2 Foreword
8 Nuts and bolts: Basics of enterprise automation using robotic process automation
12 Breaking through the hype: Six myths of robotic process automation and intelligent automation
21 Authors
22 Endnotes
Service Delivery Transformation Automate this The business leaders guide to robotic and intelligent automation 1
Foreword
We have seen it in the movies...we have read fantastical Therefore, todays business conditions are ripe for major
futuristic fiction about it as youngsters in school...and now change and the emerging technologies within the
it is upon us: Robots performing human tasks. robot-led automation realm could just be the solution. But
the hype about these solutions taking over the workplace
The future posed by visionary film creators and novelists is obscures the reality, and can confuse the casual observer.
still a bit further away, but the technological advancements There are actually two separate genres of automation
which could make it possible are coming, and potentially tools emerging, both of which have the potential to make
with great speed. There is a buzz around how robots our processes smarter and more efficient, in very different
can transform business processes. We have been talking ways. The first is a set of tools classified as Robotic Process
for years about robots the droids that mimic humans Automation (RPA)," which has been maturing quietly over
in a factory but now we are on the verge of seeing the last decade, to the point where they are now used for
robots that replicate the human brain, rather than only enterprise-scale deployments, very quickly and at very low
arms and legs. Just like their physical cousins transformed cost. The second genre is Intelligent Automation (IA)
manufacturing, these virtual robots are likely to change tools enabled by cognitive technologies,1 nascent, but
the way we run our business processes. with hugely transformative potential in the near future.
We liken the current state of the RPA and IA landscape to
Robot-led automation has the potential to change todays the transitional years of ERP tools. Remember various ERPs,
workplace as dramatically as the machines of the Industrial before the graphical user interface and the wonders of the
Revolution changed the factory floor. Core skills that are data warehouse? Robotic tools are in a similar state today.
related to business process knowledge, technology Just as capabilities of the ERP tools exploded as successive
integration, and insightful analytics could be delivered releases leapfrogged each other and customer support
through a leveraged model at a lower cost. The capability offerings become increasingly user friendly, we see similar
and demand already exist for this technology, and it is capability trends in the robotic space.
enabled by abundant computing power and software
solutions that can be packaged and downloaded as apps. Alright, but what exactly are these robot-led automation
tools and how similar or different are RPA and IA from
So why do we need robots to run business processes in each other? When should we use either of them, and how
the first place? Well, to begin with many of our business is the supply side geared to start solving our problems?
processes are not as intelligent as they could be. Some
of them cut across many IT systems that do not always Given such interest on the demand side, the ongoing
talk to each other. Others are just too time consuming maturation of available tools, and the promise of new ways
for humans to perform. To run them smarter is however of working in support of a world class, advanced service
an expensive proposition. It often involves a massive IT economy, this is a good time to provide a comprehensive
transformation such as an Enterprise Resource Planning report on this emerging space. We combined efforts to
(ERP) implementation or a toolset such as a business research this area in depth. To better understand the RPA
process management system (BPMS). Other business space and market capabilities, we reached out to a number
processes rely on insights based on human reasoning that of suppliers with an extensive data request coupled with
computers have not been able to replicate. further discussions and technology demonstrations with
some of those suppliers.*
* 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.
2
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. Its
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.
Peter Lowes
Principal
Business Model Transformation
Deloitte Consulting LLP
Frank Cannata
Senior Vice President
Operations and Planning Solutions
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Service Delivery Transformation Automate this The business leaders guide to robotic and intelligent automation 3
Process automation:
What and why?
Different means to the same end the chances of success and increase the risk of failure.
Process automation is nothing new organizations Running costs may still be high after completion, and
have always looked for ways to achieve greater operating the long deployment times can limit agility.
efficiencies and support growth. Process automation at
scale arguably began more than two centuries ago in ii. By optimizing processes with the aid of a BPMS
the textiles industry, when factory machines began to be a software application that supports the process
used for labor-intensive tasks such as weaving, stitching, improvement life cycle, and often facilitates integration
and spinning cotton. Physical tasks of this nature are between enterprise applications to increase the amount
now widely automated across manufacturing and other of straight-through processing possible within a
industries, and developments in the field of robotic process. Effectively, this is a similar approach to that of
continue to lower the cost of automation while expanding an IT transformation, but with a smaller scope than ERP.
the capabilities. They are generally less costly and lower risk to deliver,
but may also offer reduced benefits.
