Why You Should Only Robotize Standard Processes

This article is co-written by Mark Smith and Anders Liu-Lindberg

When it comes to Robotics Process Automation (RPA) one thing is for sure. The robot will do what you tell it do. That means it can do a lot for you fast and it can also do a lot of wrong things for you fast if your processes don’t work. The truth is that in many processes there are broken links and manual workarounds. These broken processes typically prevent companies from automating the end-to-end (e2e) processes and leave them with robots handling parts of the processes. While that may still yield some efficiencies it’s a far cry from the real potential. That’s why in this second article in our RPA mini-series we look at the one thing you must do before starting with RPA: Standardizing! 

Without standardization there can be no RPA success 

The benefits of standardization are likely clear to you even without talking RPA. When it comes to RPA though the weaknesses in your process landscape will quickly become obvious to everyone.  

Let’s look at an example; 

Cash Pool Reporting – the logic and theory behind a company cash pool is easy to understand but the accounting and correct reporting of the balances in ERP systems across the business can prove complex.  

Also, due to the heavy transactional nature of the daily movements of the cash pool in your ERP system it’s a perfect fit for RPA. But if your business units do not follow a standard process for cash pool reporting then you not only run the risk of issues in your reporting, but any attempt to use robots will fail at the first hurdle. 

To prevent you from ending up in this mess here’s what we suggest you do to be successful with your RPA implementation using Accounting to Reporting (AtR) as an example. 

• Standardize before RPA – there is a lot of buzz around RPA now, but it can’t be successfully applied without standardizing processes, especially within AtR. There will be a lot of frustration with your employees if you try to use robots on processes that differ from country to country (team to team). It will ultimately fail.
• Leads to process improvement – by standardizing processes within AtR – so the robots can work with them - you may find you make some surprising efficiency gains. For example, by taking a best in class process for intercompany recharges and applying it to all countries within your AtR department you will probably save time before a robot has even been switched on.
• Employee motivation – believe it or not, your staff will be motivated by standardization of processes and this can lead to more efficiency within your department. A motivated employee is a happy and productive employee!
• Supports the long-term vision – standard processes give your customers confidence that more activities can be performed by your team. Moreover, if you are working within a regional finance hub it makes transitioning of more tasks and taking a bigger piece of the finance value chain easier!
• Removes one-person dependency – standard processes also mean you have less risk when your accountants leave their role. It makes it much easier for the new accountant to continue where the old left off.  

The benefits of standardization even beyond RPA is clear and it should be one of the key enablers for freeing up time in finance function that’s always too busy with internal stuff to serve the business’s needs. RPA can provide the boost needed to finally get this done. 

Where are you with RPA at this moment? 

Many companies have already tried to install their first few robots but typically it’s in sub-processes rather than e2e processes hence they’re hesitant to do more RPA. That should also be obvious given they probably didn’t look at their process landscape before implementing RPA and used the excuse of non-standard processes for not covering the e2e process. Is that also what you’re experiencing in your company or have you already had some early successes with RPA covering an e2e process? Share your example for others to learn so don’t hesitate to reach out! 

This is the second article in a mini-series about RPA and next week we’ll tackle the topic of the human element in RPA and how the robots and humans need to work together for delivering the optimal result. Read previous articles in the series below.

How To Make Robots A Part Of The Finance Family?

You can read previous articles about robotics and other stories about finance transformation below.

Blip. Blop. Accounting Robot. Are You Ready?

Are You Ready For Robotics Process Automation?

Have You Met Your Robot Accountant Yet?

Robots Are The Future Of Analytics

Your Robot Accountant Has A Name, It's Dixie

What Defines A Finance Master?

The CFOs Roadmap To Transforming Finance

How Finance People Can Be More Successful

The New Career Path For Finance Professionals

I also encourage you to take a tour of my past articles on finance transformation, finance business partnering and not least “Introducing The Finance Transformation Nine Box” which is really the starting point for the transformation. You should join our Finance Business Partner Forum which is part of the Business Partnering Institute's online community where we will continue to discuss this topic and you can click here to follow me on Twitter.

Anders Liu-Lindberg is a Senior Finance Business Partner at Maersk supporting our largest product and I have more than 10 years of experience working with Finance at Maersk both in Denmark and abroad. I am also the co-founder of the Business Partnering Institute and owner of the largest group dedicated to Finance Business Partnering on LinkedIn with close to 7,000 members. My main goal at Maersk is to show how to be successful with business partnering and drive value creation as a trusted partner. I am the co-author of the book “Create Value as a Finance Business Partner” and a long-time Finance Blogger with 26.000+ followers.