Exploring innovation with Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Challenge

A public sector organisation wanted to explore how RPA could innovate how they manage their process backlogs, customer complaints, staffing constraints, and leverage their existing technology.  

This organisation provides back-office services to a range of other public sector bodies and handles a large volume of personal and sensitive information, regularly processing and maintaining large data sets where accuracy needs to be maintained at all times.

Solution

Methods conducted a rigorous assessment of the financial and commercial challenges facing the organisation, pairing this with our review of their technical architecture and feedback from staff on pain points within the organisation. Methods analysed the financial, management, and performance information, considering:

• how information is held and processed
• cost per transaction
• cost per contact from customers
• contract costs (technology and support)
• number of customer complaints.

We examined the organisation’s existing technology stack for:

• alignment to future needs
• opportunities to introduce beneficial new technology
• opportunities for component reuse
• impact on the organisation’s financial and commercial performance.
  
  

Impact

We created a robust business case recommending a multi-year transformation programme designed to improve customer experience, address the organisational needs, and position it for financial and commercial sustainability in the future. This would deliver significant cost savings to the organisation through:

• bringing technology and support contracts in-house
• decommissioning technology systems that added little value
• creating a centralised Azure data repository
• using robotic automation to reduce data entry - with process improvement support from an internal Centre of Excellence
• centralising contacts through Dynamics, improving visibility of management information and demand.

From these recommendations, a 2-year transformation programme was approved by the organisation’s Executive Board.