As the nature of work has changed, so too has the method
of automation. For the internal operations of a modern iii. By developing shared services and/or outsourcing
business, the chief enabler of automation has been processes to a third-party Business Process
traditional information technology (IT). Many organizations Outsourcing provider (BPO), who will typically derive
have applied technology to business processes through efficiencies through labor arbitrage and by virtue of
the use of ERP and other business applications. However, scale. This is often a one-time labor arbitrage benefit,
some of those same organizations still have a patchwork and many organizations have already realized these
of less-than-optimal business processes and applications efficiencies, effectively hitting a ceiling beyond which
that do not talk to each other and rarely ease the workload cost and performance can be further improved only
of generating meaningful insights which translates into through doing things differently.
increased costs, unnecessarily high-cycle times, inconsistent
quality, and impaired agility. Each of these options has its limitations. In the ongoing
quest for operational efficiency, business leaders may keep
One possible explanation for this predicament is growth asking how they can:
few companies manage business growth systematically.
Even organic growth often results in expedient solutions to Avoid or defer the high investment of large technology
problems, inadequate attention to scalability of processes transformation programs while achieving their
and technologies, and siloed applications. Inorganic growth operating objectives.
typically presents an even larger problem bringing two
disjointed organizations together and combining multiple Support business growth without the proportional
sets of operations is difficult to achieve. increase in operating costs.
To date, organizations have responded to these challenges Derive greater value from already outsourced operations.
in various ways, including:
Support product, process, and business model
i. By investing in newer or better-integrated enterprise innovation, and test ideas without costly new technology.
applications. On paper, this typically represents the
right approach, but such projects are expensive and Process automation presents a means to achieving these
many implementations fail. Even the projects that prove aims, and there are two genres of tools in particular that
to be successful may take years to implement and businesses should be aware of: RPA and IA.
any effort to shorten the project time can compromise
4
RPA: Bringing automation benefits to RPA tools evolved quietly over the last decade, but have
small-scale processes now reached a level of maturity where process automation
RPA tools can help businesses improve the efficiency of is possible at a significant scale. Entire end-to-end
processes and the effectiveness of services. Classic process processes can be performed by software robots with very
candidates that can benefit from RPA typically have little human interaction, typically to manage exceptions.
repeatable and predictable interactions with IT applications RPA software robots are not necessarily relevant to only a
including those that may require toggling between particular business function or industry: any methodical,
multiple applications (swivel chair). Rather than requiring standardized, repetitive process that follows consistent
fundamental process redesign associated with IT-driven rules and is wholly executed through a human-machine
transformation, RPA software robots are able to perform interaction is likely to be a good candidate.
such routine business processes by mimicking the way that
people interact with applications through a user interface With a license for a software robot likely to cost less
and also by following simple rules to make decisions. than an onshore staff member or an offshore staff
An example of a routine business process would be the member, the commercial attractiveness of this approach
retrieval of information from one system and entering is self-evident. There are nonfinancial benefits too, as
the same information into another system or activating robot-based process performance is designed to be
another system function. more predictable, consistent, and less prone to errors
as compared to a human process. Moreover, a robot
workforce can typically be deployed in a matter of weeks.
Figure 1: RPA compared to traditional process transformation approaches
Once in place, new processes can often be assigned to
them in days if not hours. Thus, RPA solutions generally
have lower implementation cost, require shorter
implementation time, and carry lower risk than large
IT transformations. However, it is important to find the
Low
4. RPA
right processes and apply RPA judiciously.
Outsourcing and other such desktop automation tools are too limited
to effectively address. RPA can help address this gap,
reducing the minimum viable scale of process automation
compared to other traditional options. See Figure 1.
2. BPMS
1. IT
High
Transformation
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.
Service Delivery Transformation Automate this The business leaders guide to robotic and intelligent automation 5
Organizations using RPA solutions typically experience IA raises the bar
benefits beyond cost reduction: Applied alone, RPA has great potential for automating
routine tasks those that are methodical, repetitive, and
Decreased cycle times and improved throughput: rules-based.
