[USE CASES] RPA: Tasks with high automation potential in finance

The digital revolution is changing the face of the financial sector, regardless of the business line: treasury, management control, accounting, finance management, etc. Transforming to innovate is becoming an obligation for these players, who must be ever faster, more reliable and more efficient in the execution of processes. Automation is the answer to these challenges and has become a strategic priority for finance departments in order to increase productivity, reduce costs and accelerate compliance with regulatory requirements.

Easy to implement, a process automation project generally has an ROI of less than 12 months. Sometimes less than 2 months!

Intelligent automation therefore offers both financial and qualitative benefits and can be applied to a wide range of processes with high automation potential.

Here are some examples:

  • Data capture and cleansing supports automated generation of regulatory reports
  • Automating the preparation of data collection review slides for multiple financial systems and reports
  • Automation of approval workflow and payment processing
  • Automate standard expense processing and approval based on predefined rules

Discover examples of tasks with high automation potential in finance by downloading these RPA Use Cases applied to this sector.

[USE CASES] RPA: tasks with high automation potential in insurance and for mutual

Insurance and mutual insurance companies are facing new issues and challenges every day. RPA provides an answer to these challenges, making it a truly essential solution for these insurance and mutual organizations, which have a wide range of processes with high automation potential.

Here are some examples:

  • Automated compliance controls eliminate the risk of errors and violations
  • Automating the underwriting process provides a differentiating customer experience by providing a near real-time response to prospects
  • Process Intelligence allows you to significantly improve internal processes by quickly identifying points and steps for optimization
  • Automating the proposal of new products to customers accelerates Time to Market
  • Automating the monitoring of critical systems for system vulnerabilities helps reduce the impact of cyberattacks

Discover examples of tasks with high automation potential in the insurance and mutual sectors by downloading these RPA Use Cases applied to these sectors.

Combining IDP, RPA and AI to solve a complex process

Paris Summit 2023: Novelis at the annual SS&C Blue Prism event dedicated to automation

The Paris Summit 2023 is our partner SS&C Blue Prism‘s annual event dedicated to automation.

This morning of exchanges and discoveries will be an opportunity for customers and partners to share their experiences and best practices in intelligent automation. Much more than just conferences, the Paris Summit is a celebration of the innovation that is shaping the future of our businesses.

It’s at the Cercle d’Aumale that Novelis is invited to host a conference with one of its client around Process Intelligence. Novelis has been supporting its client in mapping its information system with a mind to overhauling it, and the deployment of BPPI – SS&C Blue Prim’s Process Intelligence solution. During the conference, we will go into the details of the project, its keys to success and the results obtained to date, as the project is still ongoing.
Our team, consisting of Mehdi Nafe – CEO of Novelis, Nassima Ait Bihi – VP Head of Sales & Marketing Southern Europe and Raphaël Brunel – Senior Business Analyst and Process Intelligence Expert, will be on hand to answer all your operational and technical questions: business and sector-specific issues, uses linked to AI, Intelligent Automation, evolution of RPA and Process Intelligence innovations.

It’s thanks to the unique synergies between these different technologies that our customers succeed in unlocking new levels of efficiency and productivity every day. By automating certain business processes and using AI, your company too – whatever its size – may be able to gain a crucial competitive edge in the digital age.

Discover our services and book an appointment to find out more.

cercle d'aumale

Moving towards the democratisation of Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Digitalisation is no longer an option. Since remote working has become the norm, companies need to find new solutions to optimise their business processes and gain efficiency. The pandemic and the acceleration of digitalisation have made Robotic Process Automation (RPA) a key element for organisations. According to a Gartner report, by 2022 90% of large companies will have implemented an RPA project into their operation.

With the democratisation of remote working, it becomes necessary to simplify the daily lives of employees. Today, too many tasks are still repetitive or unstimulating. Who hasn’t wanted to completely automate worthless ‘copy & paste’ from one form to another, when this task has sometimes to be performed more than 10 times a day? By putting together these different tasks and  “processes”, we can create an activity, which makes Robotic Process Automation a relevant solution.

Turnkey Smart Automation

By implementing Smart Automation solutions, companies can not only reduce their costs, but also allow their employees to focus on their core business: value generating tasks.

