Summary
Enabling real insights through RPA assessment to get automation program back on track and fully realized the overall value of RPA investment.
Organization Background
A major health-payer company launched its RPA program and executed the initial project in the claims area. The IT department was able to successfully get 12 bots up and running on-time and on budget. There were growing challenges regarding the real business impact of the RPA investment, as there were no cost, people or cycle time reductions being realized by the business. In addition to the disconnect between business and IT, after 12 months of operating the program, there were no more demand for the RPA team within the company.
Business Challenges and Opportunities
The company began to experience growing frustrations regarding the overall value of RPA. The leadership of the business units did not see any real value and quantifiable benefits of the technology. RPA started to get a negative image and there was a growing disconnect between business and IT. Even though all the automation was functional, the business ascertained that the project was unsuccessful as it did not deliver the expected business results. This also caused other business units to lose interest in the automation program.
The BPM-D team and a technology partner were brought in to perform an RPA Health Check so that potential improvement areas can be identified and provide a roadmap for successful RPA initiatives and alignment of business and IT.
Solution
An RPA maturity assessment in the 5 dimensions (people, process, technology, strategy and governance) was applied. The assessment revealed that the automation program made good progress from a technology point of view. The challenges are in releasing value to the business, which stemmed from the way processes are targeted and how the RPA lifecycle was governed. Improving the automation program required:
