Interactive Intelligence Discusses Communications-Based Process Automation

At VoiceCon Orlando, I had a chance to chat with Joe Staples and Brad Herrington of Interactive Intelligence about the company’s focus on Communications-Based Process Automation, or CBPA. Interactive Intelligence recognizes that in today’s economic environment, many companies are trying to streamline operations and do more with less. Stressing that companies should looking for ways to be more efficient, both in the front office and back office, they suggest that optimizing and automating business processes is one of the best ways to improve business results. Processes run the gamut – from horizontal processes such as customer support, employee performance reviews, and order fulfillment, to vertical or industry‐specific processes. As you’ve no doubt read many times on UCStrategies.com, companies can increase revenues, reduce costs, and enhance customer relationships by optimizing and/or automating just a few of the key business processes.

One question that often comes up is why and why now? When most companies are scrambling to keep above water, is this really the right time to be thinking about automating business processes? Of course it is – companies can drastically reduce costs as well as process delays caused by human latency. Think back to the early days of interactive voice response (IVR) systems – by making it easier for customers to conduct a transaction over the phone using their touch-tone keypads, companies were able to reduce staff, provide 24x7 assistance and information, and allow for transactions to be completed immediately. Using IVR systems was one of the first ways to automate customer service business processes, and we no longer think twice about using IVR for things like checking account balances or transferring funds, refilling prescriptions, or checking flight status. The impact on the bottom line for companies that automated processes via IVR was significant, with companies touting huge cost reductions. By automating repetitive manual processes and procedures, companies can focus their resources on areas that are more difficult to automate – such as sales and marketing, research and development, etc. In these troubling economic times, any way to cut costs while improving efficiency and effectiveness should be seriously investigated.

Joe and Brad made it clear that CBPA is not the same as CEBP, although they both focus on processes. When I asked how do companies identify the processes that can be automated, they suggested looking for processes that involve repetitive tasks. One example Interactive Intelligence recommends is a sales return process. For example, when a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) is issued, some of the repetitive tasks – such as shipping replacements, checking for duplicates, and notifying the returns department, could be initiated automatically.

And of course there’s the obvious example of processing insurance claims, which generally takes days or even weeks. One of the “dirty little secrets” of the insurance business is that the longer it takes to process a claim, the larger the settlement payment tends to be, so insurance companies are eager to complete the process as quickly as possible. By automating some of the many processes, claims agents can instead focus on tasks that require manual intervention.

Interactive Intelligence touts CBPA as being able to automate most of the business processes that occur in the back office, providing results and cost savings similar to what the contact center experienced when implementing ACDs, IVR, CTI screen pops, and other technologies that reduce the time it takes to complete an interaction. By building on some of the basic contact center tools, such as skills-based routing, queuing, reporting, etc., and expanding them to the enterprise, companies can make things flow more smoothly and efficiently. For example, an insurance company could queue up insurance applications for the next available underwriter – just like contact centers queue up calls for agents. Mechanisms can be put in place to monitor the progress of each process in real-time and to take proactive corrective action if necessary and to provide reporting on the results is now possible.

One often-overlooked benefit of automated business processes is consistency. Most companies have informal ways of handling their various processes, which may or may not be documented. This means relying on knowledgeable and experienced individuals to make sure things run smoothly. When individuals are involved, the quality of the work varies from person to person, and often the workers with more experience will perform a function or process more effectively and efficiently. Depending on who performs the task, the same function can take a longer time to complete, thus costing the company more money in terms of staff and resources. In addition, when those more experienced workers leave the company, they take their knowledge and expertise with them. By automating processes, companies can ensure more consistency in terms of both results and expenses. 

Business process automation has the potential for an enormous return on investment, including reduced staffing needs, faster completion times for tasks, and increased consistency or predictability in completing processes. Anything that can produce these types of results should be carefully reviewed and assessed by companies that want to succeed and thrive.