Heineken is an interesting use case with its “Automation First” strategy. In 2011, starting with the simple observation of the urgency to standardise IT systems of all service centres employing more than 73,000 people, the company focused on the selective automation of its processes at the end of 2015. Heineken decided to couple RPA with other technologies (image recognition, text mining, etc.) to find the right balance for human/machine interactions.

By 2019, Heineken had 150 software robots in production within different areas, implementing Machine Learning and AI algorithms. Without going into detail about the amount of man-hours saved by implementing this ‘Automation First’ strategy, Vincent Vloemans, from Heineken’s Global IT for Finance Business, confirmed a significant impact. “It is quite surprising, but the most significant RPA benefit is the elimination of human error. It increases the accuracy of process data, the accuracy of controls and the compliance of processes”. In concrete terms, a request that used to take 1-2 weeks to process can now be answered within 24 hours. Large CAC 40 companies are already familiar with this Smart Automation strategy. What about mid-sized organisations?

Making automation accessible to all

With a double digit annual growth rate, the Smart Automation market seems to be booming. However, structuring data, digitising documents and optimising business processes through OCR technologies or NLP algorithms can be time-consuming, difficult to implement or too costly for SMEs and SMIs. However, this type of companies has the same growing need to streamline internal processes and automate some tasks.

The role of all digital players is to help make innovations accessible to all organisations regardless of their size. The particular role of RPA players is to imagine new technological and economic models that can help to remove obstacles for implementing Automation in human-sized organisations.

An automation project can involve all departments of an organisation, from finance to human resources and purchasing. For example: within an HR department, the onboarding of new employees can be easily automated. The time needed for completing this task, which involves various cross-functional departments, can be reduced from 80 to 5 minutes.

Moreover, the “Agence de services et de paiement” (service and payment agency) was keen to provide support for industrial SMEs and SMIs wishing to implement RPA projects, by providing investment aid up to €320,000 for transforming towards the future industry.

What future for Smart Automation?

According to Gartner, the RPA (Robotic Process Automation) market is expected to grow by 19.5% in 2021, compared to 2020. And this number should remain in double digits until at least 2024.

In 5 years, we can imagine a large democratisation of access to automation: the most complex processes will be carried out in human-machine interaction. As a result, humans will have more time to focus on high value-added tasks related to creativity and innovation. Freeing activities from superfluous tasks will optimise and improve value creation, reflection, collaboration and exchanges.

Imagine if the machine could call on the user when needed, if it could learn from employees actions to reproduce behaviour rather than precise, preconceived tasks. AI-based approaches would then logically merge with automation and thus erase all the variations that can be found in the execution of the same task. This would usher in a new era, where interactions between information systems would be achieved via automation at scale and where, of course, the notion of the ‘citizen developer’ would become obsolete. In this new era, machines would be able to learn and reproduce uniformely processes carried out in slightly different ways by several business users.

The relationship to work would be completely changed, the traditional working day would be over. The era of “work time” would be over, giving way to that of “work value”. Value and collective intelligence would be free to support the evolving of uses. 

This access’ democratisation to automation will bring about some changes: We can imagine that in just a few days it will be possible to become “RPA Ready”. Everyone will be able to have transparent access to their digital/robotic workforce, from their mobile, in real time and from anywhere.

By Mehdi Nafe, CEO of Novelis and Benoit Cayla, Artificial Intelligence Analyst at Blue Prism.

Podcast #Diveintothefuture: 2026 the year of automation [AUDIO]

Welcome to the future of intelligent automation!

Due to the technological revolution, organizations have had to find alternatives to remain competitive and find new levers for growth. With this podcast #Dive Into the Future: 2026 the Year of Everything Automated, we take you on a journey into a world where intelligent process automation has become the norm. Thanks to advances in AI and smart automation, people and machines are now working together to increase efficiency and productivity.

Listen to 3 experts in AI and automation to discover how far we have come to get to this augmented future (in which we will soon be): Mehdi Nafe – CEO & Cofounder of the consulting and technology firm Novelis; Dominique Duquennoy – Customer Success Director and Benoit Cayla – AI & Automation Evangelist at Blue Prism, leader in Robotic Process Automation.

https://video.blueprism.com/watch/ysqqa8LH8WFfxGkrJW8VPg?

About the participants:

Benoît Cayla, Dominique Duquennoy and Mehdi Nafe

Benoît Cayla is a Pre-Sales Solution Consultant at Blue Prism. Passionate about AI (Machine Learning, NLP and Deep Learning), he combines his skills in this field with automation to help his customers to robotize more efficiently sometimes complex business processes.

