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Intelligent Automation for SAP

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is steadily taking over the business world. As more organisations use RPA for streamlining their SAP related processes, it’s only a matter of time before RPA becomes the new norm. And while the term ‘Robotic’ may conjure up images of a mechanized assembly line, RPA is not about physical robots at all.

But what is RPA then? And what does it have to do with SAP? These are the questions we are going to explore in today’s post.

RPA Simplified

A lot of regular business tasks can be categorized as systematic, that is to say they follow a predetermined set of steps towards completion. RPA is a process in which such routine tasks can be automated by software ‘robots’. Much like their physical counterparts, such soft bots can perform the tasks they are designed for with untiring accuracy and precision.

And this very fact makes RPA an excellent technology to use in SAP.

Advantage of RPA Integration for SAP

Everyone knows SAP for its classic ERP implementation. And while the popularity of SAP is dominant in the business world, automation of SAP processes using RPA is gaining greater prominence for enterprises. A number of procedures in SAP fall under the category of routine, repetitive and time intensive. Involving human users to complete these tasks uses up valuable time, which if freed can be utilized for matters of greater business importance.

One can use RPA to effectively automate these mundane processes. RPA capabilities can augment Both on-premise and cloud modules of a SAP implementation. RPA tools effectively complete the tasks as if a human is implementing them. Thus, RPA frees up human users from routine and repetitive jobs and allows them to focus on innovation.

SAP Use Cases involving RPA

A number of use cases in SAP can apply RPA with great results. Some of these are as explored below.

Finance And Accounting

RPA can be put to excellent use in automating SAP finance and accounting functions. One prominent utility of RPA in accounting can be in the robotic handling of invoices. Robots can easily carry out tasks such as data extraction and digitization of invoices. Checking data for consistency is another of the repetitive tasks undertaken in accounting. This process too is an excellent candidate for RPA. An RPA program can be deployed to automatically verify the consistency of financial data and also send periodic reports to those concerned.

Sales

Your sales team spends a large amount of time in handling routine tasks such as data management, error correction and sales ordering processing. RPA for SAP can help by effectively automating these routine tasks. One of the best examples of Sales RPA can be in the processing of sales orders. Correct processing of sales orders is essential to proper product delivery. Manual inputs, no matter how expertly handled, always leave the possibility for errors. SAP RPA can eliminate this risk by allowing robots to do the task in an error free manner. This leaves the sales team to do what they do best: improve sales for your company.

Logistics

This is yet another SAP module where RPA can be put to good use. Logistics operations include a number of routine tasks such as invoicing, shipment scheduling and tracking. RPA can successfully automate these processes for independent execution. This translates to better workflow patterns and enhanced customer services.

Procurement

By nature, procurement is a transactional process, and hence it can be a prime candidate for automation. Using RPA to augment procurement tasks such as billing, invoicing and contract generation streamlines the entire SAP procurement process and makes for faster execution and quality results.

Final thoughts

From the above use-cases it is evident that RPA can significantly boost the performance of any SAP implementation. At this point, distinction must be made between ERP automation and RPA. While ERP automation is more concerned with streamlining ERP systems to achieve better performance, RPA involves reducing human intervention and automating tasks for superior execution.

These are only some of the use cases of RPA in a SAP environment (on-premise and cloud). FlinQ Automation has proven capabilities in implementing RPA for multifarious operations. RPA and SAP can work together to create improved process flows and faster execution times. With FlinQ Automation, you are guaranteed to get your desired results, and more.

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Manage bottlenecks during Covid-19

Over the course of the last few weeks, Covid-19 has had a major impact on our daily lives. Most people around the world are cooped up in the premises of their own homes, forcing businesses to react to unprecedented circumstances to maintain continuity in their way of working. And while some are facing the challenge to keep their ship afloat, others are experiencing significant strain on their business processes due to an unseen increase in demand for their goods and services.

Challenges of the crisis

Managing seasonal peaks in certain areas of your business is one thing. Coping with unforeseen peaks in activity, combined with less than ideal working circumstances is something else entirely.

Some examples:

The healthcare sector is pushed beyond its limits to process new patient records, manage test results and order medical supplies;
Insurance companies have to handle significant increases in claims from small businesses and individuals;
Governments have provided several ways to support people that have been hit by the crisis. Technical unemployment, temporary support for freelancers, debt repayment, financial support for restaurants, … Public entities have to process enormous amounts of requests from companies and individuals in the shortest possible time frame;
Parcel Delivery and logistics (retail and food) have seen a staggering increase in demand with it being the only source for most people to answer their needs during the quarantine. Which is why the sector is now dealing with a general overload in their activities.

Automating the underlying processes helps in managing peaks in a flexible way, without delays in service offering, loss in quality, or needs to reallocate personnel.

Automation to combat the crisis

Intelligent Automation is the way forward to efficiently automate business processes using several technologies. Robots mimic repetitive actions, previously done by humans, AI solutions interpret data and propose next actions while document collaboration platforms allow employees to efficiently manage the automated processes.

Intelligent Automation helps to mitigate disruption by enabling businesses to stay connected across teams and systems, maintain customer support and offer stability in times of uncertainty.

