We all understand the power of 3. We understand it from our earliest learnings – A, B, C and 1, 2, 3. We understand it from folklore – “Three leafed clovers” and “Third time lucky”. We understand it from history - “Blood, sweat, and tears” and “I came, I saw, I conquered.” We have harnessed this power in our RPA endeavours and developed 3 principles for RPA success.

We want our customers to realise the full promise of RPA and avoid the pitfalls and we believe our 3 principles offer essential guidance for all RPA projects, large and small. We have developed a 3-part series to share our insights, starting with Principle #1. This principle focuses on the need for strategic positioning and strategic thinking when it comes to RPA. We firmly believe if you want your RPA programs to optimise benefits, they must be strategic. Let’s understand this further. We will begin on the count of 3...

Success Principle #1:

Think strategically, automate wisely. Don’t focus solely on the perennial desire for quick wins. This principle is number 1 for a reason. It underpins all others. If you want a sure-footed RPA implementation, commence strategically. We believe this to be true for four reasons:

It is a mistake to choose processes for RPA automation based on their stand-alone benefit, particularly if relying solely on FTE savings. This may lead to a series of tactical and fragmented RPA ‘bandaids’ and will almost certainly fail to leverage full RPA potential. Conversely, it is just as problematic to ‘over-stretch’ and automate process that are a poor RPA-fit. This crucial balancing act requires not only strategic thinking but strategic backing from top levels of management. In our experience, more RPA implementations end in disappointment because the wrong processes are chosen than for any other reason.Before starting an RPA implementation, it is essential to perform a level of process review and re-engineering. At the very least, this means eliminating waste or non-value-added tasks and fully understanding process complexities such as source data limitations, business rule variability and exception levels. Without strategic endorsement, this review may never happen and your RPA journey will surely commence on shaky ground.Another reason for strategic endorsement relates to the technology itself. Because of its non-invasive nature, RPA quickly becomes the conduit or backbone in an organisation by which connections to other technology occur. This includes connectivity to legacy systems as well as newer automation technologies using artificial intelligence or machine learning. We are starting to see native RPA functionality expand as products move beyond basic rule-based processing into more cognitive areas such as dealing with unstructured data and more complex rule sets. RPA is fast becoming integral to businesses both technologically and strategically.The final reason why a strategic approach to RPA is recommended, is a financial one. For those implementations where productivity (or releasing FTE) is the main driver, the more processes and sub-processes performed by RPA the more RPA can spread its benefits. This presents three significant opportunities

the ability to liberate FTE that may work partially on multiple sub processes,the option to automate cyclical or seasonal processes that would not stack up on a stand-alone basis andthe potential to share base licencing costs across a broader selection of team or departments. As more processes are automated it is easier to optimally assign robots and because pricing structures normally price additional robots at a relatively low marginal cost, there is additional incentive. This all adds up to one more reason to think and plan strategically.

We continue our series of 3 RPA success principles by introducing Principle # 2. This is all about the criticality of business ownership and business leadership in RPA programs. We recognise the delicacy and diplomacy that may be necessary to achieve this but we also recognise the damage and disappointment from not doing it. We firmly believe if you want your RPA programs to have authenticity and momentum, they must be business owned.

To find out more about RPA, visit https://www.btpaustralia.com.au/robotic-process

The fast approaching April 1st annual premium review for Australian Health Insurance funds is a very busy time for providers. It drives peak volumes in terms of calls into contact centres, email and website enquiry and transactions as members switch in and out of funds looking for a better deal.

Traditionally this peak in activity has been catered for by putting on additional temporary staff, existing staff working longer hours or worse, inbound call wait times go through the roof and transaction processing times extending out to days or weeks.

These days forward thinking operations professionals are developing strategies which combine staff with new, robotic technology to deliver the required cost, quality and control outcomes. Now is the time to introduce a blended human and robotic workforce into your operation.

While it has been around for some time, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has matured both in terms of functionality and the market’s understanding of how to apply it to transaction processing. By implementing Robotic Process Automation, organisatons can leverage software robots to automate any business process. Your ‘bots’ are configurable software set up to perform the tasks you assign and control.

