Robotization of the simplest processes is not the best option for a pilot project for RPA

— How relevant is the digital transformation trend for Russian companies? What is it for you?

We believe that digital transformation is a completely natural, evolutionary and marketing process. Yes, they talk a lot about it, largely due to the fact that such a vector was set at the level of country’s leadership. Large companies, in our opinion, have already developed a transformation strategy, and leading system integrators have identified a stack of technologies necessary for this, which can lead companies to new markets or provide competitive advantages. As a rule, we are talking about big data, artificial intelligence, the Internet of things and robotization processes.

I would like to note that this general trend has a positive effect on the activity of enterprises: they have new tasks, reorganized business processes, and sometimes the business model changes. However, there are companies that are still unable to work out the scenario of changes independently, and we come to help such companies — we act as consultants. It is important to understand that any transformation is impossible without restoring order in the infrastructure, information systems and the processes themselves, so audit must be the part of the digital transformation processes.

It should be noted that in the process of transformation, companies want to find growth points for themselves. This is quite difficult to do if the level of penetration of IT systems into business processes is quite low. In this case, there should be a «zero» section in the digitalization roadmap, its essence is that the information is transferred from analogue carriers to electronic form, basic information systems are being implemented. Without all this, the transformation is impossible.

— The trend for this year is the robotization of business processes. What directions are most subjected to it?

We do not yet see the mass character of this trend, although all companies face the challenge of improving business efficiency and employee productivity. I believe that this year is becoming a turning point: RPA technologies hyped in 2017, and now the first noticeable pilot projects, and most importantly — meaningful results are just emerging. Companies with a high level of automation and development of information systems are most interested in robotization. In fact, there are very few such companies.

Our clients are interested in robots if at least part of the staff’s working time is released. For example, 15 minutes per hour with an eight-hour workday is an excellent result. The effect is calculated as simple as that: we compare hourly rate of a robot with hourly rate of a person in a particular process. If savings are evident, this is the basis for launching a pilot project. While such projects are usually run in the simplest processes: in accounting, in personnel document flow, while preparing regulatory reporting.

However, we believe that testing RPA technology on such processes is not quite right: to justify its implementation on the results of such a project will be very difficult. For example, the company has an accountant who receives a small salary, and a robot, which rent costs is less, but still quite decent. Savings in such cases are insignificant, and often the choice is made in favour of the person because their «functionality» is much broader. Therefore, we focus on RPA with elements of artificial intelligence and suggest using them in those processes that require decision support — that is, in higher-level processes.

It is much more useful to optimize the part of the business that is really «a sore point». This is not a reconciliation of receivables or the processing of staff documents. Processes associated with customer service and formation of loyalty programs is a different story — here managers are ready to invest. Of course, building support for internal processes is much easier, but the effect of this will be much lower.

— Are the customers ready for the service to be provided by robots?

They are ready, no «psychological treatment» is required. We communicate with clients on RPA and yet have not heard any complaints from them. It is enough to give a comparison of how much their employees are spending on business processes now, how much time they can free up in a result of robotization and most importantly — where this time can be directed.

— Speaking about robotization, they usually operate with two arguments: price and quality. Which of them, according to your observations, is more convincing for companies?

First of all, this is the price and, secondly, the time-to-market indicator (time from the start of RPA implementation to the result). It is important for companies to get results in a relatively short time, and it may take only a few weeks or even days to implement a single robot that accompanies several business processes. At the same time, the low cost of labour in our country is still a serious deterrent to such projects. That is why we are talking about the need to use robotization in more «expensive» and valuable business processes.

— What should happen for RPA projects to shapeshift into mainstream from a wonder?

I must admit that, despite a lot of talks, the topic is still in its infancy and I don’t see mainstream in IT market. Now there are very few companies in Russia who have decided to pilot RPA-technology and introduce robots into their key business processes. Look, there are very few even pilot projects, though they are really valuable and attract attention. Who will be interested in such a primitive process as an automated mailing of letters? But if with the help of RPA a price monitoring system will be built on the websites of competitors and the subsequent building of the pricing policy of an enterprise in a given region, then this will interest any industrial giant. Interest in RPA will increase in the event that companies themselves or with the help of consultants see the processes that can be transferred to robots. Realities are such that most of our clients do not yet see such business processes, and here we come to help them. But not everything is so sad, the pioneers of this market do exist, they are already beginning to calculate the effectiveness of pilot projects, and we are not an exception. If efficiency is proven, we will soon hear about these pilot projects at all key event sites in the country. Same old thing, to start active growth, the market needs a critical mass of successful projects, word of mouth, practical cases and a regular information campaign to support and warm up the interest of IT market.