Software robots are designed to perform tasks faster
than a person can and do not require sleep making By contrast, nonroutine tasks those involving intuition,
24x7 operations possible. judgment, creativity, persuasion, or problem solving
would appear to be very difficult to automate. But the
Flexibility and scalability: Once a process has been decreasing costs of data storage and processing power
defined as a series of instructions that a software robot are enabling rapid developments in the field of Artificial
can execute, it can be scheduled for a particular time, Intelligence, and creating a new breed of cognitive
and as many robots as required can be quickly deployed technologies with human-like capabilities, such as
to perform it. Equally, robots can be quickly reassigned recognizing handwriting, identifying images, and natural
when other, more important processes arise as each language processing. When combined with robotic
robot is typically capable of performing many types automation and powerful analytics, these cognitive
of processes. technologies can form IA solutions that can either
directly assist people in the performance of nonroutine
Improved accuracy: Robots are programmed to follow tasks or even automate those tasks entirely.
rules and robots do not make typos.
The market for IA is still nascent. It was less than five
Improved employee morale: The tasks and processes years ago that IBMs Watson first broke on the scene,
most suitable for automation are typically the most winning a highly publicized game of Jeopardy.2 Since then,
onerous and least enjoyed and employees relieved of the marketplace has begun to develop, and pioneering
them can be refocused on more rewarding and higher enterprises are leveraging IA for assorted purposes:
value activities.
Wealth Management firms are using IA to review and
Detailed data capture: The tasks performed by a analyze portfolio data, determine meaningful metrics,
software robot can be monitored and recorded at every and to generate natural-language reports for their
step, producing valuable data and an audit trail that can customers on the performance of each of their funds.
support further process improvement and also help with
regulatory compliance. Global banks are leveraging IA to improve the
regulatory compliance processes by monitoring all
electronic communications of employees for indicators
of noncompliant activities.
1
Source: Blue Prism URL: http://dupress.com/articles/
2
Source: Cognizant Trizetto what-is-cognitive-technology/
6
Insurers are using IA to answer the queries of across all of its customers and funds without a vast
potential customers in real time, and to increase expansion of its workforce. Now, fund managers can
sales conversion rates. focus on communicating with their clients rather than
reporting to them. The compliance analysts at the
The uses of IA are potentially limitless, but also more global bank could not possibly monitor all electronic
expensive. Unlike RPA tools, which are very broad in communications without the aid of IA, and the insurer
their applicability, IA solutions require more extensive may not be able to answer individual customer queries
configuration and machine learning that is specific to as quickly. In all these cases, IA tools have helped
a much narrower business purpose and the complex these businesses to extend their services, potentially
scenarios it may encounter. Also, IA solutions often take improving the value they deliver to their customers. RPA
longer to implement. tools on the other hand allow businesses to execute the
same services at a lower cost and at a higher level of
Below is a high-level summary comparison of RPA and quality. While this distinction may not always hold true,
IA tools: it does help in broadly categorizing the applicability and
the value delivered by these two distinct technologies.
While RPA tools can be used only for rules-based,
routine tasks, IA tools can drive value by improving RPA tools can be implemented much faster than IA
non-routine tasks requiring judgment. tools and typically require lower investment.
IA tools are typically used to provide leverage to The RPA supply market is maturing rapidly and
existing functions, focusing on increasing value there are several products in the market that have
rather than reducing cost. In the examples above, demonstrated their effectiveness. IA tools are rapidly
the Wealth Management organization may not have improving in capability, but overall are still in a
been able to produce natural language reporting nascent stage of development.
Service Delivery Transformation Automate this The business leaders guide to robotic and intelligent automation 7
Nuts and bolts:
Basics of enterprise
automation using RPA
With some large organizations now operating virtual The developer tools are used to define jobs the
workforces of 500+ robots, RPA has reached a point where sequences of step-by-step instructions that a robot can
it can be said to be capable of enterprise automation. follow to perform the business process, including any
business rules or conditional logic (such as if/then
We spoke with several RPA vendors to understand their decisions). They focus on ease of use, so that business
solutions in detail, and while there are nuances and users without prior coding experience can use them.
varied nomenclature among the various products, they all Drag-and-drop functionality is common, along with
broadly comprise three fundamental elements: A set of simple configuration wizards. Some tools, like those of
developer tools, a robot controller, and the software Automation Anywhere and UiPath, include a process
robots themselves. recorder, which can be used to capture a sequence of
user actions and speed up the definition of a process.
