Quick guide to attended automation

Humans dealing with exceptions as opposed to tedious tasks

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Seth Adler
03/02/2020

AIIA.net first explored AI-enabled digital assistants in 2017. The premise was great: a forward-facing program that works as your go-to helper, answering your questions and filling out your forms. When it came to the execution, however, the idea was a bit ahead of its time.

A quick guide to attended automation

It isn’t until recently that the technological advancements in computing power combined with the massive data storage capability of the cloud has enabled AI theories. Now, enterprises are now leveraging AI in meaningful, purpose-driven ways.

Robotic process automation (RPA) is a branch of artificial intelligence that automates human tasks. From chatbots to number crunchers, RPA works like a human to accomplish specific, preprogrammed tasks.

Further, the digital assistants from the past have been given a makeover, and with it, a new name—robotic desktop automation (RDA), or attended automation. What exactly falls under the category of attended automation, and how can your enterprise best leverage its potential?

What is Attended Automation?

Before diving in on attended automation, a brief explanation of unattended automation will help narrow the field of what’s what in the RPA world.

Unattended automation does what the name implies—completes tasks based on rules. They work in a “set it and forget it” way where they are programmed, sent out into the world—or back office—and diligently work away, following the rules and schedules set for it based on the inputs it receives, until it produces the output demanded of it. Unattended automation is used for rules-based backend processes and is inaccessible to the enterprise layperson.

Attended automation, on the other hand, works alongside humans. It is forward facing, lives on desktops in the form of dashboards. Attended bots automate tedious processes, freeing up the human talent to focus on the issue at hand, such as a client on the other end of the line. For example, if a banking customer calls in about increasing their credit limit, the agent can plug the client’s name into their RDA tool and receive that yes or no answer much quicker than if they were to examine the account holder’s information, credit score, and bank loyalty manually. In turn, the client receives a rapid, personal reply from the representative, boosting both client satisfaction and bank revenue.

Attended bots also have the ability to populate data across platforms, saving, for example, HR personnel from entering a new-hire’s information over and over again into forms like W4s, training modules, payroll, et cetera. Other use cases include:

Call Centers – The role of contact centers across industries is to provide fast, accurate service with the human touch necessary for de-escalation efforts and customer retention. Leveraging RDA tools allows for customer representatives to gather client information siloed across the organization in one fell swoop, auto fills forms and applications, and even suggests cross-selling and upselling products to the representative.

Interesting use cases:

For a customer-centric RDA, consider NICE. NICE touts its employee virtual attendant, NEVA, as the first front- and back-office bot. She can respond to voice or text commands and even tracks an employee’s desktop movements in order to anticipate needs and complete requests.

Another option is Kryon. As demonstrated by the use case on its website, Kryon is easy to pick up across the workflow, meaning implementation and ROI is nearly instantaneous. The said case study exemplifies a major hotel chain who saved $300k a year in training costs while improving customer service.

Human Resources – Onboarding new employees is a time-consuming, tedious process. With attended automation, forms are automatically sent to new-hires, and when completed, filed away in their corresponding digital folders. While this process is monitored by an HR professional, RDA streamlines the process while ensuring all regulatory and confidentiality protocols are followed.

You may want to look into:

UiPath. UiPath is a web-based solution and known leader in the field of RPA. It offers the unique ability to deploy both attended and unattended automation across a single platform, meaning the front office and back office can communicate more effectively. UiPath also benefits from an active online community who share tips and tricks.

Healthcare – Healthcare often lives up to its reputation when it comes to being behind the technological curve, but attended automation may be the exception. For example, clinical study data is easily shared across sites in a transparent, trackable, and auditable way. Attended automation ensures that all legal protocols are being followed, and when it’s time for approval, knows what and how to gather documents that were once housed in paper binders. The same processes are followed by the human attendee as far as processing labs and inserting findings is concerned, of course, but the RDA tool “puts away” that data and retrieves that data faster than a human counterpart.

For a higher-code, more technical solution, try:

Automation Anywhere. While Automation Anywhere users benefit from their attractive, friendly desktop, it is also script-based, as opposed to visual. Deployment is most successful if you currently have a capable programmer on your team. The advantage is the ability for increased customization. Automation anywhere is experienced and well versed in life science automation needs.

What to look for when choosing an Attended Automation tool

Choosing the right RDA solution for your purposes may sound overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Start by shortlisting via location. Some vendors aren’t available across certain regions. If your enterprise is global, your RDA solution must be able to support that. Take a look at your current vendor solutions. Do they offer an RPA product? Working with a current vendor who you’ve established a relationship with means onboarding the solution faster.

Next, clearly define the use cases for your RDA. When you head to the car lot to purchase a car, you know what you’re using that car for. Is it a commuter that needs good gas mileage? Do you need four-wheel drive because it snows where you live? Narrowing down your use cases—even if you’re not sure how RDA works within those—means you can vet vendors in a targeted, specific way. You are able to ask the right questions and get actionable answers.

Other things to consider:

Scalability – In the past, scalability has been an issue when deploying an attended automation tool. When choosing a solution, it’s important to consider not just the specific use case on the specific desktop you intend it for, but to look ahead at if and how it will scale across your enterprise.

RPA and RDA solutions aren’t intended to be plug-and-play. An organization that expects a set it and forget it solution isn’t going to be able to adapt their bots to new processes. When looking for an RDA solution, search for case studies involving largescale enterprises, even if you’re a startup. By ensuring your chosen solution has a sustainable scaling model, and enabling it with your own internal infrastructure, you can implement attended automation with just a few processes at a time and scale up from there to increase the stickiness of adaptation.

Additionally, a quality RDA solution offers regular bot maintenance and updates in order to keep up with current technology and regulations.

Ease of deployment – Introducing RDA into your workflow can cause a bit of a culture shock. By choosing a solution with an intuitive user interface and seamless navigation system, employees are less likely to shirk the change and embrace its advantages. Generally, assisted automation solutions are embraced by the workforce because they enhance an employee’s abilities to meet sales quotas, decrease the element of human error, and streamline boring processes without threatening the jobs of human talent—a common concern with the rise of artificial intelligence.

Pricing models – In the world of RPA in general, different vendors use different pricing models. It’s important to pick a flexible solution that allows your enterprise to scale up and down as needed, and adjust costs accordingly in order to get the best ROI. In the case of RDA, you aren’t just purchasing a bot—you are purchasing licenses for each user, maintenance and training talent, setup costs, and ongoing support.

Conclusion

Attended Automation or RDA is more attainable than ever for any sized enterprise with a range of product offerings, pricing models, specializations, and customizations. While implementing the change management to seamlessly transition to an RDA solution takes some careful planning and execution, companies who have made the switch describe it as well worth it. Naturally, ROI increases. Perhaps surprisingly, employee retention and job satisfaction does as well. When tedious tasks are automated, human talent, particularly millennials, who value meaning and fulfillment in their careers, are able to use their skillsets for meaningful, high-touch customer service and thoughtful execution of tasks. With RDA, everyone wins.