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iRPA and SAP Conversational AI Bots: The Next-Gen Automation Enablers to power your Digital Transformation

This is the second part of our blog series – Enabling Automation: Fast forward, where we will talk in detail about the automation enablers and use-cases around them. You can view the first part here: https://bpterp.com/automation-roadmap/

Introduction

Digital transformation brings about radical reform in how organizations leverage technology to drive productivity and to enable flexibility and transparency. While it had been a pervasive undertaking across industries much before the pandemic, the COVID-19 crisis has forced both organizations and individuals to adopt digital platforms in their functioning in an extremely short span of time.

According to the IDG business impact survey conducted in July 2020, 59% of IT decision-makers opined that the pandemic has induced pressure to accelerate their digital transformation efforts.

In addition, data research published by IDC in May 2020, projected the global spending on digital transformation technologies and services to grow by 10.4% in 2020 to $1.3 trillion despite the budget crunch during the pandemic.  

The Role of Automation in Digital Transformation

Digital Transformation has been synonymous with automation. The benefits of automation have been well realized — it results in improved employee productivity, increased operational efficiency, higher customer satisfaction, and a sizable appreciation in the bottom line. According to Deloitte’s 2018 Global RPA Survey, an average of 20% of full-time equivalent (FTE) capacity was provided by RPA with 86% improved productivity and 59% reduced cost.

Hence, it is clear that the use of RPA, which picked up great momentum prior to the pandemic, is set to continue. In fact, post-COVID-19, adopting RPA will turn out to be an indispensable part of digital transformation and a worthy investment.

For instance, the US government witnessed thousands of unemployment claims growing exponentially due to the pandemic-imposed lockdown. They were incapacitated to handle such a surge as they operated with limited on-ground staff as most of them worked from home. The US government, therefore, instituted RPA with AI capabilities to extract information from claims and perform data entry, which were previously done manually. Incorporating RPA eliminated lengthy manual work in the verification of applications and reduced the processing time of each application which resulted in dramatically faster payouts.

SAP’s Suite of Intelligent Automation

1) SAP iRPA

SAP Intelligent RPA, referred to as iRPA, is a robotic process automation layer of SAP’s Business Technology Platform (BTP) and an end-to-end cloud solution of automation tools. iRPA facilitates enterprises to redirect resources to high-value activities and achieve a seamless integration into the SAP application stack especially when companies have an SAP ecosystem for enterprise processes. iRPA houses comprehensive turnkey solutions that address a wide array of automation needs.

Key features of SAP iRPA

• Automates workflows and collates data from disparate systems in real-time.
• Integration with third-party technologies to capture, record, and integrate actions.
• iRPA offers Attended and Unattended Bot using a hybrid deployment model.
• Allows visual design of workflows
• Availability of APIs and machine-learning services to make bots intelligent.
• Repository of bot skills and analytics.
• Facility to analyze bot-operation statistics and expedite process execution history.
• Prebuilt bots to accelerate bot-building processes.
• Preconfigured content and predefined bots that allow a quick transition to SAP S/4HANA.

Benefits of SAP iRPA

• Relieves the user from fetching reports manually by collating them from multiple data sources.
• Detects and fixes data inconsistencies automatically based on historical data across the system.
• Identifies workflow errors and fixes them automatically without having to raise a support ticket.
• Monitors the interface regularly, allowing the support team to focus on more pressing issues

2) SAP Conversational AI Bots (CAI)

SAP Conversational AI (CAI) is a unified and collaborative end-to-end platform to create, train, build, test, connect, and monitor chatbots embedded into SAP and third-party solutions. SAP Conversational AI can connect chatbots to popular messaging channels and offers conversational natural language processing, dialog management, and detailed API documentation

Key features of SAP Conversational AI

• Scalable chatbots that offer personalized human-like conversations on multiple devices.
• Reduced bot development efforts and costs and enhanced workforce productivity.
• Low-code chatbot development suite with full integration with the SAP ecosystem.
• Facility to produce complex conversation flows and powerful logic with built-in testing capabilities.
• Faster time to market when enterprises already work with SAP Business Technology Platform.

Use Case: SAP iRPA and Conversational AI Bot

1) AP iRPA is Leveraged to Enhance Inventory Management

A Middle-Eastern retailer which sells kitchen appliances witnessed a huge uptick in its online sales during the pandemic while the sales in its retail stores dipped drastically. To cope with the demand and ensure on-time delivery, the company had a great need to incorporate automation to optimize processes by eliminating time-intensive manual processes.

The company performed the following activities every day, which were manually driven:
• Picklist from the e-commerce portal is downloaded and the stock for each item is manually validated against the stock reflected on SAP.
• The latest stock for each item reflected on SAP is further updated on the portal’s back-end system.

