Mapping processes in the dark

A global financial services giant was looking to capture and document a complex set of its core business processes. The company had already created some high-level process maps, but they were not detailed enough to effectively train staff, or to create accurate benchmarks for performance improvement.

For sustainable business growth, it needed advanced process mapping with sufficient detail to identify critical opportunities for automation. However, it had a limited number of subject matter experts available for this complex task. And its manual methodology for process mapping was time-consuming.

Based on the obstacles it faced in previous process-mapping initiatives, this time the financial services company decided to partner with an experienced digital leader.

Bots bring the light

In April 2017, the financial services provider appointed Atos to execute the task of documenting more than 200 business-critical processes that spanned 5,000 employees. Atos deployed its SyntBots® Process Discovery solution to perform a detailed analysis of the existing processes.

The data it captured was then used to generate detailed process maps and design future-state workflows, complete with an automation implementation roadmap.

Based on the results, Atos began an automation implementation in 2021. This was specifically for areas such as market, currency and commodities operations, and treasury and commercial cards processes. In the first 6 months, 20 bots were deployed to automate 13 business processes in addition to IQ Bots from Automation Anywhere that extract text from PDF documents.

A brighter future

By December 2022, Atos and the financial firm had mapped and documented more than 5,000 business workflows in critical business areas. With SyntBots Process Discovery, the company has generated industry-standard process documentation 40 percent faster than before, and its automation assessments have provided a roadmap to greater efficiency.

As part of this long-term partnership, the two firms will work together to implement a host of new automation use cases to deliver ongoing process optimization. This exercise has delivered efficiency gains that have translated into $15 million in annual savings — a figure that is only expected to increase.