Robotic Process Automation: Reenergizing the Directory Publishing Industry

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1 A Point of View Robotic Process Automation: Reenergizing the Directory Publishing Industry Abstract Evolving digital marketing avenues including video, SEM/SEO, mobile, and social media are fast replacing traditional forms of ad generation such as yellow page publishing. This affects traditional revenue streams of directory publishers. These businesses now face a niggling challenge - how to streamline and enhance efficiencies of print business operations, while establishing and growing their digital businesses? Directory publishers typically deploy several disparate and disjointed processes, applications, and databases, which lead to operational inefficiencies. In this paper, we showcase the benefits of leveraging Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to address these challenges and transform back office operations for better business results. What's Slowing Down the Directory Publishing Industry? Increasing digital adoption poses a serious threat to traditional directory publishing companies. In recent years, the industry has witnessed an extensive adoption of video marketing, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), mobile and social media marketing, and other targeted marketing techniques by businesses. This has led to a steady decline in traditional, paid advertising through yellow pages. With declining print orders, directory publishers are under pressure to cut production costs so that competitive prices can be offered to advertisers. Back office operations are the primary focus area for cutting down operational costs. However, this is not easy. The following are a few challenges in back office operations that prevent process simplification and automation and the optimization of manual effort. Disparate files and formats: Directory publishers publish telephone numbers and addresses of all or most of the service providers within a local area. However, the lists of businesses come in different types of files and formats. They need to be sorted properly to ensure that they appear under the right category in the yellow pages section and are standardized as per the publishing norms. Directory publishers spend significant amount of time and resources on these activities. Disjointed processes and systems: Directory publishers receive national orders from Certified Marketing Representatives (CMRs) through third party systems. In contrast, local level orders are processed on in-house applications. While most orders are auto-processed, several orders cannot be processed due to errors that need to be manually rectified. Likewise, in many cases, order details are maintained in one application while ad details are available in a different application. Correct order processing is essential to ensure that sales teams get their payment and incentives on a timely basis. Therefore, auditing order documents for completeness and correctness is critical and needs to be done quickly and accurately, within a pay-period. These additional quality checks further increase the operational costs. Late orders and last day changes in orders: Late orders received from the sales teams during the last two days of the pay-period cycle are pushed to the next payment cycle. This delays the sales compensation payout, leading to a dip in employee satisfaction and motivation. Most importantly, paging and shipping deadlines are affected. Furthermore, last day changes to the information call for a thorough check and reconciliation of the galley print and order copy, prior to actual publishing.

2 Stepping Up Operational Efficiencies In the current scenario, the back office operations function faces an uphill task of containing costs while maintaining high accuracy in output. Many directory publishers fulfill this objective by partnering with external service providers to manage their back office activities. Back office work consists mostly of audits and routine activities that are almost completely performed manually, which limits the efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery. A definitive way to step up efficiencies and effectiveness and exceed customer expectations is to adopt Robotic Process Automation (RPA). The software robots for RPA can be created using Microsoft Office Visual Basic script, 'C++' or 'C#', and other scripts that are Java or.net based. Table 1 lists indicative examples of back office processes that can be automated through RPA. Process Validating ads and related commercial paperwork submitted by sales that are stored in different applications. This happens before the graphics team composes ads. Possible automation Data extraction robots read and extract relevant ad related and commercial data from the paperwork. The relevant data could be located based on unique identifiers in the document or through a machine learning capability. The extracted data is then matched with the data available in the CRM application. Exceptions are highlighted for manual intervention. Validating ad content and placement (phone number, ad item, ad size and so on) before printing. This is a vital step as publishing errors can lead to financial claims. Since placement validation is rule based, a robot checks the ad position on the basis of publisher rules. It either highlights the errors for manual correction or correct them automatically. The accuracy of the robot reaches 100% through iterations in the robot program. Proof reading errors such as misspelled words in the listings. Here the robot checks and highlights errors in the lists. A machine learning module can be incorporated to enable the robot to learn new words. This ensures that when new spellings are identified as mistakes, they are corrected manually. Checking phone number lists in the database for differences and correcting them or adding new data. A robot fetches records from the database on the basis of unique fields and checks for exceptions. Exceptions are highlighted and correct data is incorporated in the database. Processing straight-line service order rejects, which could be mixed with other rejects. A robot highlights the straight-line order rejects. Based on manual inputs, these highlighted order rejects are either extracted for manual correction or corrected by the robot. Automation of the process limits errors due to manual segregation, thereby improving the accuracy of the output. Table 1: Automation of key publishing processes using RPA 2

