Implementing Intelligent Automation Into Your Workplace

FAQs For All Departments

At Centelli, we’re on a mission to help everyone win their time back at work by getting you started with Digital Workers. If you’re planning on implementing Intelligent Automation into your workplace now or in the future, you’re going to want to read this one-stop shop of Intelligent Automation FAQs For All Departments.

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FAQs for CIOs & IT Directors

Q: Won’t Centelli’s work disrupt our existing systems and processes?

A: At Centelli, we mirror your processes 100% without changing anything. Our Digital Workers work seamlessly with your existing software and hardware without affecting your IT setup.

Q: Is it secure to have a Digital Worker?

A: Absolutely! A Digital Worker is just as secure as a human worker and then some. They access the same login and security credential requirements. For some of the processes handed over to a Digital Worker, the customer’s Information Security team have deemed it more secure because no human ever sees the sensitive information. Also, the data always stays within your network and complies with policies/standards that you set out, just like it would be for a human worker.

Q: What extra demands will this have on me and my IT team?

A: The main difference from an IT perspective between a Digital Worker and a Human Worker is that a Digital Worker does not need a physical device like a laptop – after all, it doesn’t have legs or hands that can be used to take a laptop home! So, a digital worker needs a Virtual Laptop (a.k.a. Virtual Machine / VM) instead of a laptop. Beyond that, all access is set up just like you would do for a typical employee.

Q: We’ve got some really old and outdated applications; won’t that get in your way?

A: Believe it or not, they are everywhere! However, if a human can work with it, a digital worker can. Many of our Digital Workers have helped businesses better integrate and manage older systems without the need for significant new capital investment. This is because Digital Workers can be taught anything—even greenscreen terminal—if needed! They are incredibly efficient at navigating between systems to copy and paste data, etc.

Digital Workers can make it easier for human workers to work with old and outdated IT infrastructure by providing a layer on top, like interacting through emails and easing the task of training employees on complex, old and outdated applications.

Q: We are about to change one of our applications. Should we wait for the change to occur or start implementing automation now?

A: This is a little harder. If the change will be completed in the next 2-3 months, then wait. If the change is going to take longer, then the period for return on investment should be evaluated. Typically, we expect Digital Workers to deliver ROI within 3-6 months. Suppose the change is a BIG change, such as changing an ERP. In that case, digital workers have helped organisations make this process a little smoother, for example, by carrying some of the heavy workload and helping free up precious time in the human workforce to focus on the change.

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FAQs for CEOs, MDs & others

Q: What are Digital Workers, and how can they benefit my organisation?

A: Digital Workers are a solution that uses Robotic Process Automation (RPA), sometimes called ‘software robots’ or ‘bots’, to automate repetitive, rule-based tasks. They don’t have arms or legs but exist on desktop computers, and they can provide several benefits to your organisation, including increased operational efficiency, improved accuracy, reduced costs and enhanced scalability.  In doing so, they can free up human resources for more strategic and value-added tasks.

Q: What types of tasks can be automated with Digital Workers?

A: Digital Workers are well-suited for automating rules-driven, repetitive tasks that involve structured data—in other words, processes that wouldn’t exist in a perfect world. Some common examples include data entry, invoice processing, report generation, customer or employee onboarding, data reconciliation, and system integration.

Q: How do Digital Workers work with existing IT applications?

A: Digital Workers interact with all IT applications by mimicking human actions such as clicking buttons, entering data, and extracting information. As a result, they can work alongside any existing IT applications without requiring any changes or special permissions. It is just like onboarding a new staff member; once they’ve been taught what to do, they’ll never forget or leave the business!

Q: Can Digital Workers be combined with other AI or machine learning technologies?

A: Absolutely. Digital Workers can integrate artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities to create intelligent automation solutions. AI and ML techniques can enhance their cognitive abilities, allowing them to analyse unstructured data, make decisions, and perform more complex tasks.

Q: What challenges should my company anticipate when implementing Digital Workers?

A: While Digital Workers offers numerous benefits, being aware of potential challenges is essential. Identifying suitable processes for automation and training Centelli staff on the process are common business challenges. From a technology/solution deployment perspective, the challenges are monitoring the process to ensure it delivers the desired outcomes, managing change in applications such as upgrades (often in cloud-based applications), and handling exceptions or error scenarios – I.e. when a Digital Worker should alert a human being! But at Centelli, we’re used to all of these and will handle the technology/solution challenges for you.