RPA is fast to implement, provides scalable transaction processing and the digital workforce is productive 100% of the day. ROI is realised in months, not years.

Now is the perfect time for Health Insurance providers to start implementing their digital workforce so as to be ready for next year’s premium review season. Let’s get those Bots working on the high volume, often form based processes like change of details, claim and rebate forms, email enquiries and more.

To find out more about RPA, visit https://www.btpaustralia.com.au/robotic-process

I was watching the Today show on Channel 9 on Monday and there was a story which related to the recent interview of Elon Musk where he warned that artificial intelligence is one of the biggest risks to face civilisation. To be honest, and armed with the Terminator movies as a point of reference, I’d be surprised if we got ourselves as a civilisation into that kind of predicament.

But it’s hard to argue with his comment that artificial intelligence (AI) will be better than the human brain by 2030 – 2040. AI has already been applied to specialised areas in health and today it’s a leading expert in the field of Oncology. What’s interesting is that for now, AI’s place in the world is largely as a decision support tool. So in the case of Oncology, AI provides clinicians with evidence-based treatment options with the human (for now) selecting which treatment option to pursue.

Given BTP’s focus on Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, we’re interested in what inroads AI is making into those industries. For example, we’ve heard a lot of chatter in the market about the use of AI by financial advisers as a point of differentiation, but often it’s talked about as something that will exist out in the future. The good news is that AI has already been applied to Wealth Management as a decision support tool and it is available as a semi-off-the-shelf solution right now.

Where this starts to get really interesting is when you combine a technology like AI with process and case management solutions and move towards the streamlining of processes like the Statement of Advice (SoA) annual review. Of course there’s much more on offer than that, but I’m sure those in wealth management would jump at the opportunity to streamline and make more effective the annual SoA review process.

If you haven’t seen an AI solution working in Wealth Management, give me a call as I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how advanced these solutions are.

BTP Australia is pleased to announce that it has been selected to assist an industry participant in the implementation of the New Payment Platform (NPP) program. As part of the engagement, BTP will assist in the process analysis, design and implementation of a solution which facilitates a range of elements of the program.

Mr Ian Dunn, Managing Director of BTP, said “we were selected for our capabilities in process analysis and design, in concert with our implementation skills and our powerful QA tools which assist and accelerate the speed and quality of the development lifecycle. This is a very exciting project which will transform the Australian banking system and we’re pleased that our proven expertise, tools and methods are being used to drive this project forward.”

To find out more about BTP, visit

We’ve spoken to a lot of organisations recently about some of the more challenging issues facing the loss adjusting and insurance industry. The demands of digital transformation being one of the stand-out issues.

Loss Adjusters are facing a slowing volume of business from their customers - the insurers. Two key reasons for this dwindling volume are that insurers are bringing the loss adjusting function back in-house and also changing how they process claims of $8,000 or less. With that size claim representing around 80% of the total, insurers are now either settling them as a cash payments to the policy holder, allocating structural claims directly to builders who, in-part, perform a loss adjusting role or handing remediation directly to a supplier (e.g. a carpet cleaner), bypassing loss adjusting as a discrete function.

While this has caused the traditional volume of work to diminish, there are opportunities available for loss adjusters to adapt to these changes and leverage them to their advantage. One of the greatest opportunities can be found in the adoption of new technologies and smarter processes. Mobile enabled loss assessment applications allow the onsite loss adjuster to report back real time from the loss event, and in the case of a catastrophe, it enables the coordination of many loss adjusters in the field, all providing digital images or video of the overall scene and verification and quantification of loss quickly and efficiently.

In the event of a natural disaster, claims tend to be in excess of $8,000, they are generally more complex and require a skilled loss adjuster to quickly and accurately quantify the loss. Catastrophes also represent a spike in claim volume and most insurers simply do not have the man power to cope.

This is when a professional loss adjuster with mobile loss assessment technology can step in to save the day. The combination of technology, loss assessment skills and experience enables professional loss adjusters to provide a fast, efficient and accurate service to the insurance companies. Of course, this premium service is valued by the insurance companies who, when dealing with a natural disaster generated portfolio of claims, are rightly focussed on maximising the customer experience out to the effected policy holders.

