Iowa RPA Meetup: the Five Persistent Myths of Robotic Process Automation

The 5 Persistent
Myths of RPA
January 29, 2019
Doug Ross
National Solution Architect, RPA and AI
doug.ross@us.sogeti.com

Our group – Capgemini -- takes a vendor-agnostic approach
to working with RPA tools and have evaluated more than 75
products related to automation, machine learning, etc.
• 1,200business processes automated
• 4,000production robots
• 1,000full-time RPA SMEs
• 3of top 5global banks are RPA clients
So… what have we learned?
RPA Context…

3© 2018 Sogeti. All rights reserved.
The Evolution of RPA
Simple
Transactional Data
Autonomic Process
Automation
Structured Data/
Simple Rules
Unstructured Data/
Complex Rules
RPA Meets Cognitive
Computing
Desktop
Automation
Robotic Process
Automation
Intelligent Automation
 Simple Scripting
 Email and excel Macros
 Screen scraping
 Auto eMailer
 Virtual FTEs orchestrating
business processes
 Non-intrusive system
integration through UI
 Business rule execution
 Pre-defined libraries/functions
 Orchestration and control of
digital labour
 Machines driven by artificial
intelligence – comprehend,
decide and remember
 Predictive modeling, Probability
analysis and data discovery –
self learning
 Natural Language processing
 Insight-driven knowledge
 RPA capabilities extended to
support unstructured data
processing and complex
business rules
 E.g.: Abbyy Compreno
integration with an RPA platform
to automate processes driven by
unstructured data

What are the primary benefits of RPA?
Eliminate/Reduce losses
RPA can help eliminate losses due to system
discrepancies or delays
Self - Sufficiency
Cumulative
productivity improvement
Decrease in cycle time
and effort
Increase in greater
efficiencies in ‘run the
business’ (RTB) costs
Cost
Optimization
Cost Optimization Productivity Improvement Operational Efficiency
Scalability
Tens, hundreds of robots can be trained at
exactly the same time through workflow
creation.
Improved Quality
100% accuracy due to high repeatability and
zero fatigue.
Higher Efficiency
Robots can work 24 hours a day, seven days a
week. Typically, one robot can do the work of two
to five FTEs.
Improved Service Delivery and User
Experience
Improved process quality, speed,
governance, security, continuity
Operations Optimization
Improved data gathering and organization
for optimised operations
Regulatory Compliance
100% compliance with stated regulatory
requirements
FTE Redeployment
Significant cost reduction in process
operations. FTE redeploy to other initiatives
Eliminate need for expensive
Integration needs
RPA can work smoothly across disparate
systems at user level
Productivity
Improvement
Operational
Efficiency

Examples: RPA Return-On-Investment (ROI) Metrics
Aircraft Banking CPG Insurance Life Science Mfg Retail
Problem
Tariff / tax
validation
required team
of 5 FTEs
KYC, AML
processing
required
significant
manual effort
Master data
consistently out
of synch
Claims
processing
costs far above
industry
average
Medical device
compliance
processes
heavily manual
Siloed ERP
systems out of
synchronization
Merchandising
processes
required
significant
rekeying effort
Solution UI Path
Automation
Anywhere
Blue Prism UI Path Blue Prism Blue Prism UI Path
Result
$250K savings
from 8 week
POC
3.5 FTE saved,
75% cycle time
reduction
Rework
dropped by
45%
$350K savings
from 9 week
project
$400K savings
from 11 week
project
Financial
statement
integrity at very
low cost
$400K savings
and 80% cycle
time reduction
Data Integrity
Risk
Avoidance
Error Rate
Reduction
Cost
Avoidance
Risk
Avoidance
Risk
Avoidance
Business
Agility
Other
Benefits

Where are some of the sweet spots for RPA and AI?
A network of automation—with initial focus
on “high readiness to deploy” technology
High
relevance
Currently low
-but monitor
Emerging
Master Data Procurement
Invoice
Processing
Query Payment
T&E Claims
Processing
Reporting Analytics
Order
Management
Master Data Credit Billing Collections
Non-PO
Invoice
Disputes,
Deductions,
Queries
Reporting Analytics
Master Data Journal Fixed Asset Compliance
Tax
Accounting
Treasury Intercompany Close Reporting
Master Data
Recruit to
Hire
Administer to
Work
Reward to
Pay
Learn to
perform
Query
R R R R RIP IP
R
R R R R R R R R
R R R R R R R R
RR
AI AI
AI
AI
AI
AI
IP IP IP RIP
AI AI AI BC
IPR R R R AI
R Robotics IP Interaction platforms AI
“Narrow” artificial Intelligence/
machine learning including analytics
BC Block chain
Record
to Report
Order to
Cash
Procure-
to-Pay
HR