With several experiences at LivePerson and Expert System, Dominique Duquennoy joins Blue Prism in 2019 as Customer Success Director where he helps accelerate the industrialization of large organizations and helps them improve their processes.

Mehdi Nafe is the CEO & Co-Founder of Novelis. Trained as an engineer and a project manager, he positions Novelis on innovative projects involving cutting-edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, intelligent automation, OCR or RPA (Robotic Process Automation) to address the business challenges of organizations.

RPA : From Process Robotization to Intelligent Automation

Posted on October 1, 2019 by :

Each year, the A CAPELLA Consulting teams meet for 2 days of seminars to share moments of conviviality, workshops, and acculturation sessions. This year, the consultants had the opportunity to accumulate and deepen their mastery of RPA (Robotic Process Automation) during a workshop conducted with their partner Novelis, represented by Walid Dahhane, the company’s CTO.

In this article, we invite you to take a look at the concepts backed by the acronym RPA and its use cases.What is RPA?

RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is a subject of innovation and interest but whose background has origins in the birth of IT. It is therefore important to understand that the very topic of automation is not new.

Often the difficulty we have in defining RPA is to show how it differs from the automation processes we already know. The first difficulty resides in the very word “robot” which is not implied as an electronic robot operating alone but rather as software for automating a well-defined process. The second is due to the psychological brake placed behind the word “robot” which induces for some that they are doomed to replace humans in the execution of tasks.

For Walid Dahhane “RPA is the acronym for Robotic Process Automation” which translates into French as “Robotisation des processes automatisés”. It is nothing but a software called robot, which performs data processing and manipulation of work, exchange between different computer systems, and executing internal and external communication.

The idea behind RPA is therefore to “robotize” business processes that would require the intervention of a human. The robot thus performs a succession of predefined tasks based on precise and identified information. It captures data in several systems then digitizes and performs actions usually performed by men.What activities can be automated with RPA?

Once we better understand the concept of RPA itself, we wonder about the nature of the activities that we can automate.

The answer is : almost everything that happens on a computer and that a human can control via a mouse and keyboard (like for example : emulating clicks, entering data, copy / paste, navigate on several screens, connect to applications) and also perform purely computer processing (such as : calling web services, connecting to BDDs). We are in the context of RPA as long as technology can perform the action alone without the intervention of a human being and without a cognitive part in the process.

RPA therefore makes it possible to carry out transactions with any application in the same way as a human, and execute structured tasks.

If we take the example of Kiva robots from Amazon, we are in another field, that of electronic robotics, where the robots operate logistics tasks through learning. In the context of RPA, we always speak of process. The difference thus lies in the technology. In RPA, we are on a “computer” technology which does not present a cognitive function such as Artificial Intelligence in its execution process. For example, a chatbot can be part of an RPA process as a component, but will not be an executable process as such.

So we don’t find any intelligence behind RPA but we can have it in some of the components it will use (this is called cognitive RPA – answered later in this article is the different types of RPA). If we introduce intelligence into the RPA process, we kill the RPA and that reassures all the more to know that it will only reproduce what we ask it to do without taking initiatives and without autonomous decision making as we can have in Artificial Intelligence.

In most cases, RPA systems are not intended to live long without maintenance operations or adjustments because the processes they automate can constantly evolve. We thus naturally find a lot of RPA in transient phases of transformation of the IS.RPA : Where are we now?

According to  Forrester Research,  “25% of tasks will be automated by 2020”.

In recent years, RPA has become an increasingly preferred option by companies to quickly digitize certain simple operations and rapidly respond to regulatory changes. RPA is indeed competitive compared to other and more costly solutions to implement such as IT integration projects or even resource outsourcing.

Companies that opt ​​for RPA in the digitalization of their processes thus find many advantages :

  • Quality and Precision : RPA effectively eliminates the risk of human error inherent in business processes and enables reliable and controlled results
  • Consistency and Quality of Service : RPA enables better control of processes and optimizes them
  • Financial Efficiency : RPA makes it possible to reduce the costs and time of execution of tasks, usually with an increased ROI
  • Audit, Security, and Compliance : RPA makes it possible to configure the processes of compliance with the necessary standards and rules (security, audit, GDPR, etc.) and provides traceability that may be required larer on during the audits
  • Productivity and Experience : by automating repetitive tasks, RPA allows employees to devote themselves to tasks that bring higher value to their work
  • Easy Integration : RPA technology can easily and quickly interconnect with existing systems while integrating advanced algorithms and machine learning tools into its components
  • Reliability and Availability : finally, RPA is reliable and available at all times, and the process does not suffer from any pause like an action carried out by a human being

What are some RPA used cases?

