Robotic process automation overview

1. The better the question. The better the answer.
The better the world works.
2017
Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
The future of Admin Functions

2. Confidential — All Rights Reserved — EY 2017
Typical journey to digital operations
A step by step approach
Artificial
Intelligence
E.G. Watson, AlphaGo
Chatbots
E.G. Kore,
ConversableCognitive RPA
E.G. Automation
Anywhere, UiPath
Robotic
Process
Automation
E.G. Blue Prism
Ø Missing a step would result in full
benefits not achieved
Ø Chatbots and Artificial
Intelligence to utilize the outputs
produced by Robotic Process
automation
60% of the
enterprise's
process activities
15% of
process activities
15% of
process activities
10% of process
activities

3. Confidential — All Rights Reserved — EY 2017
What is Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and
what role does it play in our future workplace?
Robotic Process Automation is…
A software which mimics human execution of desktop
applications, usually for repetitive processes. It is controlled
by business users (user friendly configuration), and governed
by IT.
It is a new alternative to improve productivity, unlocking
higher ROI than ERP implementations and shared services
centers (offshoring) implementation
It is the fist step, and necessary foundation in the enterprise
digital operation journey, before implementing cognitive,
chatbots and artificial intelligence
Robotic Process Automation is not… A physical robot
sitting at a desk performing tasks Popular misconception of RPA
Key objectives of implementing RPA are usually:
Cost saving Improve customer experience Improve accuracy / control
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Qualitative benefits expected from RPA include
increased control, accuracy and productivity
Accuracy
The right result, decision or calculation the
first time)
Consistency
Identical process and tasks reducing the
output variation
Audit trail
Fully maintained logs essential for
compliance
Productivity
Freeing up manual resources for more
value-added tasks
Elasticity / Flexibility
Instant ramp up/down to deal with spikes
and troughs in demand
Staff retention
Allows focus shift towards more
stimulating tasks
Reliability
24/7, all year around, full availability
“Right shoring”
Geographical independence allows “right
shoring” – a viable alternative to offshoring
Low risk - non-invasive technology
Can be overlaid on existing systems allowing creation of a platform to introduce more
sophisticated algorithms and machine-learning tools

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RPA delivers substantial financial benefits, with
organizations seeing up to 90% reduction in cost
Cost
High
Low
$ x
On-Shore
$ 1/2x
Near-Shore
$ 1/3x
Off-Shore
$ 1/9x
RPA
Cost Savings
► 1 Robot FTE costs approximately USD 3,000 per year in licensing costs 1
► Most Robots see a Return of Investment of a few months
1. Depending on the application selected and the license package offered by the vendor

6. Confidential — All Rights Reserved — EY 2017
RPA will revolutionize every aspect of your
business. Importantly, it frees your human
resources from low value activities to focus on
building the business
Employee
Customer

7. Confidential — All Rights Reserved — EY 2017
Identifying the most suitable scope of
implementation is key to unlocking the full value
of RPA
The application scope for RPA is
broad - penetrating F&A, IT, SC, HR,
Supply Chain, Legal and Sales.
Today, RPA automates end-to-end
manual processes, with focus on
high-volume, highly repetitive,
multistep tasks with many validation
rules. Today and ongoing, this
revolutionary technology will
continue to leverage elements of
artificial intelligence for
sophisticated decision making. For
instance, in a few years, RPA would
operate like human brain that has
the ability to adapt and assess, and
perform cognitive tasks from
sensing, predicting, inferring and
even having a factor of emotional
intelligence.
There are a set of “key tells” that provide guidance on where RPA
will be a solution with strong capability to unlock value.
(All points do not have to be fulfilled)
• Data intensive
• Repetitive in nature
• Rule-driven
• Electronic trigger to the
process
• Have electronic start-
points and endpoints
• Involve manual calculation
• High error rates
• Sensitive content
• Can be performed out of
office hours
• Complex IT landscape
Examples of support functions that involve processes with proven potential for RPA
ü
ü
ü
ü
ü
ü
ü
ü
ü
ü
IT services
► Installation
► FTP download,
upload and backup
► Server application
and monitoring
► Synchronizing,
deleting and
emptying folders
► File management
► Email processing
► Batch processing
► …
HR services
► Payroll
► Benefits admin
► Payslip management
► Time and attendance
management
► Recruiting process
► Onboarding
► Education and
training
► Compliance
reporting
► …
Supply chain
► Work order
management
► Demand and supply
planning
► Quote, invoice and
contract
management
► Returns processing
► Freight management
► …
F&A
► Sales order
► Order to cash
► Collection
► Procure to pay
► Incentive claim
► Record to report
► Supply chain vendor
setup
► Trend tracking
► ..
See next slide for more detailed examples of F&A

