HMRC advisers use robots to reduce call times by up to 40%

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the UK tax authority, is automating processes to give a better service to customers as part of their wider digital transformation. Staff identify time-consuming clerical tasks that can be automated so they spend more time on the customer-facing aspects of their roles. Robotics solutions include dashboards that automatically open relevant case files for contact centre advisers to answer customer queries more quickly, and end-to-end processing of first time employer registrations.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is delivered from HMRC’s Automated Delivery Centre (ADC), which Capgemini helped set up and run. The ADC opened in April 2016, and delivered 14 industrialised projects in its first eight months and has a further 30 projects in flight or scheduled. Building on this success, HMRC is extending its robotics development capability to business teams, so they can build their own automation solutions using ADC governance and processes.

Automated processes for better customer service and efficiency savings

HMRC’s digital transformation includes innovative use of robotics solutions for better services to customers that reduce costs for HMRC. Solutions that automate and speed up repetitive processes include:

• Dashboards for contact centre advisers
  Dashboards give information and guidance straight to advisers’ computer screens, using robotics to automatically open files from a number of different systems so they can answer customer questions quickly and accurately, cutting call times by up to 2 minutes. For one of the dashboards, advisers previously had 66 mouse clicks to navigate different systems for relevant information which they now get in 10 clicks. This real-time process optimisation allows advisers to quickly identify customer details, in order to provide the correct guidance.
• Employer registration end-to-end processing
  Robotics is used in the employer registration process to validate data from online applications and provide a unique reference number to new employers so they can start employing staff for the first time. If problems with the application are detected, robotics assigns cases to an exceptions handling team. Around 85% of applications are processed automatically, and employers who register with HMRC to start paying staff receive confirmation three times faster than before. Automated services like employer registration reduce processing costs by around 80%.

RPA is being used to automate time-consuming clerical tasks and link digital services and back-office systems for end-to-end processing without significant IT development effort.

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