Chatbot for Service Desk: Salvage Auto Auction Firm
Business
Challenges and
Scope
• Service Desk team handles
250,000 calls per year; average
client wait time is app. 12
minutes
• Client wanted a chatbot that
could handle “routine requests”
to reduce the load on service
desk personnel and improve
customer experience
Solution
• Chatbot built to handle:
• Static questions and
answers
• Conversations and
Context
• Transaction-enablement
• External web service
calls
Result
• 20%+ call deflection from first-
level service desk personnel
• Reduced average call-wait time
• Reduced average call handle
time
• Service desk personnel working
on more value-added activities
Impact on ticket types:
• Password resets
• Network (WiFi) connectivity troubleshooting
• Account lockouts
• Help on auction locations
Firm is currently working on second generation of chatbot to include
additional ticket types and further improve customer experience and
handle time

Evolution of an RPA Program: an Agile Example
POC Discovery
Training
4 sprints 4 sprints 4 sprints 8 sprints4 sprints
RPA
licenses
Go
Live
PoC
Go
Live
Go
Live
Go
Live
PoC
presen
tation
Center of Excellence (CoE)
Maintenance - Support
RPA implementation

The 5 Persistent
Myths of RPA

My Favorite…

030201
12Presentation Title Date © 2018 Sogeti. All rights reserved.
Myth #5: You Can Do It Without IT
3 reasons to be skeptical
The Review Process
Bots should be reviewed for
consistency, security, adherence to
standards.
IT is best-suited to provide these
services.
Shared Components
Shared component libraries to help
prevent widespread breakage during
application upgrades.
IT is well-positioned to help build,
deploy and maintain these libraries.
ITSM Strategy
Bots should be part of your
Configuration Management Database
(CMDB) ITSM strategy.
The last point is exceedingly
important!

Another good one…

14© 2018 Sogeti. All rights reserved. 14© 2018 Sogeti. All rights reserved.
What are all of the planned
maintenance or freeze windows
for the application?
Are there stability or
performance issues in certain
corners of the app that could
hinder automation?
Are there peak processing times
that bots should avoid (e.g.,
month-end, quarter-end, etc.)
to prevent a “bot-based denial-
of-service attack”?
01
02
03
Myth #4: You Can Do It Without App Owners
“Don’t worry, be happy!”
Can your bot developer answer the following questions
regarding the applications the bot will be driving?

Myth #3: Calculating ROI is Simple
“No one told me there would be math!”
Beyond transaction counts, cycle time, etc. consider the following:
Benefits
• Cycle-time reduction
• Workforce availability
• Error-rate reduction
• Rework avoidance
Costs
• License and maintenance
• Infrastructure
• Operational support
Risks
• Compliance and regulations
• Data privacy and security
• Criticality of business process

16© 2018 Sogeti. All rights reserved. 16
RPA is not “fire and
forget”
forget”
forget”
forget”
forget”
Myth #2: Maintaining benefits is easy
“Can I sell you a bridge leading to Brooklyn?”
Lack of line-of-sight into the IT strategic
roadmap, which could render your automation
obsolete
Missing or incomplete ITSM data that ties the bot
to the rest of the IT landscape, which could lead
to outages during otherwise routine and low-risk
change management processes
A limited understanding of the characteristics
and lifecycle of underlying applications
01
02
03
We have seen organizations that have real difficulty
maintaining benefits over 12, 18 or 24 …

Myth #1: It’s Hard to Get Started
6 Weeks to Glory
A medium-complexity bot can be developed in 4 to 6 weeks (a “happy path” bot can
be developed in just a few days)
 Use the free version of an RPA tool to get started
 Let the business drive the process selection effort
 Focus on manual, repeatable and rule-based processes
 Ensure IT involvement from the onset
 Bask in glory!
POC
Pilots
COE

What does a real Robotization factory look like?