This process was several-fold more tedious and time-consuming as the stock had to be updated for hundreds of items and across all the e-commerce portals that the company maintained. The company incorporated SAP iRPA to automate a few minutes. Seamless integration between all the data environments was created using iRPA and all the aforementioned processes (as well as creating Sales Orders) was automated. The company was able to complete all these within a few minutes by leveraging automation which previously took hours

2) iRPA to Automate Purchase Orders Placement

Employees in organizations face challenges to order daily-use items (like stationery) or raise IT tickets as they often find themselves in long queues and waiting lines on the hotline. Internal IT departments and ordering desks are overwhelmed to process such discrete items on a recurring basis. This process can be streamlined and automated using SAP iRPA and CAI.

The chatbot allows users to conversationally place orders, which are then passed to the RPA for execution. RPA automatically creates a purchase order and reports it back to the user. Organizations can divest IT teams from iterative low-value tasks and improve employee productivity as well as enhance employee experience.

3) SAP Conversational AI Attends to Vendor Queries in a Bank

RaboBank, a Dutch multinational that specializes in food and agriculture financing, has instituted a chatbot in its finance department using SAP CAI. The chatbot is used to answer invoice-related questions for the company’s vendors. RaboBank’s finance department found that the department employees had to answer repetitive questions over and over again, which could as well be done by a bot.

The enterprise chatbot – Billy, was instituted when the pandemic hit when most employees were working from home. Employees answered most vendor questions through email or phone and faced issues with network connectivity while working from home. This has now relieved finance personnel from answering simple vendor-related questions and enabled them to attend to more pressing and important issues.

4) Nestle Uses SAP CAI in its HR Operations

Using SAP’s Conversational AI platform, Nestle has created an HR chatbot that provides self-service access to department data. This has proven to be especially useful as Nestle operates on several SAP applications for its business operations and provides an overarching solution to access any SAP-related information.

Conclusion

Digital platforms have disrupted value chains and created lasting changes not just in economics but in the ways organizations interact with their workforce, customers, and suppliers alike. In light of the pandemic, Robotic Process Automation has been an integral part of digital transformation as industries drastically scale up the digitization of business processes. iRPA and Conversational AI are prolific end-to-end enterprise automation solutions that come with several ready-to-use features and offer versatile customizations. In addition, they can be easily integrated with third-party and SAP applications without having to change the existing IT framework. The UI of these platforms is designed to help both citizens and experienced developers alike to institute intelligent digital frameworks across value chains.

Both the platforms have the facility for enterprises to measure the achievement of business goals and plan the further deployment of the solutions in a live environment. Conversational AI’s digital assistant and iRPA’s intelligent automation together have an immense potential to eliminate time-intensive, repetitive tasks that greatly enhance workforce productivity. Leveraging these solutions, organizations can realize several benefits through cost savings, increased bottom-line, and enhanced workforce experience. SAP’s Conversational AI and iRPA offer turnkey solutions which allow organizations to achieve digital reform in a cost-effective and time-efficient manner.

About the Authors

Vijay Vegesana

Principal Consultant – Intelligent Technologies, Blueprint Technologies

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Rony John

Chief Executive Officer

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Rony John

Chief Executive Officer

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With over 20 years of rich and diverse experience in SAP, Rony John is leading the team at Blueprint in helping customers recognize the benefits of the ERP Solutions and providing sound design and integration approaches to successfully implement their SAP and ERP environments. Adept at bringing real-world expertise and solution design to the forefront, Rony has successfully helped many organizations, both big and small in actualizing their goals.

Rony owns an innate ability to decode customer needs and his in-depth knowledge about SAP and Kronos products sets him apart from the rest. Prior to leading Blueprint, Rony had donned diverse roles for some of the best software giants including Convergent, Autodesk, SAP GDC,Mindtree very strong technical grounding by way of involvement in Product and Global delivery.

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Rony John

Chief Executive Officer

Rony-John-scaled

Rony John

Chief Executive Officer

Rony-John-scaled

With over 20 years of rich and diverse experience in SAP, Rony John is leading the team at Blueprint in helping customers recognize the benefits of the ERP Solutions and providing sound design and integration approaches to successfully implement their SAP and ERP environments. Adept at bringing real-world expertise and solution design to the forefront, Rony has successfully helped many organizations, both big and small in actualizing their goals.

Rony owns an innate ability to decode customer needs and his in-depth knowledge about SAP and Kronos products sets him apart from the rest. Prior to leading Blueprint, Rony had donned diverse roles for some of the best software giants including Convergent, Autodesk, SAP GDC,Mindtree very strong technical grounding by way of involvement in Product and Global delivery.

