Hylant is actively implementing robotic process automation (RPA) enterprise-wide. RPA is software that can be programmed to perform repetitive tasks across various applications, with little to no human interaction. In this article, Erik Bates and Pam Tanner answer common questions about the implementation process, and share insight on myths and benefits of the technology.
ACN: Why did you consider RPA for your agency?
Hylant: Currently, we are outsourcing our renewal certificates and evidence of insurance renewal process for our small business unit. The use of RPA has allowed us to bring this process back in-house and give additional items to our outsourcing team to handle. RPA has also allowed us to implement processes where we didn’t have the capacity for our teams to take on the additional work.
ACN: What types of items can RPA handle?
Hylant: RPA can handle items that are high-volume, repetitive tasks with low exceptions. Hylant’s first bot was built to renew certificates of liability insurance and evidence of property forms in Epic. We were able to build in a few key items such as identifying a policy as surplus lines and pulling the correct signature. We are currently building a bot to send out late pay notices via email at 10, 30, 60 and 90 days past the due date. This is something we’ve been wanting to do but did not have the capacity to get it done. We are also looking into building a bot that can complete the following tasks:
- Creating direct-bill automated clearing house (ACH) electronic transfer of funds receipts.
- Retrieving documents from carrier websites.
- Sending email notifications when documents are posted to the CSR24 portal.
- Tracking client vendor certificates.
- Updating policy number formatting for download based on carrier requirements.
ACN: How did you decide on where to start with RPA?
Hylant: Our initial focus was based on answering a few questions such as:
- What processes are repetitive, high in volume and have a low-exception rate?
- Is there a consistent workflow or standard operating procedure in place?
- What are the savings in time, cost and full time employees (FTEs)?
- Is there a commitment from the business to support the process for discovery, testing, implementation and ongoing support?
Once these questions were answered, we were able to determine how to move forward. Below is an outline of the timeline of the deployment of the bot.
- A few weeks were spent on discovery to determine the business needs and standard operating procedure (SOP)
- This was followed by development and weekly calls with the business to answer any questions.
- Next there was extensive testing in our testing database. This was a critical part of the process as we identified a few situations that were not addressed in the initial development.
- Once the bot was ready to be deployed in production, an email was sent to the service team. As expected, they had some questions and concerns, which we were able to address.
- Finally, the bot was deployed in production and is monitored on a regular basis.
ACN: What are the benefits of implementing RPA?
Hylant: Here are some benefits of RPA:
- Eliminates tedious and time-consuming tasks.
- Creates time to focus on strategic and meaningful work.
- Creates more time for professional development.
- Eliminates human error and improves data consistency.
- Increases the agency’s bottom line.
ACN: What were some of the myths about RPA?
Hylant: Below are myths as well as correct answers:
RPA replaces people.
No, it elevates our people by eliminating time-consuming tasks that no one likes to do.
Processes are too complex for RPA.
No, there are plenty of tasks where the same steps are repeated.
RPA can’t work with multifactor authentication (MFA).
No, RPA can be designated to accommodate MFA.
ACN: How else can we incorporate RPA?
Hylant: As we created the RPA for renewal certificates and evidence of insurance, we discovered some inefficiencies in our current process. Implementing RPA has allowed us the ability to correct these items and ensure data accuracy. We are currently working on other areas to incorporate RPA into our processes such as posting receipts for direct bill payments and correcting policy numbers in Epic for download.
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Erik Bates is the RPA development leader of systems at Hylant.
Pam Tanner is the AMS optimization leader of systems at Hylant.