In my last blog I talked about how, Robotic Process Automation leads to changing job roles and the effect it would have on employees and employers.

Here, I take the opportunity to highlight the great multiplier effect a successful RPA implementation can have on customer experience.

A customer journey can be a simple set of tasks or a complex journey, involving:

1. Looking up of information
2. Filling information
3. Taking time to process forms
4. Handling those long holds on telephone

Whatever be the form of these journeys, all of us have had such poor experiences. This is where a successfully implemented RPA and related investments can enhance customer experience and eliminate common customer pain points.

How RPA transforms Customer Experience?

As an example let us consider the customer journey for Loan or mortgage origination and processing.

Traditionally processing of loans requires the customer to fill up many forms and submit required sets of documents. These would then be sent for processing, where someone would re-enter the details (with possible errors), then back-office managers will do checks (credit scores, property details, etc.) and send the application for approvals. Some of these tasks may be outsourced to 3^rd party vendors, which might lack proper control/ audit procedures. The overall process takes a few weeks, after which the customer gets a feedback on the status of his loan application.

When a robotic process automation software is implemented, the bot can take over the complete process – from uploading the scanned documents, verifying e-signatures, verification/checks and scores for automatic approval or rejection recommendations with complete audit trail.

RPA reduces the turn-around time to a few days (conditional approvals can be provided on quick screening) from weeks!

Customers can track their application stages and status online and are informed of process updates and the stages their application is flowing through. This not only creates a beneficial customer experience, but allows the Mortgage provider to invest these savings in front line / customer facing resources – which along with the robotic process automation software will drive up revenue as well as customer experience.

Metrics and continuous improvement

Organizations can set-up metrics to measure customer experience (number of complaints, changes, rework, etc) and work on a continuous improvement plan for customer experience journey. A comparative metrics between pre and post-RPA implementation will clearly bear out benefits of investment in RPA and help in understanding how investments in direct customer touchpoints will further improve customer experience.

Business process automation is not an end in itself to improvements in customer experience. A continuous improvement plan with improvements and maintenance of BOTS will further improve customer satisfaction. The BOTS need to be maintained and quality checked time to time, as every automated systems will encounter “exceptions”, due to change in processes or new data sets being introduced.

We at Nalashaa, help our customers implement the robotic process automation software, provide BOT support and maintenance. We help our customers enhance their end user experience and work on a continuous improvement plan to target customer delight.