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A New Chapter for Lion Brewery (Ceylon) PLC: HR Innovation through SAP SuccessFactors

Lion Brewery (Ceylon) PLC embarks on a pivotal journey in workforce transformation by partnering with Blueprint Technologies to implement SAP SuccessFactors. This strategic move promises to streamline HR processes and uplift the employee experience, cultivating a vibrant, efficient workforce ready for tomorrow’s challenges.

We’re thrilled about the transformative possibilities and look forward to seeing Lion Brewery elevate its employee experience and achieve workforce excellence.

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Prathiba Anandraj exemplifies Blueprint Technologies' unique approach to customer experience transformations.

In an interview with Dataquest, Prathiba Anandraj, SAP CX Practice Lead at Blueprint Technologies, emphasized the company’s unique approach to customer experience transformations. She highlighted Blueprint Technologies strategic partnership with SAP, which involves the use of cutting-edge cloud technologies. She spoke about changing customer expectations, emphasizing the need for personalization and seamless experiences. Pratibha explained Blueprint’s approach to CX transformation, focusing on personalized solutions. She also explained how Blueprint Technologies has helped organizations thrive in their customer experience transformations with SAP CX.

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⁠Blueprint Technologies co-hosted the CX Roundtable event in Gurgaon with the SAP CX Team and Dataquest.

Our esteemed speakers, delegates, and moderator shared their insights on CX trends and AI and ML in customer experience management, making the event the most engaging and informative. At the conference, we looked into several areas of the customer experience and new ways to improve customer satisfaction and retention. The exceptional attitude of teamwork and generosity among guests shows how well their commitment to exceptional customer experiences matches our company’s beliefs and goals.

We acknowledge our speakers, attendees, SAP CX, and Dataquest teams for their enthusiastic involvement in the “Future-Proofing CX Strategies: Connecting with Customers in the Digital Age for Business” roundtable discussion on September 15, 2023, in Gurgaon.

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Blueprint Technologies co-hosted the "CFO Playbook 2023" in Mumbai with the SAP Concur Team and Netnex.

At Mumbai’s Taj Lands End hotel, the second edition of the “CFO Playbook 2023” roundtable conference featured invaluable networking and knowledge-sharing sessions. We discussed how SAP can help your accounts payable team succeed and become a strategic driver of development, efficiency, compliance, and sustainability throughout the conference.

We appreciate our speakers, attendees, SAP Concur, and NetNex teams for their support and participation in the “CFO Playbook 2023” roundtable session in Mumbai on September 13, 2023.

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Blueprint Technologies co-hosted the "CFO Playbook 2023" in Pune with the SAP Concur Team and Netnex.

Our renowned speakers at the “CFO Playbook 2023” roundtable conference at the JW Marriott hotel in Pune delivered the best networking and knowledge-sharing sessions on September 5, 2023. We addressed how SAP can help your accounts payable workforce succeed and become a strategic driver of development, efficiency, compliance, and sustainability throughout the conference.

We appreciate our speakers, attendees, SAP Concur, and NetNex teams for their support and involvement at the “CFO Playbook 2023” roundtable meeting in Pune on September 5, 2023.

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Blueprint Technologies co-hosted the SAP Innovation Tour for CX in Mumbai with the SAP CX Team and Dataquest.

Our esteemed speakers, delegates, and moderator discussed evolving CX trends and the emergence of AI and ML in customer experience management, making it the most educational and remarkable event.We appreciate our Speakers, Participants, the SAP CX team, and the Dataquest Team for their support and active involvement in the “Unleashing Innovation: Accelerating Customer Experiences for Businesses” roundtable conference in Mumbai on July 21, 2023.

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Blueprint Technologies was one of the official silver sponsors at the SAP Spend Connect Forum India event

We witnessed the most extraordinary events at the SAP Spend Connect Forum India, which took place at the Taj Palace in Delhi on July 19, 2023, and the Shangri-La in Bengaluru on July 21, 2023, including outstanding networking and knowledge-sharing sessions by SAP and customer speakers.

Furthermore, we appreciate everyone who visited our booth. We appreciate your time and interest in our services. It was remarkable to meet and communicate with so many individuals who share our enthusiasm for facilitating digital transformation through the adoption of SAP Cloud solutions.

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Blueprint Technologies attended and delivered presentation at the SAP DKOM 2023 held on April 28, 2023.

Mr. Rony John, MD and CEO, Blueprint Technologies, presented a session on “Drive adoption of your cloud products – With SAP’s very own tools” at SAP DKOM 2023, along with Mr. Stefan Steinle, Head of Customer Support & Innovation, SAP AE.

A big thank you to SAP for inviting Blueprint Technologies to share our expertise and insights with the SAP community.

SAP DKOM is the biggest technology festival at #SAPLabsIndia, celebrating innovation, technology, and the people who use SAP Technology to make the world run better.

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Blueprint Technologies was one of the official silver sponsors at the SAP NOW event