Additionally, the continuous availability of Digital Workers (Robots) allows for an increased volume of transactions to be processed. This allows businesses to maintain their quality standard while effectively handling unforeseen peaks.

Applied in practice

Hospital intake forms, test results, claims, … can all be digitized and made electronically available, using smart capture technologies.

The processing of valuable information contained within these documents and the integration into existing systems typically requires repetitive manual actions. Robotic Process Automation can easily take over these tasks, mimicking human actions to get the same result.

Finally, Intelligent process automation platforms can provide instant access to all documents being processed, means to interact based on valuable data and mobile applications to easily handle exceptions.

About FlinQ

We are experts in the field of Intelligent Process Automation. Our drive is to partner with our clients, to support them in creating strategies for deploying a digital workforce and to be the guide in their journey to a new-way-of-working. By combining best-of-breed technology solutions with a pragmatic, customer-centric approach, we deliver fast and efficient results.

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The Way to the Future: Center Of Excellence

There used to be a time when robots were science-fiction; thankfully that time is now long past. Thanks to Robotic Process Automation, organizations are able to reap the benefits of efficient and effortless process execution. Using the power of digital technologies, companies are able to improve customer experience, drive growth, and scale rapidly.

Yet merely implementing RPA is no longer considered a strategic advantage over the competition. In an environment where all major players are vying to get a piece of the RPA pie, companies must formulate strategies for expanding the value of automation across all levels of the enterprise.

For FlinQ Automation this means the establishment of RPA Centers of Excellence (CoE) which incorporate all level of human resources, existing processes and disruptive technology to augment the benefits that are usually reaped from simple RPA. In setting up a CoE, it becomes essential to identify new automation opportunities, expand the reach of RPA throughout the organization and work towards a long-term vision of the future.

But first, at this juncture, it would be wise to discuss what exactly an RPA CoE is.

What is a Center of Excellence?

Put simply, an automation CoE is an organization which looks past viewing RPA as simply a tool for automating processes and instead tries to achieve a holistic view of automation as can be applied to the entire enterprise. The CoE should not consider RPA as a one-shot exercise, but rather as an ongoing operation involving careful, systematic planning, rigorous testing and regular evaluation.

One of the prime characteristics of automation CoE is that they do not view automation as under the ambit of one particular software or technology; rather the outlook is reversed and all automation processes being implemented in the organization are brought under one cohesive structure that blends in seamlessly with each department of the enterprise.

Who can benefit from a Center of Excellence?

The very term Center of Excellence seems to be a mouthful and may give the idea that they belong in the realm of giant enterprises, but the truth remains that a business of any size can benefit from setting up a CoE.

For large organizations the major challenge is to overcome the overall immensity of operations and integrate individual automation efforts into a cohesive whole. A CoE helps to do just that by efficiently recognizing automation opportunities and streamlining the RPA system.

Small and medium businesses on the other handstand to be future ready by proper implementation of CoE. While setting up isolated automation efforts may seem cost effective, in the long run it only adds to the overhead. A well-defined RPA strategy from the get-go can bring coherence to the automation of an organization in the long run.

At FlinQ Automation we have enabled organizations of various capacities for setting up RPA centers that deliver on the promise of excellence. And while doomsayers may cry job cuts due to automation, a RPA CoE is all about integrating the efforts of people together with the efficiency of automated processes. FlinQ considers the human workforce one of the key pillars for enabling successful automation.

The way to the future

According to the latest estimates by Gartner and Forrester Research, RPA is here to stay. Any organization that wishes to remain relevant needs to tap the power of automation CoE. FlinQ Automation can be your strategic partner in helping you develop your RPA capabilities and leverage technology to amplify your organizational processes. In this way, you stand to lead the way to tomorrow.

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5 lessons learned during RPA implementation

Every RPA implementation is different, but some key pitfalls occur regularly and can be avoided when you follow best practices. Here are some key lessons learned to help your company in the RPA journey.

#1 Understand the complexity of the processes you want to automate.

Rule-based processes are ideal candidates for automation. However, these same processes can cause complications for RPA when you do not understand and document the complexity. People can learn patterns, but RPA has difficulty mimicking this ability. A rule-based process that requires ambiguous decisions may prohibit the RPA implementation from being effective.

#2 Host design sessions to make sure business and technology users are on the same page.

It is important to hold “design sessions” which answer key technical questions before bringing RPA into your workflows.

The design sessions should include i) mapping out business processes, ii) gathering information from end users, iii) analyzing the frequency of process execution, iv) analyzing how often there are “exceptions to the rule”, and v) documenting process outputs

When you fail to hold technical design sessions, it can severely delay timeline and result in unnecessary re-work.

#3 You will probably need to ask people to re-engineer their processes – and this requires change management.

When you evaluate processes to automate, re-engineering is almost always recommended to increase the ease of implementation. The scale of these modifications, however, can vary. Factors such as data inputs required, preexisting data standardization, and flexibility in the sequencing of tasks can influence the amount of upfront work required.

