Introduction
The client, a leading automobile refrigeration and transportation unit dealer, had long been providing remarkable customer service through their expertise in refrigeration systems and technical assistance. However, their services were heavily reliant on the timely delivery of products and services to customers. Traditional, manual processes such as invoicing and billing were becoming a hindrance.
The Accounts Payable team at the client’s end was overwhelmed with hundreds of invoices being processed daily, often in unscannable PDF or image formats, making extracting information difficult. Manual entry of hundreds of records into a legacy accounting system increased the chances of errors.
Realizing the need to incorporate more efficient & automated processes to improve customer service & ensure timely delivery, the company approached Kairos Technologies, a leading provider of RPA solutions. With the help of RPA services from Kairos, they were able to save time and manpower and ensure that customers received their orders without any delays.
To address the challenges of digital transformation, the company worked with Kairos Technologies to invest in cutting-edge automation technologies. This included Power Automate RPA, UIPath, Blue Prism, Automation Anywhere, and more. This tech agnostic approach allowed the company to maximize the efficiency of their processes, streamline their operations, and provide customers with products and services in a timely manner. With Kairos’s deep expertise in Microsoft products and applications, the company was able to implement these technologies quickly and effectively.
Value Delivered
After a careful assessment of the entire IT infrastructure, as well as the existing business processes, Kairos consultants and the client’s IT and business experts collaborated to identify potential activities that could be automated. Subsequently, an RPA implementation strategy was created to craft an end-to-end automation plan for the invoice processing system.
We employed Agile methodologies for the project, allowing for incremental changes to be rolled out in real-time and for the client to provide feedback at each stage to customize the project.
To make the process easier, Microsoft’s best practices and modern technologies like Power Automate, Power Automate Desktop, and SharePoint Online were employed to develop an automated invoice processing system. The automated tasks included:
- Integrating Power Automate’s RPA feature into SharePoint Online to enable easier access, tracking, and analysis of documents.
- Using Power Automate’s AI Builder to develop a custom AI model for extracting structured and unstructured data from invoices.
- Using Power Automate Desktop’s RPA capability to record tasks related to invoice processing and design a desktop flow based on the recorded actions.
- Creating a cloud flow with Power Automate’s RPA capability to automate the entire invoice processing task, from receiving the invoice from the vendor to approving/rejecting the file and sending alert notifications.
The solution was tested for security, accuracy, and compliance with the client’s internal policies and procedures. The solution was implemented in production following successful testing, resulting in improved efficiency and cost savings.
The implementation of RPA led to a 90% accuracy rate in invoice processing, resulting in a 20% decrease in annual costs, a 35% reduction in FTE capacity, and the completion of backlog processing in just 2 hours. Furthermore, the increased productivity and accuracy due to automation resulted in a 150% return on investment in a single year.