BTP’s Virtuoso suite has been proven in the field and users are reporting increases in productivity of up to 57% while reducing the overall claim processing lifecycle by up to 45%. So, while loss adjusters may no longer see the volume of work coming from insurance companies that they once did, there’s the opportunity to combine smarter processes, technology and their unique skill set to continue to make their services relevant and attractive to the insurance companies.

Now don’t get me wrong, we really do believe that robotic process automation (RPA) is as good as the hype makes it out to be. Yes, RPA is relatively fast to deploy, robots work 24 hours a day, you should see increases in productivity and a reduction in error rates when it’s implemented properly.

The problem with RPA is the hype that’s used to sell it. Here’s what some vendors are saying: “Your employees will use visual tools to graphically capture and automate repetitive activities on our designer screen (without a hint of coding)” and “RPA that’s so easy, every employee can use it – for any process, anywhere in the business.” If you buy any RPA product believing that it is really that simple to implement, let me now reset your expectations and dispel some myths. For those who have already started their RPA adventure, I’m sure the following won’t be news to you.

Your employees will use visual tools to … automate repetitive activities (without a hint of coding)…

Close your eyes and imagine your current operations staff happily training their robots by clicking the RPA software’s ‘record’ button or by drawing a flowchart of the process, then simply clicking into all the usual applications they use to carry out a process, entering data and writing emails. Their robot watches on, ever willing to learn, paying close attention as to which passwords to use to access each application, where to enter data and the like. And it’s all been set-up without anyone from IT getting involved. It’s a process automation and software deployment utopia, right?

Unfortunately, no it isn’t. The desktop is a dangerous place for robots, with screen elements being created differently (eg HTML versus java), window response times varying or lag requiring retries to be built in, menu items in browser based applications can be hidden by drop-down menus – the list is long.. That’s not to say that these issues can’t be overcome because they can. But at a minimum it takes a very technical business analyst or a coder to identify the problem and configure a solution which works reliably.

For any process, anywhere in the business…

I guess technically it can be used for any process, but there’s no ROI to be had from applying it to low volume or overly complex processes. RPA’s value comes from its ability to be rapidly deployed across high volume, relatively simple processes. Or where a process is more complex, requiring some sort of subjective intervention, a human can review a packet of work (eg approve an insurance claim) and then pass it off to a robot to complete the simpler part of the overall process.

I think the implication that RPA can be implemented with little to no involvement from BPM and IT professionals is a serious issue faced when implementing RPA. Let’s face it, from the business’s point of view, BPM and IT people slow projects down by wanting to review the quality and compliance of software installs, they want to test and document everything. That adds time and cost to a project. Yet now we’re seeing real life RPA projects where there are no coding standards in place to ensure quality and to minimize ongoing maintenance costs. Serious compliance issues are arising from issues like robot’s passwords to log into line of business systems being visible to passers-by and robots changing customers’ personal data without rigorous testing having taken place.

Ultimately RPA may change the world, but as with any disruptive technology there are mistakes being made by the early adopters. The serious mistakes can be avoided by sticking to the tried and tested BPM and IT software configuration/coding and deployment procedures. Don’t believe that Jack or Jane in the change of address processing team can train a robot without help from experienced technical staff and BPM professionals.

The end of the year can be a great time to start some big picture thinking about where your organisation needs to head in 2017. In light of that, I have a question to pose. How is your organisation harnessing the opportunities offered by mobile technologies to digitally transform your processes and the customer experience?

If you have your internal or outsourced loss adjusters out in the field armed with apps on tablet devices, streaming data in real time from the location of the claim back to the claims management system, you have made a step in the right direction. However, if they are, and they’re dealing with small claims, there may be an even better way…

A recent survey by Accenture of 8,000 auto and home insurance customers in the US found that 61% say that “they would prefer to use digital channels to check the status of their claims.” 53% say “they would not recommend their insurers to others if they can’t interact digitally with them.”

So the evidence is in that customers are increasingly comfortable receiving claim status updates by sms or email. The question remains however, armed with their mobile phone or tablet, are they willing and able to play a part in the initial stages of the claims process? Could they could take on the role of the field loss adjuster for small, simple claims?

