‘DON’T TREAT AUTOMATION AS A THREAT’

Rather than viewing automation as something that kills jobs, it should be seen as a way for companies to offer highvalue tasks for employees and cut costs

For enterprises to become winners in their respective industries, they must embrace intelligent automation.

Not only will it make business operations efficient, it would also upgrade the skills of its workforce at the same time generate huge savings, said Joanna Tan, senior manager for advisory at SyCip Gorres Velayo and Co. (SGV), during the firm’s roadshow on intelligent automation in Cebu on Wednesday.

Tan told representatives of Cebu-based companies to embrace robotics process automation (RPA) as it is the first step in the digital operations journey.

RPA is an innovative solution for automatic handling of high volume and repetitive business processes. It is a software that mimics human behavior.

The RPA market is projected to reach $2.9 billion by 2021, according to a global study. AI-enabled automation of knowledge work could cut employment costs by an estimated $9 trillion by 2020.

Automation could raise productivity growth by 0.8 percent to 1.4 percent annually.

“Automation revolution is happening now. We don’t see (advancement) in technology stopping at any point in time,” said Tan.

SGV advisory partner Maria Kathrina Macaisa said RPA should’t be seen as a threat to employment but as an add-on that would allow businesses to produce a more valueadded product or service while retraining employees to handle advanced tasks.

Macaisa said adopting RPA to automate activities doesn’t rob people of jobs but allows companies to offer high-value jobs for its employees, tasks that are not repetitive or low-value added activities.

RPA is a low-risk non-invasive technology. It can be overlaid on existing systems, allowing creation of a platform compatible with ongoing developments in sophisticated algorithms and machine-learning tools.

Core functional areas of supply chain, finance and human resource (HR) are the prime candidates for driving process efficiency by utilizing automation, Tan pointed out.

On the business side, the adoption of RPA allows employers to save on costs by 20 to 35 percent.

Automation in the supply chain would enable employers to save costs by 10 to 15 percent; order to cash by 40 to 60 percent; human resource by 60 to 80 percent; procure to pay by 50 to 70 percent; finance by 30 to 50 percent; general accounting by 10 to 15 percent and controlling by 15 to 20 percent.