Developer tools are typically hosted on a server.
8
iii. Assigns jobs to single or grouped robots to execute When interacting with the user interface of a business
and monitors and reports on their activities. The application, the preferred approach is for the robot to
functionality associated with scheduling and assigning identify the important elements (such as entry fields and
work to robots, as well as understanding their status buttons) by their labels in the underlying application code
and capacity, becomes increasingly importantas this can make the robot resilient in response to purely
the number of processes and transactions grow. cosmetic changes such as relabeling fields and moving
For example, Blue Prisms solution uses prioritized buttons. However, when working with virtualized desktops,
work queues so that robots always process the most the application code is not exposed to the robot, so it must
important transactions first. rely on more brittle methods such as using the pixel-based
object location (relative to the edge of the screen or a
Like the developer tools, robot controllers are also hosted position identified using simple image matching).
on a server.
Finally, whether for compliance, audit, or identifying
Once issued their instructions, the software robots (also further process improvement opportunities, it is important
referred to as clients or agents that reside on a for software robots to be able to log in detail the
desktop) carry them out, interacting directly with business actions they take and decisions they make.
applications to process transactions. The list of actions
that a robot is capable of performing can stretch to over
600 in some solutions, and additional actions can often
be custom created using code.
Service Delivery Transformation Automate this The business leaders guide to robotic and intelligent automation 9
4
1
1. Process developers specify the detailed instructions Opening emails and attachments
for robots to perform and publish them to the
Logging into web/enterprise applications
robot controller repository.
Moving files and folders
2. The robot controller is used to assign jobs to robots Scraping data from the web
and to monitor their activities.
Connecting to system APIs
3. Each robot is located on a client environment Following if/then decisions and rules
which may be virtualized or physical where it Extracting and reformatting data into
interacts directly with business applications. reports or dashboards
Extracting structured data from documents
4. Business users review and resolve any exceptions
or escalations. Collecting social media statistics
Merging data from multiple places
5. Robots are capable of interacting with a wide
range of applications. Making calculations
Copying and pasting data
Filling in forms
Reading and writing to databases
10
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
Source: Willcocks, Lacity, Craig, Robotic Process Automation at Xchanging, The Outsourcing Unit Working Research Paper Series, June 2015
Service Delivery Transformation Automate this The business leaders guide to robotic and intelligent automation 11
Breaking through the hype:
Six myths of RPA and IA
12
Myth: Robots will take our jobs Myth: Robots can now think like humans
In 1930, John Maynard Keynes3 predicted that the future Neither RPA nor IA solutions replicate human reasoning.
held mass unemployment, as developments in technology RPA software robots mimic the behavior of humans in the
would replace jobs faster than new jobs would be created. way they can interact with application user interfaces, but
While this may not have played out as quickly as he they must follow highly methodical instructions and simple
expected, recent years have seen yet more dire forecasts conditional logic.
relating to the potential of computers to replace human
workers including last years prediction by analyst firm IA solutions are underpinned by cognitive technologies,
Gartner that one in three jobs will be automated by 2025.4 which are increasingly capable of human abilities such
as understanding natural language and recognizing
We certainly acknowledge that software robots are images, and can learn from observing humans. Even so,
capable of automating many tasks currently performed by IA still requires training from humans and cannot yet fully
people in the workplace and as cognitive technologies replicate human reasoning. For a deeper understanding
fuel increasingly intelligent automation, the realm of what of cognitive technologies, we direct the reader to
is possible to automate will expand. Demystifying artificial intelligence: What business leaders
need to know about cognitive technologies (Deloitte
But our review of case studies of organizations that University Press, November 4, 2015).