8. Confidential — All Rights Reserved — EY 2017
Example of Finance and Accounting processes
candidate to RPA
Process vendor invoices/
credit memos
Handle incoming
invoice with reference
to PO
Accounts payables – Examples
Handle incoming
invoice with no
reference to PO
Perform payments
Handle Debit Note To
Vendor
§ Reads vendor information
in various formats and
validates content
§ Sorts and categorizes
electronic Invoices/ memos
for proper archiving
§ Sort and identify requestor
information
§ Checks invoice with PO,
goods and services
information for accuracy
§ Identify incoming requestor
information
§ Send invoices to document
approvers
§ Send confirmation to
accounting and/or send out
refusal
§ Plan and parameterize
payment specifications to
right account
§ Create, edit and check
payment proposals
§ Reject and refuse payments
if requisite checks are not
met
§ Processes payments
§ Reads supplier info to
create debit notes after
validating the information
from ERP application
§ Email the supplier the debit
notes and make entries in
ERP application
§ Automatically send out
requests to suppliers for
new invoices (in case of
discrepancies)
Handle outgoing
invoice/credit memo
Execute outgoing
sales invoice/ credit
memo
Accounts receivables – Examples
Process incoming
payments
Handle Incoming
Cheques and perform
dunning
Accounts Receivable
Reporting
§ Send documents to various
departments such as
accounting & sales
§ Posts invoices to ERP
finance systems
§ Log exceptions wherein
conditions & scenario's are
not defined
§ Notifies concerned
authorities via email if
needed
§ Post invoices and process
open items
§ Generate invoices for
cleared items
§ Integrate posting of invoices
and process invoice
settlement
§ Identify incoming payments
against a list of open items
§ Reference incoming bank
ACH, wire transfers and
mark them within the ERP
system
§ Match open items against
incoming payments
§ Identify and isolate banking
information
§ Print list of cheques
received
§ Generate reports from ERP
application for dunning
process
§ Identify aging tasks and
send out emails (based
templates) to customers
and/or internal receivers
§ Automatically log into
accounting system to
generate necessary pre
defined system reports (e.g.
aging report, reconciliation/
collection reports)
§ Generate customs reports
§ Check SAP System for
payment status

9. Confidential — All Rights Reserved — EY 2017
Case study: substantial enhancement of back
office functions that made client embark on
ambitious journey for further automation
How EY helped
Accelerated delivery of a PoV (proof of value) in 6 weeks (4 weeks build), performed the
following activities:
► Help select candidate product / process for the proof of concept / production deployment
► Review, assess and prioritize processes for automation, including recommendations for
simplification enabled by automation
► Define solution architecture for both proof-of-concept and production deployments
(including technical components such as environments which required to be stood up)
► Deliver accelerated proof-of-concept which demonstrated all of the key solution
components, addressed technical risks, and provided a robust business case which
articulated the benefits of deploying software robotics
► Develop software robotics solution, including overall process design, interfaces /
interactions with legacy systems and exception handling procedures
► Define target operating model for production deployment, including key considerations
around organizational change (including Centre of Excellence) and automation candidates
Results
Accelerated delivery of a PoV to demonstrate all key solution components and address
technical risks. PoV determined benefits include:
► Release 27 FTE (25% of team) otherwise needed for a 51% cost reduction for delivery of
high-frequency tasks
► Improve quality, control, audit and timeliness
► Dramatically accelerate handling time
► Reduce pressure on a major platform releases
Following a successful PoV, EY began automating processes identified in business case, and
supporting assessment of additional benefit across additional processes of substantial scope.
Client challenge
Global financial company sought
cost savings and efficiencies in an
overly manual operations and looked
to EY for a solution help them:
► Assess viability of using robotics
to automate labor intensive back
office processes
► Measure business impact to
make informed decision based on
tangible outputs
► Help scale a proven solution in
their environment

10. Confidential — All Rights Reserved — EY 2017
Pascal Bornet, EY Director, Asia RPA Lead
► Director, Advisory Services
► Mobile: +65 8716 2050
► Email: pascal.bornet@sg.ey.com
EY | Assurance | Tax | Transactions | Advisory
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