technology Demystifying automation technologies


New technologies such as robotic process automation and artificial intelligence offer potentially huge benefits to forward-looking business services companies. Automation expert Andrew Burgess, Noel Lyons, Barclays director of digital design, and relationship director Lee Atkinson explain some of the current thinking


An artificial intelligence system recently taught itself to play space invaders in a project run by Google-owned company Deep Mind. Its success was another landmark in the development of artificial intelligence (AI), which, along with robotic process automation (RPA), is delivering huge value to many companies.


RPA involves software robots that work across a company’s systems replicating the kind of repeatable, rules-based processes often carried out by humans.


Andrew Burgess, a strategy adviser and consultant in the areas of robotic automation and artificial intelligence, explains that new customers used to wait 24 hours or more to have their number switched by one mobile phone provider. Now it can be done online in 10 minutes, with a robot working in the background. And a major courier company cut the length of its claims process from six weeks to a few minutes by introducing RPA.


Burgess said that using a software robot can cost about a third of a traditional offshore business process outsourcing person. Compared with onshore outsourcing, the costs can be as low as one-ninth.


Self-learning systems


“While RPA is designed to replicate processes carried out by human hands, AI is all about the brain and has self- learning capabilities,” said Burgess.


Some of the main AI capabilities are currently image and voice recognition, search, and data analysis (or ‘clustering’) of data. So, while the robots need structured data, AI systems can process semi-structured or unstructured information ranging from images and voices to documents like invoices, which are rarely identical. AI systems can decipher natural language, employ reasoning and problem solving, and predict what will happen next.


The power of AI image recognition, for example, can be seen in the FindFace app, based on the huge library of images on VK.com, Russia’s Facebook equivalent on which profile pictures are mandatory. Using these pictures, it can identify the names of Russians with 70% accuracy simply by pointing a smartphone camera at them.


But there are far more serious applications of AI. One provider of insurance services to carriers uses AI to read insurance documents, which vary from company to company, while ‘magic circle’ law firms use the technology to read through contracts.


Burgess added: “PayPal is particularly good at using predictive data to identify fraudulent transactions. You might think that’s been going on for years, so that you might get a message from your credit card company saying ‘were you in Bolivia at this time and did you buy that’. PayPal has taken the technology a step further,


16 businessmag.co.uk


Lee Atkinson


so almost in real time they can identify fraudulent transactions. The industry standard success rate for this sort of fraud is 1.32% but PayPal has reduced it to 0.32%.”


A decade ago, one large investment bank, Goldman Sachs, had around 600 equity traders based in its New York office. Now it has just two, supported by 200 software engineers. And Virgin Trains has combined AI and automation systems so that if you email the company your message may be read by an AI system. All the information is gathered, validated and forwarded to the right person, or the right robot.


Reducing costs


The changes that RPA and AI have brought so far are just the tip of the iceberg and society will have to adapt as the pace of change increases. For example, there is the obvious impact on employment. Giant tech companies embracing these technologies now have vast market capitalisations with relatively few employees.


But before rushing to introduce this new technology it’s important for businesses to understand how it can help them. It may not be right for all tasks and, particularly in heavily regulated industries, it can present a risk.


Burgess believes that the key question for businesses shouldn’t be: how can we use RPA and AI in our business? It should be: what are our business objectives, and how can automation help to deliver them?


When Burgess works with a company he develops what he calls an ‘automation heat map’, by looking at the different technologies available and how they might apply to different areas of the business. With that he is able to look at the possible benefits offered by the technologies and the company’s priorities so it can develop a roadmap for the introduction of RPA and AI.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – JULY/AUGUST 2018


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