have deployed automation suggests that the majority
of organizations we studied are focused on increasing
the efficiency and effectiveness of their workforce rather Intelligent automation
than eliminating it, and the people relieved of routine
tasks are re-focused toward more valuable or rewarding Narrative Science Quill, the company's advanced
activities. Furthermore, with more advanced and complex natural language generation platform, is designed
automation comes not only increased efficiency, but also to analyze data and produce natural language
an increased dependency on the accuracy and skill of the output automating preparation of reports
human operators involved. for diverse uses like investment portfolios and
personalized customer communications.1
Increased automation of tasks does not necessarily lead
to loss of jobs workforce augmentation, rather than IPsofts Amelia is a virtual agent who is designed to
replacement, may be a more likely outcome. By freeing converse with customers to gather information and
up a persons time, employees can now focus on more resolve their queries faster and more consistently
advanced and engaging tasks, and over time organizations than a person could.2
could see lower turnover, higher morale, and increased
1
Source: Narrative Science
internal innovation. 2
Source: IPsoft
Service Delivery Transformation Automate this The business leaders guide to robotic and intelligent automation 13
Myth: BPOs are doomed Myth: RPA will significantly reduce the
RPA tools add to the traditional process transformation importance of your IT Department
options, rather than replacing them. In fact, BPO providers RPA can be used to automate processes across business
could benefit greatly, and many are actively exploring (if applications in a noninvasive manner, which can reduce
not already using) RPA tools, either to lower their cost reliance on IT for deployment. But while some subset
of delivery, or to join new specialist service-providers in of roles in IT may be reduced, others may increase and
offering robots-as-a-service. BPO firms that successfully overall the reliance on IT is far from eliminated. In the
integrate automation often seek to substantially improve same way that you would expect your human workforce
their profit margins, even if revenue growth slows. to comply with policies and procedures relating to sensitive
or customer data, you must confirm that any virtual
However, growth of RPA as a transformation option workforce accessing those data is also compliant. IT
should affect your outsourcing strategy, whether you are typically takes responsibility for systems infrastructure,
considering outsourcing or already have an outsourcing security, resilience/recovery, and governance, and these
partner. In the latter case, you should discuss automation functions are as important as ever so IT should be
with your BPO to understand where it presents a mutually involved from the outset. In addition, if an automated
beneficial opportunity. process experiences any problems, the users first call is
still likely to be to IT.
14
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:
Assess for automation Build your Determine the optimal Identify your Plan the automation
opportunities business case operating model automation partner(s) roadmap
Which processes are Why does automation Which operating model Who are the main How long should your
good candidates for support your works best for your vendors in the pilot be?
automation? business 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 solution and carry out business needs What is your strategy
How should the process points being alleviated? responsibilities (e.g., the most? for scale?
owners be engaged to assessing new processes
try automation? What are the metrics for automation Which sourcing option How will you ensure
to determine whether and testing the do you want? impacted stakeholders
What are the impacts automation is valuable? automated jobs)? understand the what,
of proceeding with How should you why, and how of
the pilot? What is the strategy Who will manage compare the pricing automation?
for re-deploying and monitor the models in order to
existing resources software robot? understand what
after automation? you are paying for?
Service Delivery Transformation Automate this The business leaders guide to robotic and intelligent automation 15
1. Assess for automation opportunities (What?) 3. Determine your automation-operating
Begin with an assessment of your process landscape to model (How?)
identify opportunity areas: Good candidate processes Decide whether you wish to establish a strategic
are those which require manual interaction with a automation capability within your organization, or
computer interface, are largely rules-based, consume simply desire an automated outcome with the minimum
a significant amount of time, and are performed at of effort: this will affect your automation operating
frequent intervals. Less important is whether the process model and determine your sourcing options.
is performed by an individual or multiple people RPA
is good for addressing work that is distributed across If building an internal capability for automation,
people or departments. Ideal candidate processes consider who will be responsible for assessing,
(particularly for an initial pilot) are low risk, yet have mapping, and prioritizing new processes for
potential for significant reduction in effort. Address automation; who will develop and test the automated
pain points as you go. Work with the process owner to jobs; and who will manage and monitor the software
determine the readiness for automation of individual robots as they perform them particularly where
processes. How well understood is the process? Has it, they span intra-organizational boundaries. As a tool
or can it be documented in detail? Thorough analysis up that targets relieving mundane tasks, RPA is likely
front can help avoid surprises down the line. to give better results in the hands of skilled users:
many organizations develop an Automation Center
2. Build your business case (Why?) of Excellence to facilitate training and the sharing of
Estimate the benefits of automation on a process- knowledge and best practices.
by-process basis. If resources can be relieved of tasks
through automation, where will their freed-up time be In either case, at this point it is critical to put in the
spent? How does improved accuracy or increased speed place the foundations for governance, including
translate into value? obtaining the support and input of IT.
