Building an Intelligent Business with RPA & Process Mining

This post was originally published in conjunction with our partner, BluePrism.

When we want to reach our destination we rarely hop into a vehicle, step on the gas and hope for the best. Instead, we map a route and set a pace to arrive at the desired time. Why should reaching business goals be any different?

Yet companies eager to embrace solutions like robotic process automation (RPA) often proceed full steam ahead before determining where they’re going or how best to get there. So, what’s the fix?

Many companies are turning to process mining technology. It converts operational system data into a visual process representation that helps you plan your next steps throughout the life of your initiative.

Let’s look at a real-life example:

A global health services company is building an integrated business services model. The goal is to increase availability, lower costs, balance workloads and maintain compliance standards. The means: an enterprise-wide expansion of RPA.

They start with a manageable project in a core operational area—finance. They know they have numerous manual tasks to investigate, but it turns out each comes with localized inconsistencies. Since it’s now not feasible to automate at the task level, they need an end-to-end view of their workflow.

Using process mining technology, they discover more than 500 process variants costing them an unhappy percentage of their $30B revenue. By drilling down to see where and why deviations occur, they can show the dozens of stakeholders involved what needs improvement and where to focus automation implementation or expansion efforts for the greatest gains.

Transparency enables transformation is the idea promoted by one manager. “By removing fear and uncertainty,” he says, “you educate and inspire others about the possibilities of RPA.”

Now the company uses process mining to monitor and ensure consistency in their newly automated processes. But process mining technology also helps them measure impact, ensuring they’re not missing out on other opportunities to better integrate, train or maximize the efficiency of both their digital and human workers.

Building an intelligent business means increasing capability and clarity. Adding process mining to RPA planning lays the groundwork for a smooth, cost-effective and sustainable initiative from start to finish.

Eager to learn more? Check out our webinar “Making RPA and Automation Successful with Intelligent Process Mining Technology”.