The choice of an RPA technology is particularly indicated for :

  • Generation of periodic reports, data entry, and data analysis
  • Performing repetitive tasks scheduled 50 to 60 times a day
  • Mass e-mail generation, archiving, and retrieval
  • Connection to ERP and executing other back-office transactions

To find out which process we can automate and if RPA technology is eligible, take a look at the following decision scheme :

Other issues, however, must be taken into account, such as the number of robots to set up (we can quickly achieve a large number and render their maintenance a hassle), whether the existing system can manage them, and the impact on bandwidth and user interfaces.

The correct definition of the use case is essential to maximize ROI, the objective not being to replace teams but rather to improve their efficiency.

Example of used case presented by Novelis : A multinational food company with a presence on 4 continents wanted to reduce repetitive tasks that interfered with the main activities of the administrative and logistics department. The stakes were high since the error rate in the logistics department implied a total cost of USD 1.2 million in 2016. It has chosen RPA technology and today has 5 Robots that execute operations to both the financial department and the logistics department, without resorting to human intervention (unassisted processes) with more than 25,000 transactions carried out daily. The implementation of RPA thus resulted an annual saving of around USD 300k, but the most interesting achievement is the elimination of human errors quantified annually around USD 1.2 million. It also saved the equivalent of 75 FTEs in 6 months, allowing its employees to deal with other tasks with higher added value.What are the different types of RPA?

We can distinguish 2 main types of RPA : Traditional RPA and Cognitive RPA.

Traditional RPA is itself divided into two subcategories :

  • Assisted RPA, which partially automates complex processes to obtain more operational efficiency but where we still need the intervention of a human being. This is the case, for example, of automated processes in a call center where RPA facilitates and speeds up the process by offering choices to the call center agent based on certain criteria. This type of RPA is often used for front-office processes
  • Unassisted RPA, on the other hand, fully automates business processes, thereby maximizing the expected ROI and without requiring human intervention. This is the example of a system that is fed through the  reception of  e-mails. This type of RPA is often used for simple back-office processes

Cognitive RPA will integrate intelligent components within the automated process in order to frame elements that involve human reasoning or decision-making, based on certain well-defined criteria. For example, RPA can be combined with OCR (Optical Character Recognition) * or Machine Learning technology. It must be understood that we are talking about adding cognitive / AI components but the skeleton that defines the business process cannot change and become intelligent. A robot cannot therefore decide on its own to add a new dimension to the process that has not been precisely defined before.What automation tools are available in the market?

There are many RPA automation software out there, and the market is growing. In  Gartner’s 2019 Magic Quadrant  for Robotic Process Automation (RPA), we find at the top (see figure below) : 

  • Uipath, the leader, whose promise is to become accessible to all techniques without having knowledge. Their ambition for the future is that the software be present on all computers in the same way as Windows. But it is clear that even with packaged and very visual components, the solution is not yet appreciated by everyone. An open source version is offered strictly for personal use
  • Blue prism
  • Automation Anywhere
Magic-Quadrant-Robotic-Process-Automation-Gartner-Margo-954x1024

Walid Dahhane’s presentation ended with a workshop where A CAPELLA Consulting teams were able to work on the development of use cases specific to the insurance and social protection sector.

In conclusion, Robotics Process Automation is particularly suitable for eliminating repetitive and tedious tasks, speeding up an operational process, and reducing costs. RPA will always be used to automate a rule-based business processes but not all of them are necessarily eligible for RPA, and right questions have to be asked in terms of issues and ROI before embarking on a project. Even if a POC can be achieved in a few weeks/months, the craze of CIOs for this type of solutions has led to the creation of several off-the-shelf robots that can now be purchased online to respond to a generic use case without replacing existing systems.

* The word OCR means optical character recognition or text recognition, a technology that converts different types of files such as scanned paper documents, PDF files or digital photos into editable and searchable files. (Source  Abbyy, one of the leading RPA solutions on the market for its OCR / Machine Learning alliance)

RPA : Smart Automation for Operational Efficiency

Operational efficiency is a major issue that conditions the competitiveness of companies. Smart Automation is a relevant lever for optimizing business processes. RPA is the first step.

OCR and NLP are technological tools that allow us to push the field even further in terms of automation.

Technologies are evolving quickly, and so is the potential for automation. The expected benefits are many, and do not stop at a simple economy of means.

The automation of back-office processes is the easiest to understand. However, the potential of ‘Virtual Assistant Robots’ RAVs and Intelligent Automation considerably widens the scope of processes eligible for optimization and automation.

Intelligent Automation opens up unexplored perspectives. Yet, the positive impact of automation is not new : avoiding tedious manual tasks and improving the accuracy of the data being handled. On the other hand, we were faced with a glass ceiling : 80% of company data is unstructured. This is why the OCR and NLP are inevitable levers to overcome this constraint.

Speed-meeting RPA with Document Store

Participate in a 100% automation day during our speed-meeting on June 14th organized with our partner Document Store and discover if intelligent automation can be adapted to your projects!

During this day you will be able to identify and qualify processes with high automation potential thanks to SmartRoby’s* process assessment module.

How does it work?

  • Book a 30-minute session with a business analyst
  • Receive a survey to help you identify your processes with automation potential
  • Day D: the business analyst qualifies the processes that you have identified beforehand
  • Leave with your free study on the feasibility of automating your processes!

Process assessment is a critical step before launching an automation project and allows organizations to define an informed strategy for automating their processes. It allows them to clearly identify priorities by assessing the capability and maturity of their processes. In RPA, this step is crucial to determine the extent to which process automation will have an impact and be cost effective.

SmartRoby offers a very advanced functionality to assess the processes in place and the potential areas for improvement. SmartRoby’s Process Assessment module also identifies the strengths and weaknesses of existing processes in order to improve them or avoid bad practices.

Thanks to a detailed survey, SmartRoby allows to evaluate the feasibility of automating a process and especially its potential value in order to prioritize RPA projects and better manage investments. This comprehensive questionnaire takes into account the specific context of each process evaluation (feasibility of the RPA project, time consumption, exceptions, impacted business, IT environment…).

At the end of the survey, SmartRoby’s algorithms calculate the estimated impact, complexity, feasibility, ROI and payback point for the process being evaluated. With these results in hand, organizations are better equipped to make the best decisions and manage their RPA project opportunities.

Our solution offers the possibility to make a preliminary study of the automation project including all significant factors that contribute to the success or failure of the project.

With this informed diagnosis, organizations are able to evaluate their risks, optimize the management of their resources and seize the best opportunities.

*Our SmartRoby solution was awarded Blue Prism’s Best Solution 2022 in the AI & Cloud Innovation category. This award highlights SmartRoby as an innovative and pioneering solution for process automation (read more)

Blue Prism World on Tour Madrid

On May 25, Novelis will travel to Madrid to celebrate the 3rd edition of Blue Prism World.

A true virtual experience and journey around automation, this event organized by our partner Blue Prism, allows everyone to discover the technology and strategies for success through unique customer feedback.

The Blue Prism World on Tour Madrid 2022 will bring together all Blue Prism Iberia teams, as well as clients and strategic partners such as Novelis.

On the agenda of the event

Inspire your creativity with: inspiring presentations, plenary sessions with customers and partners, and showcasing the most innovative automation and AI technologies revolutionizing the digital workforce.

As a business owner, meet with experts and learn how to achieve all your key objectives: employee retention, customer satisfaction and increased efficiency, accuracy and productivity, and ROI.

Blue Prism World: Focus on the business of the future

Transforming the way we work through the collaborative power of people and intelligent automation, using artificial intelligence, new technological advances and human ingenuity to create the companies of the future: that’s the goal of Blue Prism World.

In your company of the future:

  • Your collaborators and digital workers would work together and collaborate seamlessly: a unified workforce
  • Your clients would benefit from a better quality of service thanks to greater employee efficiency
  • The overall productivity of your organization would be much higher allowing you to achieve your strategic business objectives.

All of this is possible now, the future is already here. The technology you need to reimagine your business exists, but you need to learn how to use and implement it.