Resolve Tech Solutions (RTS) recently worked with a premier domestic energy and utility company to streamline and automate many of its workflows.
Serving millions of customers across several states, this domestic energy delivery company manages a variety of operations, including natural gas and power generation. Given the scope of its operations, the utility possesses a workforce of thousands of employees. However, managing such extensive finance and human resource operations is a significant undertaking, involving many complicated and time-consuming processes.
A longstanding and award-winning SAP services provider, and a valued partner to large-scale enterprises and small-to-medium-sized businesses alike, RTS helps its customers transform their enterprise business processes with high-performance IT solutions.
RTS delivers innovative and effective solutions and services that encompass ERP revitalizations, cloud technology, digital metamorphosis, cybersecurity, IT support, and cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and robotic process automation (RPA) services.
The Situation
Tasked with managing the power needs of its seven million customers, this utility had identified the need to reduce overhead and resources throughout its organization. Particularly, much of its workforce was spending excessive time on manual, labor-intensive tasks, such as replicating specific data points across different financial reports.
The organization sought to adopt a more people-focused approach through RPA. By reducing the number of hours employees were spending on these time-sensitive tasks, the utility intended to free up its workforce to focus on more important, big-picture tasks. Another benefit of minimizing manual tasks through automation was the opportunity to decrease the potential for human error and inaccurate reporting.
To boost efficiency, productivity, and cost savings, the utility company partnered with RTS, both leveraging the firm’s automation expertise and implementing its RPA bots (also known as digital workers) to automate specific processes across its organization. These bots operate 24/7, automating repetitive and rule-based tasks, allowing employees to focus on strategic, high-value work.
In full, RTS automated over 50 processes with 10 RPA bots, including SAP solutions used by the utility:
- SAP Business Warehouse
- SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Suite
- SAP Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- SAP S/4HANA
Together, the utility company and RTS selected specific functional areas to target for process improvement through automation, including:
Gas Cost Accounting: This portion of the utility’s financial reporting is a “cross-functional” area that draws data from a variety of sources. Scheduling is a major part of this reporting, as many of the reports are time-sensitive, and the data in those reports must be kept up to date. The RPA solutions RTS implemented ensured that all of the cross-functional data is kept current and inputted correctly into the right areas of the relevant reports.
Outstanding Invoices: Similarly, RTS helped automate the utility’s regular unfilled invoice reports. The RTS RPA bots process and reconcile reports in 45 minutes.
Data Security: RTS built secure automations for sensitive customer and employee data. Working with CyberArk, RTS created a data “vault” for the enterprise, where passwords change every 30 days. Additionally, RTS worked with SAP to assign bots different levels of security so that data is never exposed or sent to the wrong location via an automated process.
Trial Balance: RTS also worked with the utility company to automate its loan accounting processes. Using Spire, RTS was able to automate the verification process for assessing client credit scores and automatically have that information entered into SAP Customer Relationship Management (CRM). That data is also automatically emailed to necessary employees, so employees are not waiting for vital reports.
The Results
Over the course of RTS’s partnership with the utility, RPA solutions have benefited and simplified the utility’s operations, freeing up employees to focus on more strategic, high-value tasks. Topline benefits of RTS’s RPA solutions include:
- Reduced Cost
- Improved employee efficiency
- Increased data reporting accuracy
- Improved compliance
Partnering with RTS enabled the utility to increase the capacity of its workforce. Specifically, automation has saved the company $16 million and over 100,000 manual hours by automating operations’ critical organizational functions. Processes that once took an employee an hour to work through now take as little as 15 minutes to complete.
Lessons Learned
RPA solutions are on the rise in the SAP community. Analysts expect this market to grow to over $7 billion next year, becoming a $13 billion business by 2030.
In the ASUG community, members report using RPA services to bolster their digital transformation projects. Over one-third (38%) of respondents to the 2024 ASUG Pulse of the ASUG Customer Research expect RPA solutions to impact their enterprises’ digital transformation efforts over the next two years—a significant increase from 23% of respondents who reported similar expectations in 2023.
At Resolve Tech Solutions, RPA services encompass an array of seamlessly integrated capabilities, IPs, and platforms. The technology company offers solutions including process mining, sensors, machine/ human signals processing for sensing, process modeling, optimization techniques, and document analysis. Additionally, the company’s solutions can perform natural language processing (NLP) extraction critical for analysis and has low code/no code capabilities including management, automation, application programming interface (API), and integration. RTS empowers enterprises to be adaptable, flexible, and interoperable, moving them quickly towards a cloud-first economy.
As organizations in all industries focus on unleashing the potential of AI to revolutionize their businesses and drive previously unattainable efficiencies and cost savings with precision and speed, businesses are increasingly leveraging machine learning and RPA services to transform data into actionable intelligence and ensure the success and scalability of their operations. With RTS, businesses can take their automation to the next level by integrating RPA with AI.
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About Resolve Tech Solutions
Resolve Tech Solutions (RTS), an award-winning IT consulting firm with over 25 years of experience, empowers businesses to achieve their IT modernization goals.
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, RTS offers a comprehensive suite of services including core system upgrades, cloud migration, digital transformation, SAP expertise, and pre-built AI/ML solutions through Juno Labs. With a long-standing SAP partnership, RTS has won several accolades including SAP NS2 Outstanding Partner, SAP Innovation Challenge Award, SAP Partnership Excellence Award, SAP Quality Award, and SAP Partner of the Year. Their team of over 1,000 IT professionals helps businesses unlock actionable insights, streamline workflows, and achieve cost reduction through cloud adoption. As a trusted partner for Fortune 500 companies, RTS offers end-to-end solutions and support, allowing businesses to navigate their digital transformation journey with confidence. Learn more.
About ASUG
ASUG is the world’s largest SAP user group. Originally founded by a group of visionary SAP customers in 1991, its mission is to help people and organizations get the most value from their investment in SAP technology. ASUG currently serves thousands of businesses via companywide memberships, connecting more than 130,000 professionals with networking and educational resources to help them master new challenges. Through in-person and virtual events, on-demand digital resources, and ongoing advocacy for its membership, ASUG helps SAP customers make more possible.
ASUG develops and publishes case studies regularly in partnership with its members and customers. For more information on ASUG Case Study content, contact isaac.feldberg@asug.com.