With robotic automation having already transformed manufacturing in a major way, the finance sector is next in line, according to a new report by Deloitte.

The report notes that country’s finance roles are facing increasing pressure, with major challenges to shrink costs and support decreasing margins, while improving speed, volumes and quality of information provided.

One of the ways the sector is addressing this issue is through the introduction of Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

“RPA technology is an inexpensive model that helps in the application of specific technologies that can automate routine, standardised tasks, creating higher productivity and value with lesser investment.

“This system is rapidly gaining popularity, predominantly in the banking and finance sectors due to triggering responses and communication with other digital systems within the domain in a shorter time frame”, said Rieta de Villiers, associate director of technology enablement at Deloitte South Africa.

Because of their efficiency, they have become increasingly paramount to South African businesses, she said.

What’s roles are at risk right now?

De Villiers noted that when it comes to leveraging RPA, South African companies generally fall into one of two categories: those that have launched pilots and are now trying to scale the technology, and those that are at the early stages of exploring its possibilities.

She pointed to a recent Deloitte CFO Insights survey, which shares the views of companies employing automation to economically tackle a variety of finance needs, an increasing number of which can be handled by RPA.

These include broad tasks that may have been outsourced such as:

Reconciliations

Claims processing

Returns management

Inventory processing

Front office (sales order management, competitor price monitoring, customer engagement)

Middle office (trend tracking, report generation)

Back office (data reconciliation, applications integration)

The other category being looked at by South African companies is affiliated to shared services tasks that typically entail multiple interactions with different systems – such as:

Payroll

Onboarding and benefits management in HR

Folder and file management

The creation of new jobs

As the ability of RPA helps improve profit and loss by reducing errors – avoiding costly off-shoring and providing rapid results increase, it will become an increasingly attractive option, said De Villiers.

Citing the CFO report, she noted that in some cases CFOs have found that RPA is 15 times more efficient than humans and offers a 15% to 90% cost reduction opportunity.

The report also notes that RPA can also leverage other emerging technologies. Artificial intelligence technology, for instance, can be combined with RPA processes to produce conversational user interfaces, which can take predictive decisions and exercise judgment.

“Seen through that lens, RPA becomes a foundational technology for a digitally transformed enterprise that can evolve in lockstep with these quickly advancing technologies,” said De Villiers.

“The success of RPA, however, is dependent on numerous factors including; the implementation of the automation process, operational management of robots, and an upskilled workforce to provide further proactive insights of human analysis.”

“RPA frees up finance talent to address activities that are less routine and more value add, but might require the upskilling of resources to operate at a higher level,” she said.

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