This is our last in the series of three blogs on Hyperautomation. In our first blog, we covered the challenges faced by the industry in current business processes; what is Hyperautomation, and the need for the same. In the second blog, we focussed on – How to Hyperautomate and Hyperautomation in taxation. Picking up from where we left our second blog, this third and last blog focuses on implementing Hyperautomation in business functions and its future prospects.
Hyperautomation In Different Business Functions
Hyperautomation can be implemented in various business functions. It aims at attaining the following:
- Re-engineering of processes to remove non-value-add or duplicate steps;
- Develop and deploy independent modules so that there is least inter-dependency;
- Use ready tools wherever possible;
- Provide quicker results.
While Hyperautomating, the following factors are relevant to be analysed:
- Recognise the end-use of data eg. GST compliances, reconciliations, etc.
- Understand the current system in place eg. S/4 HANA, Tax returns, etc.
- Discover the best methodology for implementation. This includes identifying the approach which would suit individual business needs eg. data warehouse and RPA, individual approach, etc.
How Can Hyperautomation Help In A Typical Business Function?
Every organisation has various business functions. However, certain functions are always present in an organisation such as:
- Finance and Accounting
- Sales and marketing
- Human Resources
- Legal
- In the accounts payable department, which mostly involves receipt of invoices and releasing of payments, Hyperautomation can help in document extraction through Optical Character Recognition (OCR), verification of invoices, the automated release of payments on completion of credit period which can be done by RPA depending on the correctness of invoice. This would reduce the manual errors committed, time taken by humans to process invoices and can significantly shorten the pay-out time to creditors.
- Similarly, Hyperautomation in the accounts receivable department can extract the invoice details from invoices raised, send automated pre-defined reminders to debtors on completion of credit period, and compute interest and process debit notes in case of delayed payments, knock off entries once payments are received in banks and carry out reconciliations.
- Hyperautomation is a blessing when it comes to data management across various functions but especially in Legal and Human Resources. With the help of machine learning and OCR, data extraction, validation, and enrichment can be carried out. This also includes conversion of data in the desired format, generating standard documents, etc.
- In case of tax compliances, Hyperautomation can extract data, do data validations, file returns, make tax payments, conduct reconciliations, identify any variations, etc. This shall significantly reduce the time that tax teams spend on compliances.
- For the sales and marketing team, Hyperautomation can help in multiple ways, in setting up a new prospects pipeline, identifying key decision-makers in the process, automating the marketing and sales CRM. Handling leads can then be approached by the software through automated emails and SMS and later be represented by company reps.
- Similar to the above, there are numerous possibilities where Hyperautomation can be used and benefitted from. Every industry/ sector has specific activities that can also be hyperautomated. For instance, banking may have loan underwriting, customer onboarding, credit rating, etc. insurance may have redaction, claims handling, background verification, etc. Therefore, the possibilities are endless.
Future Of Hyperautomation
Well, the future of automation is Hyperautomation and the future of Hyperautomation is bright. As discussed in our previous blog, Hyperautomation creates a Digital Twin of the Organisation (DTO). A DTO is a virtual twin of an organisation where any technology can be safely tested before actually implementing it. Endless what-if scenarios can be tested on the DTO to reach a beneficial solution. This is unprecedented and was considered less popular at beginning of this year. However, the outbreak of Covid-19 changed perspectives massively. The fall of economic conditions, business environments have forced the organisations to look at automation with a gleam of opportunity. Hyperautomation, if used in the right sense could prove to be a godsend. It can increase productivity and efficiencies, reduce operating costs in these turbulent times. As per a Mckinsey report, automation could raise the productivity rate globally by 0.8% to 1.4% annually.
Though Hyperautomation can be said to be at a nascent stage, its future looks promising. The road to Hyperautomation requires well thought out planning and execution. The selection of tools and technologies being the most vital step. However, the actual push would come when organisations start implementing Hyperautomation and experience the benefits derived from it. Once even a handful of large organisations start using Hyperautomation, it shall create a snowball effect making other organisations adopt it too.
Another important aspect to be kept in mind is that just like any other technology revolution, Hyperautomation does not aim at reducing the human workforce. It would require collaboration between man and machine to make it as successful as desired. Humans will still be the key decision-makers; only the repetitive and mundane tasks with simple decision making would be delegated to machines.
The future looks hopeful; nonetheless, the challenges persist. To harness the full benefits of Hyperautomation, organisations should choose their technology partners carefully. Cygnet has a bouquet of tools and technologies to select from such as E-invoice status, SAP automation, Form 15CA/CB-Bulk XML generation, E-signing, Invoice printing, processing of invoice data to send e-mails, and many more couple with the expertise to implement the same as a part of Hyperautomation. Get in touch now to commence your journey of Hyperautomation – the technology of the next decade!
To know more about our previous blogs on Hyperautomation – Concepts & Challenges Resolved Post COVID-19 and Role In Taxation With Different Technologies click here.
