Introduction to RPA
What is RPA?
The process of Automating Business Operations with the help of virtual robots(bots) to reduce human intervention is said to be Robotic Process Automation (RPA).
- Robotics are entities called Bots which mimic human action
- Process is a sequence of steps which lead to meaningful activity
- Automation is any process which is done by a Robot without human intervention
Why RPA?
- Does exactly what you tell it to do
- Loves repetitive, rules-based tasks
- Never makes mistakes or commits errors
- Works 24×7
- Never gets tired or bored
- Always there when you need it
What can Bots do?
- Login to any application
- Move files and folders
- Access and Update Database
- Scrape data from Websites
- Connect to System APIs
- Extract content from pdfs, documents, emails and forms
- Access emails and open attachments
- Make Calculations
How can RPA help in the automation of Sales/Marketing related activities?
Now that we have the definition of RPA out of the way let us look at RPA in action.
RPA can be implemented in almost all the departments in a company. But in this blog, I am going to showcase some of the usages in Sales. Read on….
- Qualified Customer Master
The backbone of the sales team is the Customer Master in general and the Doctor Master in particular. Rx generation and thereby sales is dependent on having a validated Doctor Master. Every Pharma company collects the registration number of a doctor. It is imperative that the registration number is validated. Doctors could be registered in the respective national medical commissions or could be registered in State registries individual to each State. Manually searching each record these sites is repetitive, time-consuming and can be erroneous. This can be easily done using a Bot which can search for the doctor’s details in the medical council site and update the result in the required file or system. The best part is once the process is automated, it can be used as an ongoing exercise for new additions to the master.
Key statistics
| Parameter | Manual | RPA |
|---|---|---|
| Per record | 180-300 seconds | 27-60 seconds |
| Average working hours | 9-10 hours per day per person | 24 hours per day per bot |
| Time needed for validation of 10000 doctors | 74 man-days | 5 man-days |
Thus, a bot can do this activity almost 15 times faster than a human being and with great accuracy.
2. Order Processing
Typically, orders are emailed by distributors. The required order details are mentioned in the body of the mail, sent as pdf/excel attachments or text files. These orders are reviewed, the customer identified and the order details are then keyed into ERP manually. There is a very good chance of emails getting missed or errors occurring while entering the material and/or quantity. This can be automated using RPA. A Bot will do the following:
- Access the mailbox
- Read the order which is in the body of the mail or the pdf or excel or text file
- Identify the customer
- Access the mapping file for material
- Login to the ERP using the encrypted credentials provided
- Key in the order details and submit them for the checker to check and approve the order
- Send an acknowledgement to the distributor
- Archive the mail that has been processed.
This automation results in valuable manpower to be utilized for other tasks. Also, this is a much simpler and cost-effective option to direct integration with ERP
3.Customer Update
The distributor will want to know the status of the order, payment outstanding details, Schemes available and more. The usual process is for the distributor to contact the C&F and get the details instead a Chabot can be used. The distributor would only need to access the bot, choose the option and the bot will give all the details. The greatest advantage is the distributor can get the details any time of the day or night.
4.Secondary Sales Data Automation
One of the most critical data for a Pharma company is Secondary Sales Data i.e., the sales done by the distributor in the market. Distributors by agreement are required to give the stock and sales statement month on month. Depending on the size of the company, the number of materials and the number of Stockists can be quite high. To process so many statements within 8-10th of every month and without errors is not an easy task. A bot can be programmed to handle this. The steps involved are:
- Creation and maintenance of SKU mapping master i.e. mapping of the SKU as given in the statement with the SKU as maintained in ERP.
- Creation and maintenance of Distributor Master. This is used to identify with the statement made available.
- Reading statements received, apply the SKU mapping information and enter the final data into Excel or Application if any.
Increasingly, the Pharma industry analyzes secondary sales for performance reviews-not primary sales alone. It is important to collate this data well in time so that corrective steps are taken in the following month. This can be achieved if bots are deployed in this activity.
The use cases I have spoken about are just a few. There are many other processes where RPA can yield substantial benefits.
Benefits of RPA
R. Priya, Senior Vice President