systems X X X

Nice X X

OpenConnect (WorkiQ) X X X

Pegasystems OpenSpan X X

Redwood Software X

Softomotive X X X

UiPath X X O

WorkFusion X X

X = offers capability native; O = partners for capability

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Many alternative automation

technologies will supplement and

compete with RPA, including:

▪ Chatbots and prescriptive analytics

— recommender engines, next best

action — will play a bigger role in

task augmentation, competing with

RPA

▪ Some RPA functions are replaced by

microservices-based composite

services that provide an alternative

to the current RPA approaches

▪ RPA functions blend with composite

services to expand the number of

tasks able to be fully automated.

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Case Studies across Industry Verticals

For appointment scheduling,

including the pickup and

drop-off points, shipment

distance and desired

delivery timeframe.

Automate anything from

answering employee

questions to retrieving useful

information from audit

documents.

Automate 60% of its order

processing volume,

redeploy 30 FTEs

to higher-value tasks

380 Bots500 Bots 500+ IQBot

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0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Reduction in FTEs

Freeing up staff for higher…

Improved partner/supplier…

Improved employee…

Reduced operational risk

Higher accuracy and/or error…

Cost savings

Improved employee…

Improved customer satisfaction

Improved regulatory…

Greater agility and scalability

Improved analytics

Process Automation Benefits

Source: IDC MaturityScape Benchmark – Content Centric Workflow Survey, July, 2018; N=142

What benefits are you achieving (or do you expect to achieve) by deploying RPA software?

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Closing

Managing security risks is the top priority for RPA.

▪ Development teams should look

broadly at IPA as a blend of

technologies where each has its own

place in process design

▪ Plan to invest more

• Data becomes far more important to

modern process automation

• IPA becomes more event-driven

• Decision automation becomes more

central to IPA

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