- Where we started
- Where I started
- Setting up our automation team
- How leadership drives advocacy
- Building trust around RPA
- Mapping new automations
- Continuous improvement
- What I’ve learned
By Vanessa Corbett
CXO | Robotics | Customer Intelligence Platform | Technology & Transformation
ASB
Behind every successful intelligent automation program is an inspirational leader. The Leader of the Year award is given to the great visionaries in our industry — those who not only advocate for the use of automation but have played a key role in shaping the industry. We asked the 2024 winner, Vanessa Corbett, to share how she got started in robotic process automation (RPA), how she built her team and how to create highly effective automations.
Where we started
A new project came across my desk about seven years ago that sparked my career in intelligent automation. My team was utilizing a workflow modeling tool as a part of a business process management system. This gave us the opportunity to begin evaluating how automation could be applied at ASB. It was really exciting, because automation was completely new to us.
We were working with an experienced technology partner Quanton, at the time who introduced us to SS&C Blue Prism and to RPA. They educated us on RPA and helped us work out how we could set up our own program. They made sure we had a solid foundation for our program by helping us create a Center of Excellence and shape our backlog of opportunities.
Our first automation was for enrollment into a Wealth product. This was the beginning of our automation roadmap and the path to the 200+ automations that are currently live across ASB today.
Where I started
As a founding member of the automation team, it’s been helpful for me to have a technical background. I started working for ASB as an engineer and developer and then moved to the analytical side of the business as a systems analyst and project manager. My technical background, and deep knowledge of ASB’s systems, allow me to provide specific feedback and recommendations on each automation’s design.
Setting up our automation team
When we began, we were heavily reliant on our partner. This was very helpful because they had the experience and technical knowledge to help us scale our program. They were able to guide us through the important business transformations that were necessary to ensure a successful program. Happily, some of those original contractors decided to join the ASB automation team and are still with us today.
To build the rest of the team, we internally recruited people that were interested in robotics. We generated a lot of excitement across the organization and had a number of roles available like developers, business analysts, testers and robot controllers. People who had logical, curious mindsets were drawn to what we were doing and thought the work seemed different and interesting.
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How leadership drives advocacy
In addition to our top-notch automation team, a number of senior leaders have supported our projects since the beginning and remain excited about what we can achieve. We’ve spread the word about automation throughout the organization by effectively educating our stakeholders.
Building trust around RPA
RPA was unlike other tech projects because of nervousness around how the robots would function in the organization. We had to build trust and give our stakeholders confidence in the automations we were creating. We did this by bringing interested parties, security, risk and others together, to create a working group. We made sure to be completely transparent about the entire project life cycle.
We have a really good quality assurance (QA) test environment. To maintain our trust with the business team, we engage them in the testing as well. This way we can prove to them that the system will operate as expected and that the digital workers are completing the work in the same way that a staff member would.
Mapping new automations
When investigating a new automation, our team aims to listen, learn and be curious enough to ask all the questions so that we fully understand how the process currently works. We look at the process through a value-stream-mapping lens: What are all the steps? What are all the bits that happen? What are the bits that happen upstream? What are the bits that happen downstream? Is there any duplication of effort? Once that’s been laid out — and it's quite good to do it with Post-it notes or an electronic whiteboard — we can see where the value stream flows through that process.
This methodology helps identify when a manual process is convoluted. Discussing this with our business stakeholders can also reveal areas where robots might automate processes the stakeholders hadn’t considered.
Continuous improvement
We make sure to keep automation top of mind in the organization. Throughout the year, we make various presentations within the different divisions to demonstrate what we've done. Continuous education and showcasing achievements are key because people change roles and new people come into the organization. This education often leads people to think, "I've got something in my team that we don't like doing. It's pretty manual and high volume. We could be better leveraged doing something else, like talking to our customers."
What I’ve learned
Being a part of ASB’s automation journey has been a great experience for me personally. I've always had an interest in learning about new technologies. This area is quite fast-moving, but I would encourage anybody to have a go, because it's about daring to dream within your own career.
Even if a person is not a part of their organization’s automation team, there's nothing to stop them from using the SS&C Blue Prism Community and SS&C Blue Prism University to self-educate. My advice is to continue to educate yourself, stay relevant and curious, and build your network.
