Top 10 RPA Case Studies

Despite the number of articles written about robotic process automation (RPA) these days, many companies still struggle to understand how it might realistically improve their own processes. That’s where case studies come in handy. They make it easier to see how an RPA solution might work for your business by showing how companies just like yours have solved similar dilemmas.

That’s why we’ve pulled together this short list of robotic process automation case studies based on the work we’ve done at Nividous. Whatever industry you’re in or process you’d like to improve, there’s likely a related RPA case study below. If one of these strikes a chord with you (or you have an entirely different idea), get in touch!

RPA Case Studies: Manufacturing

1. The process: Invoice processing for external vendors

The problem: A leading manufacturer was struggling to process hundreds of invoices from multiple vendors each month. The format of these scanned/digital invoices significantly varied among the vendors; more than four full-time employees were manually transcribing data from these invoices into SAP, which considerably delayed the processing. The end-to-end process was further delayed due to several hierarchical approvals.

The solution: Nividous Smart Bots were deployed to automate time-intensive and manual operations involved in processing invoices. The Smart Bots read and understand data from several types of semi-structured and unstructured scanned and image-based documents, present the extracted data to users via an intuitive interface, and feed them into SAP. This solution significantly expedited invoice approvals and can be easily scaled up to manage an increasing number of invoices.

2. The processes: Back-office operations

The problem: A high-tech manufacturer facing fierce competition needed to accelerate time-to-market, but its highly skilled employees were spending a considerable amount of time performing manual processes across multiple systems. Job requisitions, purchase orders, contract compliance, invoice reconciliations, and customer requests were all incredibly time consuming processes that involved multiple unintegrated systems. Redundant verifications further amplified the problem and negatively impacted the success of product launches.

The solution: To solve the numerous back-office operations issues, the manufacturer automated more than 20 business processes over time via the Nividous platform. RPA Bots were deployed within 10 days to automate the job requisition process, enabling annual savings of more than $90,000. Invoice reconciliation and shipment tracking processes were also automated. As a result of these measures, the manufacturer realized a 40% reduction in total operating costs.

RPA Case Studies: Banking

3. The process: Daily closure for letters of credit

The problem: A fast-growing bank was heavily dependent on manual labor for processes related to issuing, managing, and closing letters of credit. Each day, users engaged in the time-consuming task of manually identifying the records expiring that day for processing closures. They were required to complete different logic and rules-based inquiries for each record on the core banking system and determine if the closure could be executed; exceptions required a different set of rules.

The solution: The Nividous platform automated the daily closure process for letters of credit to provide a frictionless trade finance experience. An RPA Bot now logs into the core banking system to identify the records expiring that day and transcribes that information into an Excel file. The Bot is trained to run rules-based inquiries for each record on the core system to determine if the closure needs to be processed. It also handles the exceptions using specific rules and updates the status in the Excel file. The Bot then completes the closure process based on pre-defined logic and conditions, updates the status in the Excel file, and notifies users via email.

4. The process: Loan disbursement

The problem: A growing bank faced problems with its business loan process, primarily due to internet connectivity issues among remote staff. Those branches experiencing internet problems had longer turnaround times and difficulty with document collection and approvals. In addition, the entire loan disbursement process was being conducted manually, leading to errors and further delays and negatively impacting the customer experience.

The solution: The Nividous team worked alongside the bank’s business and IT departments to create and implement a centralized automated business process management system for loan disbursement. It was built into the bank’s existing IBM business process management system. The team also integrated an interface for handheld devices (mobile and tablet) for remote bank staff to capture customer data and essential documents offline and synchronize it later with a centralized server. These efforts led to a 78% reduction in turnaround time for loan processing—and a 20% increase in business.

RPA Case Studies: Healthcare

5. The processes: Patient data extraction, patient data review, patient claim submission

The problem: A specialty healthcare management company wanted to improve its patient experience by streamlining its back office operations. Patient data lived on disconnected systems, and documents received by fax or scan were highly unstructured, unclear, and sometimes illegible. More than 10 employees were required to manually extract and review patients’ data. This process was highly prone to errors and delayed claims processing and payments.