Q: How can Digital Workers help with digital transformation initiatives?

A: Digital Workers play a crucial role in digital transformation by enabling organisations to automate manual, time-consuming processes and streamline operations. They allow taking a process that has become analogue by introducing humans to parts of it and making it completely digital again. This frees up precious human capacity to focus on further digital transformation initiatives rather than actually doing the tasks.

Q: Will Digital Workers replace human workers?

A: Digital Workers are meant to support and augment your team’s work, not replace it. By automating repetitive tasks, Digital Workers allow humans to focus on higher-value activities that require human judgment, creativity, and problem-solving. The future is not digital workers or human workers…but human workers with digital workers!

Q: How secure are Digital Workers, and what measures are in place to protect sensitive data?

A: Digital Workers are deployed in your network and have access to applications and the internet just like a staff member. No data ever leaves your network. We have had instances where a customer’s information security has deemed Digital Workers more secure than human workers because they won’t make a mistake in moving data. Secondly, they won’t write it down on paper or get distracted leaving the screen open; thirdly, they never work in a public place with secure data. They will only work within your network, and the data will never leave it.

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FAQs for CFOs / Finance Directors

Q: Is this another big IT capital project?

A: No, at Centelli, we require no additional hardware other than a terminal for a Digital Worker to log in like a human worker. And there are no big software purchases either.

Q: What’s the typical payback period?

A: Because we use Digital Workers to perform the tasks of a human workforce, our clients find that the ROI is rapid—from a few weeks to a few months, depending on the complexity of the process!

Q: Is this a risky investment?

A: At Centelli, we only ask for money when the business case stacks up and you are confident everything will work. As experts in this field, we are happy to take on more risk and be a partner that brings the digital worker expertise, leaving you to manage the risk in your business, which you are the experts at.

Q: Will you need weeks of our staff time to help you?

A: The quickest and most efficient way to get you set up is to train one of our dedicated business process managers just like you would a member of your team. We record that training; that is all we need to get started. The majority of the processes that we automate only need a few hours of starting input. This usually takes around 15-30 minutes of initial training and some support as we get up to speed with the process. Our goal is to save you time, starting from the day we get to work, not just when the automation is deployed.

Q: Our offering is so niche. Can automation really make an impact on our business/sector?

A: The short answer: Yes, we can. Our whole philosophy is to automate those processes that wouldn’t exist in a perfect world – and every business on the planet has some of those. Whether it be invoice processing, bank reconciliation, employee on/off-boarding, or dealing with overloaded email inboxes, our free scoping and proof of concepts offer means we’ll quickly identify the best initial automations for your company and make them disappear for you!

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FAQs for CPOs / HR Directors

Q: How will staff react when we tell them Digital Workers are coming to do their jobs?

A: Our Digital Workers undertake the most tedious and mundane tasks your workforce does; we find that almost all employees love having a Digital Worker to remove the most repetitive element of their role.

Q: Is this about reducing headcount?

A: To be honest, it can be—but in our experience, when most clients free up their teams to do the intricate parts of their roles (whilst handing over the monotonous elements to a Digital Worker), clients see improved performance and opportunities for growth rather than a chance to reduce staff numbers! Once you implement Intelligent Automation into your workplace, the improved employee morale makes it all worth it.

Q: Won’t Digital Workers make mistakes? They can’t possibly be as good as a person!

A: We teach a Digital Worker a process like you’d teach a new staff member.  The difference is that once they’ve been taught, they never deviate from it, and they never make a mistake by adding a zero or missing a ‘dot’. Moreover, all our Digital Workers can be taught to ask for assistance if unsure.  For example, if they are processing invoices and notice that a supplier has suddenly invoiced more than they usually would, a Digital Worker can identify this anomaly and ask someone to confirm this is deliberate, not just an error.

Q: How do Digital Workers help with retention and recruitment?

A: When an employee has a Digital Worker undertake the most boring parts of their role (even if it sometimes asks them for help), we’ve found that the worker better enjoys their role as it enables them to do the most interesting elements and add the most value. This means they are less likely to move on, but you can also promote this to new recruits—especially to those already working for competitors! 

Imagine doing the same job for the same salary, but with fewer bad bits and more good ones – it would be nice, wouldn’t it?

Want to learn more about implementing Intelligent Automation in your workplace? Contact one of our experts here!

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