3 Ease of Deploying RPA Deploying RPA in the back office offers the following key advantages: Lower programming effort: Programming of robots for small process automation typically takes only about two-three person weeks. However, often, the process is complex and the robot requires interfacing with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) components, machine learning components or entity data extraction capabilities. In such cases, programming takes about two-three person months. These estimates are indicative and the actual effort varies from case to case. Low cost programming software: The programming applications used in the development of a processing robot are either free or require a one-time investment of a few thousand US dollars. Non-intrusive nature of automation: RPA solutions typically do not need any change in the IT infrastructure and application landscape. These programs do not intrude or directly interface with the applications used to perform the core processes. Business Benefits RPA offers publishing companies a viable, low cost solution to enhance their operational efficiencies, realize real savings and thus free up resources to focus on their digital business streams. RPA streamlines the back office operations with: Increased productivity: RPA enables percent improvement in productivity in all the back office pre-press processes. Processes like commercial and ad data auditing, proof reading of directory information, and validation of publishing rules achieve significant productivity gains through deployment of RPA. Limitations do exist for handwritten data as accuracy suffers in such cases. Reduced cost: Within a year, directory publishers can realize a cost-benefit ratio higher than 1:20, depending on the quantum of work involved and the complexity of the process. Simple processes with high volume of work typically deliver a higher cost-benefit ratio than complex processes with lesser work volume. Proper cost-benefit analysis is therefore important for prioritization of RPA deployment. Greater accuracy: With automated processes, only exceptions are processed manually, resulting in 99 percent greater accuracy. Automation tools can be designed to highlight exceptions in a manner that ensures accurate corrections. Additional validation tools for data entry enable further accuracy. Improved First Pass Yield: RPA significantly improves the overall First Pass Yield. In an RPA deployment for a directory publishing client, three simple rule-based processes, namely phone listing management, contract and ad copy audit, and proof reading at book close were automated. The client achieved 100 percent accuracy, leading to improvements in the First Pass Yield as well. Figure 1 shows the indicative improvements achieved in the First Pass Yield for the three automated processes. 100% First Pass Yield 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Phone lists management Contact and ad copy audit Proof reading at book close First pass yield before automation First pass yield after automation Figure 1: Improved first pass yield in three key processes 3

4 Enhanced sales focus: With RPA deployed in the back office, the sales team can save time and effort expended on non-sales activities such as answering back office queries and data entry. RPA can thus free up more than 10 percent of the sales group's time, which can be utilized for core sales activities. This helps generate more revenue for the publishing organization. Assessing the Feasibility of RPA Deployment It is important to carry out some form of preliminary assessment to develop an understanding of the feasibility of RPA deployment and the extent of benefits that can be gained. An indicative but not exhaustive list of assessment parameters is as follows: The degree of process standardization: With greater standardization, the possibility of RPA deployment and the benefits from the exercise are higher; Degree of process complexity: Robots can be easily deployed in simpler processes, whereas it typically takes more time and effort in complex processes; Volume of work involved: Processes that have high volume of work will provide better cost-benefit ratio; Type of databases used: Legacy databases are usually not amenable to RPA; Current processing time and accuracy: Processes that have higher processing time and lower accuracy become top contenders for RPA deployment; Modernizing Operations to Stay Relevant As businesses increasingly reach out to customers through search engines and digital versions of yellow pages, traditional directory publishers are faced with the need to revamp their operational strategies. However, transforming the application landscape through standardization is an ineffective and highly expensive proposition. Directory publishers should instead consider accelerating the adoption of RPA to usher in greater efficiencies in their back office operations. Adopting an effective RPA solution can help enhance productivity and deliver superior customer service, while reducing costs and minimizing errors. 4

5 About the Authors Bhaswar Bose Bhaswar Bose is a Transformation Consultant in the Media and Information Services vertical in the Business Process Services (BPS) division of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). A production engineer by qualification and a certified Six Sigma Black Belt, Bose has been engaged in delivery management and transformation in the manufacturing industry for over 20 years. He also has extensive experience in IT application management services and business process services. Dibyendu Sarkar Dibyendu Sarkar is a Delivery Manager in a yellow page publishing project in the Media and Information Services vertical of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). He has been part of the leadership team at TCS's Business Process Services (BPS) division for over five years and has more than eight years of experience in the BPS industry. 5

6 About TCS' Business Process Services Unit Enterprises seek to drive business growth and agility through innovation in an increasingly regulated, competitive, and global market. TCS helps clients achieve these goals by managing and executing their business operations effectively and efficiently. TCS' Business Process Services (BPS) include core industry-specific processes, analytics and insights, and enterprise services such as finance and accounting, HR, and supply chain management. TCS creates value TM through its FORE simplification and transformation methodology, backed by its deep domain expertise, TM extensive technology experience, and TRAPEZE suite of solution accelerators and governance enablers. TCS complements its experience and expertise with innovative delivery models such as using robotic automation and providing Business Processes as a Service (BPaaS). TCS' BPS unit has been positioned in the leaders' quadrant for various service lines by many leading analyst firms. With over four decades of global experience and a delivery footprint spanning six continents, TCS is one of the largest BPS providers today. Contact For more information about TCS' Business Process Services Unit, visit: ( bps.connect@tcs.com About Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT and IT-enabled infrastructure, engineering TM and assurance services. This is delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Model, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development. A part of the Tata Group, India s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS has a global footprint and is listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India. For more information, visit us at IT Services Business Solutions Consulting All content / information present here is the exclusive property of Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS). The content / information contained here is correct at the time of publishing. No material from here may be copied, modified, reproduced, republished, uploaded, transmitted, posted or distributed in any form without prior written permission from TCS. Unauthorized use of the content / information appearing here may violate copyright, trademark and other applicable laws, and could result in criminal or civil penalties. Copyright 2015 Tata Consultancy Services Limited TCS Design Services I M I 07 I 15