The solution: Within two weeks, Nividous developed and deployed RPA Bots with cognitive capabilities to automate the data extraction, data review, and claim submission tasks, streamlining the entire process from beginning to end. The company was able to reduce the handling time of its claim submission process by 70%.

6. The process: Claims processing

The problem: An eyecare practice experiencing rapid growth was struggling to manage various islands of information systems. Daily manual processes, including eligibility checks for patients coming through scheduled appointments and claims management across 40+ insurers, were demanding significant involvement from skilled employees, taking nearly 30% of their day. The time-consuming processes caused unnecessary delays and cash flow issues. There was also a high risk of missing out on revenue due to inaccurate insurance information.

The solution: The Nividous platform automated a series of cross-functional operations involving doctors and administrative staff. As a result, highly skilled staff members now save more than 37,000 hours annually on claims processing, and the claim-to-cash time period has been reduced by nine days.

7. The process: Medical coding and billing

The problem: A healthcare group providing medical services to patients in long-term and assisted living facilities wanted to speed up its coding and billing processes to ensure faster and more accurate Medicare payments. Its old process required dedicated skilled coders to manually analyze clinical documentation (charts and notes) and determine the codes relevant to a specific case. With more than 70,000 codes in different categories, the process of generating invoices was highly tedious and time consuming; it was also prone to error, resulting in rejected claims.

The solution: AI-powered RPA Bots are now deployed to code thousands of charts on a weekly basis with ease and efficiency. The Bots with native machine learning capabilities understand and analyze each patient’s documentation to create billing codes that are then used to create proper invoices. This automation has reduced manual work by 95%, improved coding accuracy by 90%, and sped up processing turnaround time by 85%.

8. The process: Patient appointment scheduling

The problem: A leading eyecare group undergoing an aggressive expansion phase was struggling to meet customer support expectations. A call center was the key channel for appointment booking, and recent growth demanded a significant increase in agent headcounts. Unfortunately, the inflexible system used by the call center did not provide the necessary APIs for third-party system integration, limiting the group’s ability to provide customer service through any other channel.

The solution: Voice and chat-enabled RPA Bots were created and deployed to serve patients in appointment scheduling. Patients can now interact through a voice or chat Bot—accessed via Google Assistant or the group’s website—to locate the nearest store, locate the status of an order, and quickly make or change appointments. Now, 50% of appointments are made via chat Bot, and 35% fewer full-time employees are needed to handle these types of requests.

RPA Case Study: Insurance

9. The process: Premium calculations

The problem: An insurance company’s sales process for its Liability Insurance Portfolio involved hours of complex, Excel-based premium calculations. Initially, they were using a web form to collect information and emailing that information to a staff member, who then created a customized quote. The time commitment required for these calculations prevented precise and rapid customer service and resulted in lower conversion rates.

The solution: RPA Bots simplified this complex manual premium calculation process by automating the company’s dynamic pricing model, creating custom quotes within seconds. This quick turnaround time allowed them to offer quotes directly to end customers in addition to going through their normal channel of partners/brokers. This opened up a new path to revenue for them that did not exist before.

RPA Case Study: Telecommunications

10. The process: Procure-to-pay process for vendors

The problem: A telecommunications company wanted to improve its processes for site procurement and vendor payment, which were highly manual, time-intensive, and error-prone. Users had to manually generate and update various information related to site allotment, purchase orders, job status updates, progress reports, and invoicing. SAP lacked a standardized format to store such data, and both internal users and external parties had to navigate through multiple discrete systems to access information.

The solution: Nividous standardized the end-to-end process within the SAP system to enable enhanced process visibility. Further, RPA Bots were deployed to automatically perform Outlook, Excel, and web processes, reducing the average process handling time by 35%. Suppliers also gained better visibility into order and payment statuses thanks to the new process.

Take the first step toward automation at your company. See the intelligent automation platform that made all these robotic process automation case studies possible.