For a seamless RPA implementation, it is important to manage the expectations of the project team. We manage these expectations by establishing communication which outlines the reasons for the process re-design and the actions required by the team. In contrast to most change management initiatives, RPA requires a robust change management plan before go-live, given the magnitude of change required by your teams.

#4 Test the robot to ensure it handles exceptions properly.

It is easy to start celebrating once your robot successfully automates a process for the first time. However, the real work begins in the testing phase to ensure the robot handles exceptions properly. Use activities which give the robot instructions on what to do in case of errors or when encountering unfamiliar grounds.

Finally, check, double check, and triple check that the process runs in all scenarios types before signing off on a successful implementation and handing over to the end user.

#5 Keep growth in the back of your mind at all times. There are multiple ways to perform one objective, but some configurations are more conducive to scale than others.

As companies grow and change, processes tend to evolve. Think object-oriented and make the design process a central key of your RPA implementation.

RPA developers tend to code workflows with fixed values for certain processes, and do not think about potential scalability. The company must go back into the workflow and re-configure the values to reflect the necessary change because the original robot was not developed with scalability in mind.

There are a lot of scenarios where designing a robot to automate a task could result in headaches when change happens. We recommend taking a flexible approach for all RPA implementations, taking growth into account.

#6 Achieving a return on your RPA investment

Robotic process automation, when implemented thoughtfully, can create tremendous value across your organization, as it has for ours. This value includes: Cost Savings and Employee Engagement.

Automated processes reduce the number of employee hours required, giving you the flexibility to grow your operations quicker without adding headcount.

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Why is RPA getting so much attention?

In recent studies from Forrester and the Hackett Group, RPA is addressed as ‘one of the most disruptive forces in human history’. And they predict this trend to continue as companies have to improve productivity and performance. The new ‘digital workforce’ is fast and reliable. They make few mistakes and are available 24/7.

Forrester noted that most of the investments in RPA are in the areas of finance and accounting. And it is Interesting to notice that, with RPA, business units such as finance and accounting are more likely than usual to deploy and manage the technology themselves, instead of the IT department.

How to ‘add’ rpa to your already automated financial processes?

For the remaining tasks that have historically been difficult to automate, RPA can provide certain benefits. Every business has unique aspects to their workflow that enterprise software doesn’t automate. For example, in accounts payable companies often have to pull from or send invoices to a portal. You may have to extract only a few hundred invoices a month, so the process remains manual since it would be costly and time-consuming for IT to build an integration. But RPA can automate that process very quickly and affordably.

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Robotic Process Automation: What’s All The Hype About?

Over the course of the last few weeks, Covid-19 has had a major impact on our daily lives. Most people around the world are cooped up in the premises of their own homes, forcing businesses to react to unprecedented circumstances to maintain continuity in their way of working. And while some are facing the challenge to keep their ship afloat, others are experiencing significant strain on their business processes due to an unseen increase in demand for their goods and services.

Challenges of the crisis

Managing seasonal peaks in certain areas of your business is one thing. Coping with unforeseen peaks in activity, combined with less than ideal working circumstances is something else entirely.

Some examples:

The healthcare sector is pushed beyond its limits to process new patient records, manage test results and order medical supplies;
Insurance companies have to handle significant increases in claims from small businesses and individuals;
Governments have provided several ways to support people that have been hit by the crisis. Technical unemployment, temporary support for freelancers, debt repayment, financial support for restaurants, … Public entities have to process enormous amounts of requests from companies and individuals in the shortest possible time frame;
Parcel Delivery and logistics (retail and food) have seen a staggering increase in demand with it being the only source for most people to answer their needs during the quarantine. Which is why the sector is now dealing with a general overload in their activities.

Automating the underlying processes helps in managing peaks in a flexible way, without delays in service offering, loss in quality, or needs to reallocate personnel.

Automation to combat the crisis

Intelligent Automation is the way forward to efficiently automate business processes using several technologies. Robots mimic repetitive actions, previously done by humans, AI solutions interpret data and propose next actions while document collaboration platforms allow employees to efficiently manage the automated processes.

Intelligent Automation helps to mitigate disruption by enabling businesses to stay connected across teams and systems, maintain customer support and offer stability in times of uncertainty.

Additionally, the continuous availability of Digital Workers (Robots) allows for an increased volume of transactions to be processed. This allows businesses to maintain their quality standard while effectively handling unforeseen peaks.

Applied in practice

Hospital intake forms, test results, claims, … can all be digitized and made electronically available, using smart capture technologies.

The processing of valuable information contained within these documents and the integration into existing systems typically requires repetitive manual actions. Robotic Process Automation can easily take over these tasks, mimicking human actions to get the same result.

Finally, Intelligent process automation platforms can provide instant access to all documents being processed, means to interact based on valuable data and mobile applications to easily handle exceptions.

About FlinQ

We are experts in the field of Intelligent Process Automation. Our drive is to partner with our clients, to support them in creating strategies for deploying a digital workforce and to be the guide in their journey to a new-way-of-working. By combining best-of-breed technology solutions with a pragmatic, customer-centric approach, we deliver fast and efficient results.