Optimize your Business Operations

In a recent survey on automation, many UK businesses said they see great opportunities to improve day-to-day operations – as many as 40% of business tasks in their organizations could be automated in the next three to five years. However, companies lack key skills and technology to make the transition to a more streamlined process.

Their employees welcome this potential development. Our survey showed that nearly half of UK office workers are optimistic about the impact automation technologies will have on the workplace of the future. The same proportion said they have given serious thought to how automation technologies can support their department with its day-to-day processes— and among those people who are responsible for finances, that figure rose to 85%.

Not surprisingly, most respondents saw the most potential in areas such as invoicing, managing expense claims, reporting, and administration tasks, with key benefits including freeing up staff time to do higher value, core business tasks, lowering costs, and improving the accuracy of results.

And yet…

So far, so good. But the same survey found fewer than 20% of those surveyed are currently benefiting from automation. And this isn’t just a UK phenomenon, in my experience, business leaders in other countries such as the US, the Nordics, and other parts of Europe are also hesitating.

So what’s preventing companies from taking advantage?

Read the complete article here: https://www.capgemini.com/2017/06/the-automation-nation/

Automated document processing can reduce mundane, repetitive work. But improvements have been spotty, still requiring human intervention. Now, cognitive document processing will break the log jam and introduce true process intelligence.

I’ve worked in and with a number of finance and insurance organizations for almost three decades now, and at every level I’ve found myself among some very smart people. They’re efficient, they’re knowledgeable and they’re forward-thinking.

All of which is great—or at least it would be, except for one thing.

Which is that many of these great people are all too often required to expend effort on low-grade and low-value document-driven activities for which all that efficiency and knowledge and perspicacity is singularly ill-suited. And the greater the volume of business, the greater proportion of their time has to be spent on these mundane tasks.

Making things better

Automating document processing of this kind is highly desirable. It not only reduces the pressure on valuable people but increases the efficiency of the process and lowers costs at the same time.

All of which is once more great. Or at least it would be, except for yet another thing.

To know what it is, click here: https://www.capgemini.com/2017/06/intelligent-automation-in-finance-and-insurance/

Also hear from Carole Murphy and David Lumley how the “Five Senses of Intelligent Automation” will drive the finance transformation agenda.

Intelligent automation in finance can cause the CFO to react in one of two ways—either it’s all quite daunting and best to let it all blow over, or it’s one of the most exciting times to be a business leader. Learn what automation and robotics can offer.

The technological revolution that is currently underway can cause the CFO to react in one of two ways—either it’s all quite daunting and best to let it all blow over, or it’s one of the most exciting times to be a business leader and we look to embrace what automation and robotics have to offer.

My advice is to opt for the latter.

Although accountants have always been the stewards of corporate data—people able to translate data into valuable, decision-enabling financial information—finance and accounting (F&A) finds itself at the forefront of business decision-making like never before. Big data, knowledge acquisition and business intelligence are buzzwords that have been at the center of the F&A world for a long time and play exactly to our skills; skills honed over a long period of time and with much blood, sweat and tears.

These are extremely exciting times as automation and robotic technologies are enabling F&A to shine, and CFOs shouldn’t miss the opportunity to be boardroom heroes.

Click here to read the entire article: https://www.capgemini.com/2018/03/theres-never-been-a-more-exciting-time-to-be-a-cfo/

Carole Murphy discusses what the explosion of intelligent automation means for your finance function:

Robotic automation can create value, but it’s at its best when it’s part of a bigger story of intelligent automation transformation. Making a fundamental business change means doing our homework and considering the entire end-to-end process.

Here in California we love our wine and grow a lot of grapes. Now, let’s suppose for a moment you and I are in the wine business, and we’ve heard about a fabulous new grape varietal. It gives a high yield, it’s robust, the sugar content is perfect and test crops indicate it has all the makings of a great vintage.

Do we go straight out, buy this new varietal and plant as much as we can? It’s a winner, right? So why wait? What’s stopping us?

No. Of course, we don’t. Producing a fine wine requires a lot more planning and work than just planting grapes. We need to analyze soil samples to make sure they’re suitable. We should see if the irrigation and the run-off are going to work for this new varietal. We must satisfy ourselves that there aren’t any crop pests in the neighborhood that need addressing. We also need to assess whether our harvesting, fermentation, and storage is optimal, and we need to consider sales, distribution, and marketing.

Making such a fundamental business change requires us to do our homework and consider the entire end-to-end process of growing and harvesting new grapes, through to selling the wine we produce.

Part of a wider process

Robotic automation is a bit like deciding to produce a new wine using a brand new and better varietal of grape. However, in the midst of all the technological excitement surrounding robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI), it’s easy to forget the same rules apply.

Just because robotic automation can deliver significant benefits to an organization (and it can!), it doesn’t mean you should rush headlong into implementing it.

So what do you need to do? Click here to read: https://www.capgemini.com/2018/03/robotic-automation-a-bunch-of-benefits/

Decision makes with supply chain responsibilities are skeptical about how automation can help. They have doubts about security, skills needed, and unclear about the benefits. However, first mover advantage will go to those who adopt automation.

Questions

A survey we recently published showed that nearly half (48%) of UK office workers are optimistic about the impact automation technologies can have. Respondents to the survey, conducted on our behalf by Opinium, an independent research company, had a general idea of the benefits that might accrue but were less clear as to how these technologies can be applied to their area. What’s more, our survey found that fewer than 20% of those surveyed felt their organizations were currently benefiting from automation. Which prompted two questions for me:

One, is this low level of adoption specific to the UK?

And two, how can automation be applied to the supply chain?

Click here to know the answers:  https://www.capgemini.com/2017/07/should-supply-chains-be-automated/

Artificial intelligence can solve many business problems, but not all; there’s plenty of noise around the subject. Learn about misconceptions organizations often have about what problems can be solved with artificial intelligence.

Andrew Anderson, CEO, Celaton, draws a parallel between the way you would diagnose and cure a medical ailment and the complexities of automation and AI.

Since announcing our global partnership with Celaton over two years ago, our relationship has grown from strength to strength, and we are continuing to successfully apply inSTREAM™ to automation and transform business processes for our clients.

In his last blog for Capgemini, CEO of Celaton Andrew Anderson shared insights on how machine learning can help manage unpredictable data volume and deliver significant benefits in finance and accounting. In this blog, Andrew discusses the misconceptions organizations often have about what problems can be solved with artificial intelligence.

Read the complete article here: https://www.capgemini.com/2018/03/just-what-the-doctor-ordered-artificial-intelligence-and-medical-diagnosis-compared/