16
4. Identify your automation partner(s) (Who?)
Consider your sourcing options, and which type(s) Typical sourcing options
of automation partner you are looking for. You may
already have worked with a partner to pilot some Direct: Buy RPA licenses directly from the vendor
processes but you are not wedded to that partner.
Direct with support: Buy RPA licenses directly from the vendor and engage a
services partner for configuration and support
You should approach the selection of your automation
partner(s) as you would any other strategic technology
Outsource: Work with a traditional BPO provider, for a business process-as-a-
or sourcing procurement, considering both your
service or robots-as-a-service arrangement
current and future needs. Some providers have more
experience in particular industries and others in
certain types of processes. If procuring an automation
tool, prepare evaluation criteria appropriate to your Common direct to RPA pricing models
requirements. Vendor demonstrations are valuable, but
it is a good practice to supplement vendor demos with License based (most common)
client references to confirm on-the-ground realities and
appreciate complexities and challenges. You pay per software license for each installed robot, management server,
and development tools
Consider which pricing model(s) will best align
Perpetual license or annual subscription
with your business objectives, and compare pricing
carefully; RPA vendors may appear to have similar The definition and capacity of a robot can vary by vendor, making direct
pricing structures, but one vendors robot may not comparisons tricky
be equivalent to anothers agent or client. It is
difficult to estimate what the throughput of a software Hardware and maintenance will add to the cost
robot will be for your specific processes (compared to a
human), so determining the required number of robots Value based
and making meaningful comparisons between vendors
is difficult. Be prepared to share clearly documented Pricing is linked to either the FTE-equivalent savings (e.g., a fixed percentage of
details of the processes you have prioritized for the FTE cost that would have been occurred), or to each completed transaction
automation with vendors to help draw the most
Can be restrictive to horizontal-scaling across the organization, as contracts will
meaningful price comparisons.
need re-evaluating to include additional business processes
The vendor is encouraged to put skin in the game and maintain a good level
of service
Service based
You pay a regular subscription fee for the service, with a service agreement that
defines the responsibilities of the provider
This model is particularly attractive for IA solutions, which may run on complex big
data technologies that can be expensive to set up and maintain in-house, or are
needed on a spot basis
Service Delivery Transformation Automate this The business leaders guide to robotic and intelligent automation 17
5. Prepare the automation roadmap (When?)
Questions your employees will likely ask Your road map for automation should look beyond the
initial deployment and set out how automation will
What is RPA? grow within your organization.
Why are we deciding to deploy it here at our company and for this process?
Like other transformation programs, communications,
training, and change management are all critical. Before
How will this affect my role? Is a robot replacing me?
you begin the automation journey, you must confirm
that impacted stakeholders clearly understand the what,
why, and how of automation. Your employees can also
A sample checklist to launch an automation program help identify candidate processes for an automation
platform, which employees can use to describe their
Allow sufficient time for deployment and automation development processes and recommend them for consideration.
Resolve data quality issues before automating Your road map for
Develop a thorough disaster recovery plan automation should look
Provide up front and ongoing training to end users beyond the initial
Be sensitive to fear of job loss and being replaced by robots
deployment and set out
how automation will grow
Confirm that you are prepared for maintaining the solution post-deployment
18
A glimpse of the future
Service Delivery Transformation Automate this The business leaders guide to robotic and intelligent automation 19
Process convergence What about the humans?