Picture a storm related claim as an example. Your customers can be enabled via a mobile based app to initiate the claim, auto-populating location, weather, time of the event and their policy details. Utilising on screen instructions in the app they can photograph the relevant parts of the property which have been damaged. Within minutes the claim data can be in the claims management system for processing and further assessment initiated if deemed necessary, or subject to claim history and other automated checks it could be settled without further human intervention.

This approach to the small claims initiation process effectively turns each customer into a motivated and willing field loss adjuster, it shortens the claim cycle and reduces the cost of processing per claim. During natural disaster events, when demand for field loss adjusters is at its highest, customers armed with a mobile device and an app represent a near elastic supply of small loss adjusting capacity.

This kind of solution offers a win-win for both the insurance company and the customer. And while it may at first appear that this isn’t a good outcome for loss adjusters, at the end of the day many insurance companies are already processing small claims without their involvement.

Indeed there are already insurance companies like AAMI who have put similar functionality into the hands of their customers via a mobile based app.

Digital Transformation is pushing businesses to look beyond operational efficiency and to start to consider how internal processes support and enhance the Customer Experience. Increasing competition, the need to retain customers, and the amplification of individual customer experiences provided by social media demands a new, more holistic approach to BPM that is both inward and outward looking. The traditional drive for operation cost reduction now needs to be balanced with the need to support the individual consumer as they travel from prospect to long-term customer. Post-sales activities need to be targeted and support next-best-offer, and to provide feedback mechanisms so the customer experience can be continually improved, to allow the identification and elimination of waste and risk. More than ever customers can provide near real-time feedback on what does and doesn’t work when dealing with a business, and organisations need to develop a culture which embraces and incorporates that feedback as process improvement. Processes themselves should be designed to capture individual customer behaviour whenever they interact with the business and allow management to predictively manage and maximise the individual customer’s experience based on that data. BPM’s role in Digital Transformation is to simultaneously map Customer Journey and process efficiency, and design a single process architecture which maximises value for both the business and the end customer. While BTP has been helping clients meet the challenges of Digital Transformation for a number of years via BPM consulting and industry solutions, we’ve recently decided to reposition our brand to better communicate that to the market place. As we roll out our rebranding you’ll notice that our new logo features two coloured arrowheads which point to the North East, for it’s the North East of any graph or chart where innovation, full functionality, best value and the like are positioned. It’s the best position to be in when the likes of Gartner or Forrester compare solutions and that’s what BTP seeks to deliver – the place where innovation and digital enablement meet to provide maximum business benefit and superior customer experience. Our new tagline gets straight to the point: BTP - Delivering Digital Transformation. A new elevator pitch expands on that promise: BTP provides BPM consulting and solutions which transform traditional business activities, processes, competencies and models to fully leverage the business improvement opportunities enabled by digital technologies. That’s the essence of BTP, and as many of you will know, rebranding presents an opportunity to reassess and refocus on what’s important for our clients’ businesses and our own business. We hope you can join us on the journey to the North East.

BTP today commenced the Discovery and Design phase for the initial stages of a large BPM deployment. The initial stage will involve stakeholder engagement, process design for a procurement solution based on the IBM BPM platform. This project is the commencement of a large program spanning the entire agency to leverage BPM, rules management and mobility to drive productivity, transparency and efficiency across this large agency.

BTP has been engaged to provide process design and technical consulting services for a large claims automation project spanning automotive and property claims operations. BTP has been engaged to provide process design, technical & solution architecture and BPM development. The project will leverage the Brazos UI toolkit. Phase 1 is expected to go-live July 2016. BTP was chosen because of our depth of expertise with the IBM BPM platform, and our expertise using BPM in the insurance and claims space.

BTP today confirms the award of agreement for the Brazos Portal the one of the largest IBM BPM sites in Australia. The Brazos portal provides significant advances on the how knowledge workers can access their workloads over and above the traditional portal mechanisms for out of the box BPM platforms. The justification behind the selection of the Brazos Portal was the significant cost savings against the alternatives for redeveloping a customer portal and the ability to separate portal from the underlying BPM engine.