Savings and Gains
CFOs at multinational companies around the world will always be focused on saving money and introducing productivity gains where possible. They have a mandate from the board to maintain financial prudence and stability at a company, but they also have a wider mandate to seek out efficiencies and improvements to productivity that bring a new level of competitiveness to the company.
An obvious place to look for productivity gains and cost savings will be in the technology sector and any good CFO will go to great lengths to make sure that they are fully aware of what is happening in terms of technological advancements within the industry they're operating in. It may be a case of balancing a technology investment against future financial and productivity gains, but this is all part and parcel of the decision-making process faced by CFOs on a regular basis.
In this article, we will look at robotic process automation, what it is and how it is having a positive influence across several business-critical functions in multinational companies today.
What is Robotic Process Automation?
Robotic process automation is a form of machine learning that was created to introduce innovation and efficiencies across processes within business units that had a tendency to rely on manual work. The goal of RPA is to create a process whereby machines are capable of copying and duplicating the actions of individuals when it comes to repeat tasks or processes.
Effective RPA allows business functions to improve operations and processes while significantly reducing costs. In the long term, many business units are looking to RPA as an alternative to business process outsourcing and system replacement initiatives. When used with multiple other technologies like AI and Machine Learning, it can be a form of hyper-automation that can dramatically improve a business process.
RPA can automate several repetitive processes such as the entering, checking, and validating of a range of data like financial data, global payroll inputs or compliance checks. Any rules-based process that involves manual inputs or some form of repetition can benefit from robotic process automation technology. It is essentially a computer software program designed to replicate an individual's actions on a keyboard or interaction with other software.
This can have a genuinely transformative effect in a business function that relies heavily on data inputs from something like manual spreadsheets- RPA could take over processing duties and bulk upload these data inputs in high volume numbers at speeds much faster than an individual could do it. It is not hard to see why this is likely to be a genuine game changer and something that would seriously interest an ambitious CFO.
Highly Scalable
A key feature of robotic process automation is that it is highly scalable and the deployment of it can increase where necessary to support ambitious scaling activities at a multinational company. This is one of the reasons why it appeals so much to a CFO, quite a lot of productivity gains can be realized right now but so much more can be done in the future as the technology advances. A CFO will always be thinking long term and they will continue to follow all technology news related to developments with RPA. These developments are likely to show that RPA is capable of adapting to changing business environments- CFOs know only too well that the only constant is change and any technology that adapts to and aligns to changing environments will always be considered valuable. The fact that RPA tends not to involve much disruption to underlying systems and processes is another bonus that makes it very attractive to any CFO looking for quick wins when it comes to cost savings and productivity gains.
ROI returns can be quick
CFO investment decisions will understandably be judged on return on investment- there needs to be a financial gain that proves the decision was both prudent and visionary- this is the sweet spot that all CFOs are attempting to get into with their decision making. Should an RPA solution be implemented quickly in a department where high volume and rules driven processing takes place , there is a very good chance that the financial benefits of an RPA solution will be in evidence in a relatively short period of time.
This is the ideal outcome for a CFO looking to make an early impression- documented evidence of strong financial gains and return on investment as well as an implemented process that will continue to reap financial and productivity gains in the future.
Digital Transformation
Digital enablers can really fast track digital transformation projects so a CFO will always be thinking that the next wise investment may be some of the more recognized digital enablers out there such as RPA. It represents the ideal opportunity to leverage an intelligent technology and upgrade a business function that has previously relied on legacy technology, manual labor our dated processes. The global payroll department is a good example because some people still perceive it as a back-office function and not a natural fit for innovative technology.
The reality is rather different, it is in fact a perfect fit for innovative technology like robotic process automation because the technology was designed to enhance any function that has a reliance on manual inputs or repeatable processes. RPA takes over these processes with machine learning and high-volume data bulk uploads. This serves to create more time in the monthly global payroll cycles, allowing global payroll professionals to focus on other priorities like analytics and reporting.
Opportunities for human error are eliminated, the process is streamlined across several countries and monthly payrun turn-around times are much faster. ROI returns can be seen very quickly with both cost savings and employee productivity gains. In this scenario, global payroll processing will never return to the old way of doing things and RPA will play a major role in the input, calculation and validation of payroll data.
It’s the future
CFOs are very likely to consider RPA to be a worthwhile investment as all the research and market information points to it being the future of digital transformation. It will not be long before every major multinational will be looking at the ways in which RPA can transform a range of business functions within their organization.
Any processes that are manual and sluggish and feel as though they belong in a different decade can benefit very quickly from RPA and a CFO looking to create a legacy may seek to implement it in as many areas as possible. It makes business and financial sense and the technology can be harnessed to create a competitive edge. ROI and reduced processing costs are likely to be to be in evidence within 12 months.
RPA also helps with compliance, an area which needs consistency above all else - the simple reality is that robots never get tired and never make mistakes- so this consistency is built in right from the start. It really starts to become a question of whether a modern and innovative CFO can afford not to make RPA their next major investment.
Payslip and RPA
The Payslip platform deploys RPA as part of the process when it comes to gathering, entering and validating global payroll data across multiple countries. HCM inputs and GTN data is absorbed into the Payslip platform in an automated fashion and many of our clients can show us statistics where we have reduced manual workloads by up to 60%.
This has resulted in very significant cost savings and productivity gains for these clients who are now delivering global payroll to all their payroll countries in a more streamlined and efficient way thanks to the RPA features available on our platform.
Platform integration with Payslip can happen a lot quicker than you might think and our experienced team are on hand to assist you with any questions you might have -talk to us today about how about how RPA can dramatically improve global payroll delivery at your organization.