What does best-in-class RPA operational support look like?
Percentage of Registered resources available for
work
Workforce
Availability
Reports the number of new/deferred/completed
cases, organized by queue/process for last number
of days
Daily
Productivity
Reports the number of exceptions by queue for last
number of days
Exceptions
Reports on the largest tables in the Blue Prism
database, organised by table name
Largest
database table
Reports the volumes of tasks, organized by queue.
Pending
Queue Volume
Reports on overall time spent on processes,
organised by process, displayed as multiple time
intervals
Process
Utilization
Yesterday
Reports on overall time running sessions, organized
by resource
Resource
Utilization
Yesterday
Dashboard

Case Study: Visa Processing for Global Manufacturer
 Currently, the customer business
visa processing for Gulf nations is
done manually and administered
by a third-party vendor
supporting the business process
in 24x7 mode.
 Customer business seeks a faster
and cost effective automation
solution, which can efficiently
process the Business Visa
Requests with cost effective
solution.
 Upon successful implementation
for one country, customer is
looking for leveraging the Robotic
solution for global roll out
starting with Gulf Nations.
 A whopping $550K USD cost
savings annually
 Productivity Improvement
(SLA reduced from 24 hrs. to
15 min.)
 100% Process automation
resulting in greater turn around
time, no human touch and
accurate data processing with no
manual error
 Peak Load Management - Peak
load processing with relative
ease so much as to increase the
robotic provision to process 100
cases a day (peak volume)
working in 24x7
 FTE Productivity Improvement –
The automated processes
resulted in total benefit of
estimated 8 FTE.
 After the IPA, there was a Wing-
to-Wing (W2W) process walk-
through with functional owners to
understand the process and
create a user story for the
requirement so as development
can happen in Agile way.
 An extensive Robotic Process
Design session within the
Capgemini RPA team along with
Business SMEs to address all
possible business scenarios and
exceptions management with due
consideration if the “bot”
encounters an unusual situation.
 Deliverables:
1. Initial Process assessment with
cost benefit
2. Robotic Solution Framework &
Process Design Document
3. Global Roll out for Business
Visa for Bahrain and plan
for ROW
Robotic Process
Automation
Business
Requirements
Approach &
Deliverables
Benefits Technology
Multiple In-house developed
Web-apps, and web-forms
Applications

RPA Success Factors
Control App
Releases
Build
Iteratively
Modularise
to minimise
downtime
Start small
and learn
Select
the right
processes
Consider
soft launch
of complex
robots
Emphasize
the
Organization RPA
Success
Factors
 RPA projects can start with Lean Process Optimization before
application of Robot Automation
 Execute due diligence to assess process complexity prior to execution
– full list of apps, locations, LOBs, product lines involved.
 Design end-to-end, not just the robot, and focus on exceptions
 Business Ownership of the solution – Business Criticality and CBA
drive prioritization of RPA candidates
 Capture field-level rules and requirements
 Develop CoE guidelines for assessment, design, development, and
deployment of robots
 Central RPA Command Center proactively monitors Progress,
Benefit Realization, Capacity, and interdependencies
 Look to employ a dedicated RPA project execution and
maintenance team coordinated through the RPA Command Center
 Over time, develop a shared re-usable asset library by functional
area
 Drive consistency and alignment of RPA deployment architecture
across business units
 Testing RPA requires aligning test data for the end-to-end process flow

About Sogeti
Learn more about us at
www.sogeti.com
This message contains information that may be privileged or
confidential and is the property of the Capgemini Group.
Copyright© 2018 Sogeti. All rights reserved.
Sogeti is a leading provider of technology and engineering services. Sogeti delivers
solutions that enable digital transformation and offers cutting-edge expertise in Cloud,
Cybersecurity, Digital Manufacturing, Digital Assurance & Testing, and emerging
technologies. Sogeti combines agility and speed of implementation with strong technology
supplier partnerships, world class methodologies and its global delivery model,
Rightshore®. Sogeti brings together more than 25,000 professionals in 15 countries,
based in over 100 locations in Europe, USA and India. Sogeti is a wholly-owned subsidiary
of Capgemini SE, listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.

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