Close Brothers, a well-established UK-based merchant banking group, undertook a transformative journey to enhance its Robotic Process Automation (RPA) initiatives. Initially focused on structured, rules-based processes, the challenges brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the organization to incorporate Document Understanding capabilities. This shift enabled them to tackle unstructured input such as emails and documents, ultimately revolutionizing their process automation and customer service solutions. Over the span of six years, Close Brothers harnessed the power of Document Understanding to not only streamline operations but also ensure efficient, reliable customer interactions during uncertain times.
The enhancement began with an urgent need to respond to the financial strain faced by customers during the pandemic. Close Brothers introduced a new scalable automated process that efficiently managed forbearance requests, which were handled via a sophisticated system of chatbots and self-service web forms. This system redirected a significant volume of customer inquiries away from the already burdened telephony channel, ensuring that the contact center could provide timely and effective support. In spearheading this initiative, Stephen Durnin, head of operational excellence and automation, highlighted the importance of addressing operational inefficiencies before diving into automation. His perspective was that automating a flawed process would only result in an automated inefficiency. Therefore, Close Brothers focused on end-to-end process improvement to enhance overall throughput and efficiency.
The Impact of COVID-19
The onset of the pandemic highlighted the necessity for scalable, automated solutions to support financially struggling customers. Close Brothers quickly responded by devising an automated process to handle forbearance requests efficiently. Integrated with chatbots and self-service web forms, this system effectively redirected volumes away from their telephony channel, ensuring timely support for customers while alleviating pressure on the contact center. The innovative approach underscored the necessity of integrating both technology and operational excellence to manage the unprecedented influx of requests efficiently. With a scalable solution in place, Close Brothers could ensure high-quality service without overwhelming their existing resources.
Stephen Durnin, head of operational excellence and automation, stressed the need to address operational bottlenecks before automation. Recognizing that automating inefficient processes would only perpetuate issues, the company focused on end-to-end process improvement to maximize throughput and enhance overall efficiency. By concentrating efforts on identifying and eliminating these bottlenecks, Close Brothers ensured that their RPA initiatives would genuinely enhance operations, rather than simply transferring inefficiencies from manual to automated workflows. This strategic approach paved the way for a more robust and scalable automation framework, capable of adapting to both current and future challenges.
The Operational Excellence and Automation Center of Excellence
In 2022, Close Brothers consolidated its operational excellence and automation teams into a singular Operational Excellence and Automation Center of Excellence (CoE). This amalgamation facilitated the integration of diverse tools and methodologies, including Lean Six Sigma, RPA, low-code workflow, and dashboarding to drive comprehensive process transformations. The move to create a unified CoE allowed for more streamlined and coordinated efforts in implementing advanced automation strategies. By bringing together these diverse capabilities, Close Brothers could achieve a holistic transformation that encompasses multiple facets of their operations, from workflow optimization to real-time performance tracking.
Employing OutSystems, an AI-powered low-code platform, Close Brothers could orchestrate end-to-end processes seamlessly over their legacy systems. The platform, complemented by UiPath’s AI-enabled RPA capabilities, enabled the organization to streamline its process discovery and automate multiple processes efficiently. This powerful combo allowed them to automate ten processes every few months, scaling their automation efforts significantly. The integration of OutSystems and UiPath provided a robust infrastructure that facilitated more rapid deployment of automation solutions, accelerating the bank’s digital transformation journey. By leveraging these platforms, Close Brothers could create reusable automated components, enhancing not only efficiency but also scalability in their automation endeavors.
UiPath and Document Understanding Technology
In their quest for enhanced efficiency, Close Brothers partnered with UiPath to leverage its Document Understanding technology. This innovation proved crucial for its wholesale finance operation, previously marred by manual handling of semi-structured and unstructured documents that often led to errors and long lead times. The introduction of Document Understanding technology revolutionized their document processing capabilities, enabling more accurate and swift data extraction, thereby reducing manual labor and executive oversight. By incorporating this technology, Close Brothers could overcome previous limitations associated with traditional RPA, particularly in handling unstructured data.
By training the AI module on 1,000 documents, Close Brothers achieved accuracy scores between 95% and 100% in data extraction and reconciliation. This success facilitated the transition of the module to production, enabling the operational team to focus on higher-value tasks like risk management and complex deal review. The impressive accuracy of the Document Understanding technology underscored its potential to significantly enhance operational efficiency while allowing human resources to be allocated to more strategic and analytical tasks. The success of this initial implementation not only validated the effectiveness of the technology but also set the stage for its broader application across other business segments.
Expanding Document Understanding Across Services
Encouraged by the success in wholesale finance, Close Brothers extended Document Understanding technology to serve independent contract hire rental companies. The resulting improvements enabled faster and more accurate payouts, significantly enhancing the customer experience. The expansion of this technology across various services demonstrated its versatility and effectiveness in streamlining document-intensive processes. As a result, customers experienced more timely and accurate service, reinforcing Close Brothers’ commitment to operational excellence and customer satisfaction.
Stephen Durnin highlighted that the capabilities unlocked by Document Understanding would pave the way for new functionalities within the UiPath Suite. This expansion included communication mining and GPT integrations, which are expected to bring further efficiencies and innovations to their automated processes. By continuing to explore and integrate advanced functionalities, Close Brothers ensures that their automation framework remains at the forefront of technological advancements. These enhancements promise not only to augment existing processes but also to unlock new opportunities for efficiency and innovation, solidifying Close Brothers’ position as a leader in automation.
Themes and Broader Implications
Close Brothers, a well-established UK-based merchant banking group, embarked on a transformative journey to enhance its Robotic Process Automation (RPA) initiatives. Initially focused on structured, rules-based processes, the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the organization to incorporate Document Understanding capabilities. This shift allowed them to handle unstructured input such as emails and documents, revolutionizing their process automation and customer service solutions. Over six years, Close Brothers harnessed Document Understanding to streamline operations and ensure efficient, reliable customer interactions during uncertain times.
The enhancement began with an urgent need to address the financial strain customers faced during the pandemic. Close Brothers introduced a scalable automated process to manage forbearance requests via a sophisticated system of chatbots and self-service web forms. This system redirected a large volume of customer inquiries away from the overloaded telephony channel, allowing the contact center to provide timely support. Stephen Durnin, head of operational excellence and automation, emphasized addressing operational inefficiencies before diving into automation, warning that automating a flawed process only results in automated inefficiency. Thus, Close Brothers focused on end-to-end process improvement to boost overall efficiency.