The integration of robotic systems within all industries has risen prominently over the last several years and will continue to do so moving forward. Every industry from banking to telecommunications and even the energy sector are turning to RPA systems for improving efficiencies. The energy sector is uniquely positioned due to its role as a necessary industry that affects the daily lives of all Americans. It is extremely customer-oriented and must maintain a high success and satisfaction rate or else individuals and businesses will halt until energy operations are restored.
“Human error is a factor to consider when optimizing workflows and boosting worker output. If a human is working too quickly, a lack of focus could lead to erroneous inputs that create a trickle-down effect of bad information. When an RPA is introduced to control mundane yet necessary tasks, there are validations set in place to create a virtually error-free environment.” – Says Connie Testa, CSS Tec Director
Here are more examples of why it’s the technology tool that many CIOs will continue to champion in the future.
Endless Automation Opportunities
The average employee is bogged down with tedious and repetitive tasks throughout the day. Within the energy sector, this is largely based on customer service departments, account management, and data analysis. When an RPA is deployed for the customer service department, the bots can handle nearly all of the dialogue with a customer and reach a solution without the need for human intervention. Information about billing, account status, or inquiries about their meter reading can all be obtained through the RPA system and communicated back to the customer. Resolving customer service claims in an expedited fashion is invaluable to the overall satisfaction rate for a company.
Data analysis is the lifeblood of any organization. Keeping continuous eyes on fluctuations is a cumbersome task for anyone or a group of individuals. It’s likely that something will slip through the cracks. When RPA is leveraged to collect, input, monitor, and report on data across enterprise systems, you’re able to generate robust snapshots of system outputs. Automated monitoring can continuously check for anomalies and trigger alerts. Data entry can be hands-off with automated file sending. IoT logs and other system-generated data can be automatically pulled and uploaded with deduplication filters tasked to maintain data integrity.
Risk Management
With millions of data points being collected at any given time, maintaining a high success rate is crucial. RPA creates a near-perfect approach to risk management due to the removal of potential human error. It is natural for humans to become fatigued or carry inherent biases with any kind of work. With an RPA, they don’t have any of those shortcomings and vastly increases a successful output. No skipping necessary steps or tasks that are necessary to the workflow.
Another crucial component is compliance. Within the energy sector, there are various safety, privacy, and regulatory obligations that must be adhered to at all times. RPA can operate on a higher level when it comes to this compliance. The ability to update RPA code as industry requirements change, allows processes to continue seamlessly while adhering to this new compliance. There are no headaches or having to start from scratch.
Increased Data Accuracy
The energy sector is both vast and personal when it comes to how customers interact with energy. Our daily light switch flips and plugging into outlets seem mundane, but they are a small step in an overall expansive system. When questions about billing or meter reading accuracy arise, energy companies want to be confident in their reporting. Gone are the days when it is necessary for technicians to manually read meters on a property. Remote data collection through RPAs ensures quality data and allows for quicker resolution of any billing discrepancies.
How To Create A Successful RPA Deployment
The most common contributing factor to an RPA deployment failing is the lack of IT professionals involved from the onset. Implementation consultants with the proper expertise can assess and identify necessary business units that would actually need RPA. Rushing into an RPA implementation without clear design and operational change management will wreak havoc on the system and cause business disruption. The best way to achieve a successful RPA deployment and implementation involves:
- Delegating primary governance, changeset planning, and maintaining efficiency to the IT professionals, not the CIO or COO.
- Consider human impact on your RPA code. One global change can create errors downstream if the change isn’t accounted for within all bots.
- Identify and elect individuals focused on operational excellence and efficiency. This technology staff will scale the RPA accordingly.
How CSS Tec Can Help With RPA Success
It’s clear an IT professional is required for an enterprise system to achieve success with RPA. This is not something that should be left to end-users to navigate without the proper guidance of trained professionals. CSS Tec identifies, screens, and recommends only the top candidates for your open technology roles. With multi-level screenings and technical assessments, CSS Tec is dedicated to matching the right people with your team.