Over time, these integrated business-specific solutions Just as with prior waves of automation, we can expect that
could merge into intelligent systems that self-regulate the IA will likely drive significant changes in the jobs that
large components of an organization. An analogy for these people do. Automation-driven systems could replace large
business systems is the bodys Autonomic Nervous System, numbers of knowledge workers doing managerial jobs;
which regulates key functions like heartbeat and breathing these intelligent engines could make detailed demand
without conscious thought, allowing the brain to focus forecast preparation seem as antiquated as home milk
on interacting with the world around it. These systems delivery. The armies of people who support these processes
could operate as the heart and lungs of an organization, in finance, IT, and operations will have to find new
taking in key data inputs and performing all of the internal avenues to add value. Innovation, sales and customer
processes that are core to the business. For example, in relationship development, and teaching the intelligent
a manufacturing company, the system could respond to systems, are all potential areas for people to focus their
key stimuli like sales and customer data, and tune the core efforts.5 IA has already begun to change businesses. As
operations of the company, such as forecasting demand, these changes accelerate, people will have to be more
optimizing and setting pricing, and managing the entire nimble than ever as they think about their careers, and
supply chain and production scheduling to optimize what kinds of skills they and their children will need.
inventory levels all on a self-regulating basis. Just as the notion of lifetime employment has faded,
so too may the notion of a lifetime career. People, and
Alternatively, consider how IA tools could evolve for governments, may need to plan around multiple stints
a wealth management company. While today wealth in education and training, in order to keep up with the
management services are able to use IA to give their clients frenetic pace of change. While daunting, people may
customized portfolio reporting and recommendations, consider this liberating, as we gain opportunities to
a truly autonomic capability could make it cost effective reinvent ourselves and the world around us.
for companies to offer wealth management as a service
to customers with very low net worth. Automated
customer interaction tools could provide customers with
an intelligent point of interaction that could be much more Just as with prior waves
intuitive and dynamic than a website, with the customer-
facing system able to help the customer understand of automation, we can
potential options in a situation and make decisions based
on everyday needs, while the company systems curate expect that the IA will
options for the customer and manage the transactions in
the background. A client might call the financial services likely drive significant
company, tells an automated representative about the
birth of a child, and the customer-facing system could changes in the jobs
recommend the creation of a college savings account,
discuss the risks and benefits of selected approaches, that people do.
manage the fund transfer, and allocate the investment
to the selected vehicle. The entire transaction could
take a few minutes while the customer is on the phone
at almost no marginal cost to the company.
20
Authors
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 Deloittes Business team focused on organizational
New York, where he leads the company: Managing Warner Bros. Model Transformation service transformation, business process
development of next-generation first global SAP implementation; line. In this role, he focuses on redesign, and global sourcing
business process automation, Architect and driver for Warner driving large-scale transformation opportunities. Previously he
global business services and service Bros. initial foray into shared programs in areas such as IT & oversaw contract and financial
delivery transformation offerings. services and outsourcing for BPO Business Process Outsourcing management of Warner Bros.
He has served many of the worlds and ITO. He has brought all of that and Shared Services. Entertainments primary outsourced
leading financial institutions experience to his current position service relationships and lead
as well as public and private where he leads a group responsible operational governance of
sector enterprises in the areas for the definition and oversight outsourced finance and
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.
Service Delivery Transformation Automate this The business leaders guide to robotic and intelligent automation 21
Endnotes
1. For an introduction to the concept of cognitive 4. Barajas, J. Smart robots will take over a third of jobs
technologies, their improving performance, efforts by 2025, Gartner says. (2014, October 7). Retrieved
to commercialize them, and the growing impact from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/
we expect them to have, see David Schatsky, Craig smart-robots-will-take-third-jobs-2025-gartner-says/
Muraskin, and Ragu Gurumurthy, Demystifying artificial
intelligence: What business leaders need to know 5. For more on ways people can cope with increasing
about cognitive technologies, Deloitte University automation, see Thomas Davenport and Julia
Press, November 4, 2014, http://dupress.com/articles/ Kirby, Beyond Automation, Harvard Business
what-is-cognitive-technology/ Review, June 2015 and see David Schatsky and
Jeff Schwartz, Redesigning work in an era
2. Ante, S. Computer Thumps 'Jeopardy' Minds. (2011, of cognitive technologies, Deloitte University
February 17). Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/ Press, July 27, 2015, http://dupress.com/articles/
articles/SB1000142405274870417100457614897417 work-redesign-and-cognitive-technology/?coll=12201
2060658